Task management tools let you manage nearly any project, from building a house to starting a marketing campaign. Usually, task managers track multiple projects at once. Using task manager software, you can plan work schedules based on the available timeframe and the human resources available for the project.
A good project management app detects problems before they occur. Monitoring work progress allows them to sound the alarm before a deadline slips, and the project is likely to remain incomplete in the given deadline. When tasks deviate from a task schedule, a good task management software will automatically reflow them.
By using task management tools, managers can know which team members are overworked or underworked. It is also possible to track project budgets and log billable hours to send invoices to your clients.
Benefits of Using a Project Management Tool for Small Businesses?
The general idea of task management software is to help companies streamline their business, meet their clients’ expectations, and invoice them properly. But there is more. The task management software benefits a project manager in the following ways:
- The improved visibility between team members leads to better collaboration
- The ability to track and prevent tasks from going past their due date, potentially derailing a project
- Seeing exactly how much effort and cost a project requires will help you track it better
- Accurate time tracking system for the overall project and individual tasks.
- Offers the ability to collaborate more effectively, track more accurately, and receive real-time feedback
- Storage of project data for future uses
- Real-time automated reporting
10 Best Task Management Tools for Small Business
timeTracko
TimeTracko is a workforce and productivity tracking software that helps you keep your workplace organized and thus helps in team management and task management. As the name suggests, the software is one of the best apps for best project management in small to large size businesses. This software is amazing and thus loved by young entrepreneurs, freelancers, as well as big organizations.
This software offers an automatic time tracking feature that tracks the time your team members begin working, what they are working on, how much time they’ve been spending on the given task, etc. This software is the best task and time management tool if you’re collaborating with team members working remotely.
Another genuine feature offered by timeTracko is project progress tracking. This feature helps you simplify task management by setting and controlling project progress and its status. Tracking your project effectively begins with setting up measurable targets. As a result, stakeholders, sponsors, and team members benefit from better communication about project management.
Key Features of Timetracko
- Project Progress Tracking
- Good communication between teammates and stakeholders
- Measurement of team member’s productivity and task status
- Remote and on-site team member management
Trello
Trello, a Kanban project management tool, is one of the best task management tools for freelancers and small businesses. Trello is ideal for managing projects that require a few simple tasks.
Even though it lacks advanced features such as resource management, dependency, and Gantt charts, its ease of use compensates for that. When you only need to assign tasks to people, track their progress, and create tasks, Trello is the best choice.
Trello’s dashboard displays the status of all tasks in a project while also offering an overview of the tasks. To organize your projects using Trello, you can create lists for each one. You can add tasks to the lists as cards. Cards are movable between lists by dragging and dropping.
It is possible to categorize tasks and cards according to their status. You can create two lists: a to-do list and the other completed list. You can initially place your task in your to-do list and drag it to the completed one after its completion.
To assign tasks, you can either do it yourself or ask others in your team to do it for you. Those on a business plan also can have access if you grant them access on the board. This way, your client will remain constantly updated on the task, and they can view the task progress but cannot edit the cards.
Pros of Trello
- A simple visual functionality interface.
- You can constantly update your tasks and can modify them.
- You can add your client to the Trello dashboard for them to view the task updates.
Asana
Asana is one of the easiest cloud-based task management tools that improve project outcomes by allowing online project management. Using Asana, you can effortlessly manage complicated projects.
Asana works on the concept of Workspaces. Signing up for Asana involves creating a user account. Once you have your account, organizations and workspaces are accessible through your account, and you will find your tasks and projects in the workspaces.
Each client can have their workspace, and you can manage projects and tasks there. At first, you have to create a project and then add tasks to it. The system allows you to create subtasks and repeating tasks. In addition to notes and comments, you can attach attachments and tag each task.
After completing the task, your team members can update tasks after completion. All the members can update status, add or remove comments, and attach documents and files.
Furthermore, you can add your clients to your workspace and allow them to view the task updates. They will get a notification via email when the status of a project or task changes.
Pros of Asana
- Easy to use
- Offers a range of powerful features
Basecamp
Managing a project is challenging, and even for small businesses, task management is equally challenging. There are a lot of emails, meetings, and stand-ups involved in project management. But with Basecamp, managing projects has become a lot easier than you thought.
Based on automated check-ins, Basecamp lets you ask your team questions regularly, allowing them to respond in one thread that is easy to read.
A feature with open-ended text in the Basecamp app lets you ask any question you want. The questions are customizable; you can ask anything now or schedule the question for sometime later. Also, it is easy to customize the receivers. When questions are due, your team members get a notification of the received question, and they can view the questions in the Team view.
Pros of Basecamp
- An effective tool for freelancers and small organizations.
- Upload and share files, keep track of tasks, and more. Basecamp’s Zapier integrations allow you to remain connected with other apps.
Wrike
Wrike is an excellent tool for project management for agile teams. With its award-winning three-pane interface, you can easily plan and track your work. The tasks and subtasks in the project hierarchy; you can make some changes here. Your current tasks in the project will remain in the middle pane, and details about your tasks appear in the right-hand pane.
Managing everything from one place is a breeze with this task manager. You can see task progress, dependencies, team communications, and overall project status from the same interface.
Wrike is customizable according to your business needs. For efficient project management, you can automate workflows and dashboards according to your requirements.
Live editing, real-time comments, and dynamic reports are available in Wrike. A team member can instantly see what the other is doing or saying. Transparency in each other’s work saves time and effort to write emails, meetings, and work status updates. The stakeholders and clients can also view the status of the project and track work progress.
Pros of Wrike
- Sharing updates with stakeholders
- Supports Gantt charts. You can visually track everything.
- Shows resource allocation
- High-security protocol with enterprise security architecture
Airtable
Try Airtable if you prefer a spreadsheet’s clean, ordered appearance but are looking for a little more functionality. Any project is easily manageable with Airtable. The spreadsheet-style application is a highly versatile and easy-to-use database application for effective task management in small projects.
In Airtable, all the projects remain on the base. If you want to build a base, you can pick from several ready-made templates, import your existing spreadsheet, or start a new one. All templates are categorized by type of project and pre-filled with sample content to understand how to use them easily. Rows in a base constitute records, each containing any customized field.
Airtable offers filters, equations, and pulling in data from other sources, etc. There are special columns for short and long texts, picture attachments, or multi-selection tags.
Pros of Airtable
- With Airtable’s Zapier integrations, you can connect Airtable with the apps you use every day.
- Sends form responses to a project management table automatically.
- Detailed project data can be stored and viewed by adding multiple views.
Paymo
If you’re looking for a tool that can do invoicing and project management for your small business, Paymo might be right for you. There is a task manager, time tracking, and an invoicing feature included in Paymo. You can use Paymo to plan and organize all kinds of projects.
Gantt charts are available in Paymo for scheduling work. Paymo provides task dependencies. By using Critical Path Analysis, you can identify bottlenecks in your schedule. In addition to the features, it is possible to manage tasks using a task list or a Kanban board.
Chat messages are a convenient way for members of a team to discuss tasks. Furthermore, they can attach pertinent documents to each task. One of the advantages of having a single interface is that you don’t have to juggle tasks across multiple applications.
Key Features of Paymo
- Cooperation and communication within a team
- Monitoring and reporting of timesheets automatically.
- Billing is simple. You can track the time spent on every task in both billing and non-billing terms.
- Ensure that team workload remains balanced.
Nifty
Nifty primarily stands out for its simple project and task management tools in the crowded task management tools market. Nifty offers many tools that help team members communicate and manage projects.
Despite its modest pricing plan, Nifty is the clear winner in the manager tools category for small businesses seeking an affordable way to increase productivity.
This Kanban Board view displays tasks in three categories: in progress, completed, and new tasks. On a roadmap, you can see the deadlines and milestones for each task. In Nifty, users and milestones can filter tasks. With this amazing project task management tool, you can quickly organize project schedules and assign or remove team members for a task.
You can use the commenting feature and the discussion board to collaborate on tasks and meet project timelines.
Pros of Nifty
- Stores files in different categories, such as spreadsheets, presentations, videos, and codes.
- Manage and control notifications for your team members
Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is another popular tool for online project management. Zoho is a powerful task managing tool with powerful software with an array of project management capabilities.
It is an effective tool for planning work, tracking it efficiently, and collaborating with others. Planning your project activities, assigning tasks to team members, managing them, and collaborating with them is important for getting things done.
While working with Zoho projects, you can use Gantt charts to see the progress of your work. Tasks are visually represented, showing interdependencies between them and critical tasks to complete in the given time frame.
Workflow automation is a genuine feature offered in this software. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to visualize and deploy workflow automation.
Zoho Projects has an additional feature: the time tracker. The time tracking feature helps you track the time the team members spend on the provided task.
Pros of Zoho Projects
- The free plan allows up to 3 users and 2 projects. For each task or project, you can calculate and track costs.
- By automating routine tasks, you can save time.
Teamwork
As the name suggests, teamwork is task management software that focuses on collaboration and team effort.
A wide range of project management capabilities is available in teamwork, from simple task management to billing and time tracking. Teamwork helps you develop resilience among teams small and large under one roof, no matter how large or small your workspace is.
Creating multiple tasks and dividing them into easily manageable subtasks is easy. Assign tasks to team members by creating organized project schedules. You can easily assign priorities, tags, reminders, and labels to each task. Moreover, each task is customizable with an estimate and a work progress indicator.
Teamwork allows you to connect tasks with Milestones. As well as linking tasks to the Teamwork Calendar, you can import them. You can control who gets notified, when, and how. Using the Task Board, members can communicate via comments and chat.
Pros of Teamwork
- Free task management tools
- Using the digital timer, keep track of each task’s time.
- The digital timer allows you to track both billable and non-billable hours.
- Free project management software with free trials
How to Choose Small Business Project Management Tools?
The choice of project management software can be confusing for small businesses. There are plenty of task management tools with essential features as well as drawbacks.
What’s the best way to choose a task management tool? Well, you should make sure that the tool has the following features:
Task Planning
Work is better when there are better plans. Having a timeline will let your team know what each member needs to do next.
Task Management
As soon as work plans are ready, you need to know whether tasks are completed or stuck.
Teamwork
Often, team members have to work together on a task. Sharing, discussing, and collaborating should be possible.
Team Availability Planning
There is no use in planning projects if there is no one to complete them. Project management and resource allocation should go hand in hand to make better task management.
Workload Management
There is no guarantee that balancing your team’s workloads will always be possible. Additionally, small businesses may also require time tracking, invoicing, or mobile apps for workload management.
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