Task management tools have come a long way in recent years. Whereas users were once limited to essentially an online to-do list, options have expanded to include robust project management, task tracking, time optimization and collaboration. In this post, we are sharing our favorite task management tools. These are the most powerful and user-friendly options for managing your tasks and your time in meaningful ways.

What are Task Management Tools?

Task management tools are software applications or platforms that help individuals and teams organize, track, and prioritize their tasks and projects. They provide a centralized and efficient way to manage tasks, deadlines, and resources, leading to increased productivity and improved collaboration.

There are a lot of reasons why people find task management tools helpful, including:

• Organization - Task management tools allow users to create and categorize tasks, making it easier to stay organized and focused on their goals.
• Time management - These tools provide features like deadlines, reminders, and scheduling, enabling users to prioritize tasks and allocate their time effectively.
• Collaboration - Task management tools often offer collaboration features such as assigning tasks, sharing files, and commenting, facilitating teamwork and communication among team members.
• Progress tracking - These tools provide visibility into the progress of tasks and projects, allowing users to monitor their own work or track the progress of their team members.
• Accountability -  Task management tools help hold individuals and teams accountable for their tasks and deadlines by providing a clear overview of responsibilities and progress.

Who Can Benefit from Task Management Tools?

Task management tools are widely helpful and can benefit individuals, small teams, and large organizations across various industries. Whether you are a student, freelancer, project manager, or part of a remote team, task management tools can help you stay organized, meet deadlines, and collaborate effectively. Here are a few details on the ideal users for task management platforms:

Individuals - Students, professionals, freelancers, and entrepreneurs can benefit from task management tools to stay organized, prioritize tasks, and manage their personal and professional responsibilities effectively. Basically anyone who wants to understand how their time is being spent and improve their productivity can benefit from task management tools, even for non-professional and personal tasks.

Small teams - Small teams working on projects or tasks can benefit from task management tools to collaborate, track progress, and ensure everyone is on the same page. This includes teams in startups, creative agencies, consulting firms, and small businesses, and many more.

Remote teams - Remote work is becoming more common, and requires specialized tools to keep people in contact and work moving forward. Task management tools are particularly useful, as they provide a centralized platform for communication, task assignment, and tracking progress. Remote teams in different time zones can stay connected and work efficiently using these tools.

Project managers - Task management tools are essential for project managers to plan, assign tasks, track progress, and manage resources effectively. These tools provide project managers with a clear overview of the project's status and help them ensure that tasks are completed on time. Many of them offer visual tools so that they can see and share project progress with just a glance.

Collaborative project groups - Task management tools are beneficial for team-based  projects involving multiple stakeholders, such as event planning, content creation, software development, and marketing campaigns. These tools facilitate communication, file sharing, and task coordination among team members. Task management tools tend to be highly used among agencies, consulting firms, campaign workers, etc.

Agile teams - Agile teams following methodologies like Scrum or Kanban can utilize task management tools to manage their backlog, plan sprints, visualize workflows, and track the progress of user stories or tasks. Certain task management tools are specialized in particular methodologies that an entire team should be trained on and comfortable using.

Simply put, task management tools are great for teams of all sizes, as well as individuals, remote teams, project managers, creative departments, and agile teams. Make the most of your time through organization, time management, collaboration, tracking progress, and accountability.

Related Post: The Best Time Management Tools

Ten of Our Favorite Task Management Tools

There are numerous task management tools available, each with its own set of features and benefits. The "best" task management tools can vary depending on individual needs and preferences. However, here are ten popular task management tools that are widely recognized for their functionality and user-friendly interfaces:

1. Asana

A versatile tool that offers features for project management, task tracking, and team collaboration, ​​Asana is a comprehensive work management solution. Designed to help individuals and teams keep track of tasks, delegate responsibilities, monitor progress, and communicate in real-time, the software is great for remote or distributed teams. It can help busy teams to overcome chaos and better manage deadlines for better outcomes. It’s a very popular option for project management as users say that it’s user-friendly and customizable, with features that allow real-time collaboration and communication.

2. Trello

Known for its visual and intuitive interface, Trello uses boards, lists, and cards to help users organize and prioritize tasks. The solution is essentially a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, you can see what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a lengthy process. You can think of it as a white board, filled with lists of sticky notes, with each note as a task for you and your team. You can move these notes and organize them in different ways, which is great for teams who need to collaborate.

3. Todoist

A simple and user-friendly tool that allows users to create and manage tasks, set reminders, and collaborate with others. Used by over 30 million users, it’s a popular task-management tool that optimizes to-do lists. Available on PC or mobile, Todoist makes it simple to jot down tasks as soon as they pop into your head. With a simple yet powerful interface, you can set reminders, take advantage of a habit tracker, and calendar. You can also filter to-dos, such as by personal or work tasks.

4. Microsoft To Do

This tool integrates with other Microsoft tools and offers features like task lists, reminders, and the ability to sync across devices. With a simple and intelligent to-do list function, you can manage all of your lists in one place. Organize a daily to-do list, and then create other lists for everything from work projects to grocery lists and books to read. You can also take advantage of great support with plenty of tutorials, troubleshooting steps, etc. Of course, one of the best things about it is that it works so seamlessly with other Microsoft solutions.

5. Wrike

A comprehensive project management tool that includes task management, team collaboration, and customizable workflows, Wrike is a similar solution to Asana. However, Wrike tends to be a bit better for larger teams looking for more customization (whereas Asana is a bit better for complex project teams). Users say that it’s incredibly easy to use, even for new users, and that onboarding is very simple with a brief learning curve. You can customize for your own workflows, project teams, clientele, and environment.

6. monday.com

monday.com markets itself as a “work OS”, or a platform that can manage workflows for several aspects of business, from HR needs to software development. The system includes lots of project management tools but can also be used as a CRM, workflow automation tool, or collaboration enabler. With its customizable dashboards, monday.com offers a visual and collaborative platform for managing tasks, projects, and teams. They also offer pre-built templates that limit the need for setup, and products like monday Work Management come out of the box. They have lots of options that come out of the box and work in specific verticals, but it’s also easy enough to tailor monday.com for all kinds of business needs and project styles.

Related Post: Asana vs monday.com: Showdown of Project Management Tools

7. Jira

Originally designed for software development teams, Jira is a powerful tool that offers task tracking, issue management, and agile project management capabilities. It’s a proprietary product developed by Atlassian and is used for teams to work collaboratively on various projects using powerful Agile, Scrum, or Kanban boards. Teams can customize their workflows and create, clean up, and automate even the most complex project plans. The timeline view allows users to map out a big picture while also communicating updates to stakeholders and ensuring teams stay on track. If you are someone that enjoys the visual of spreadsheets but finds them tedious and difficult to keep track of, you’ll likely find Jira to be a great option.

8. ClickUp

A flexible and feature-rich tool that combines task management, project management, and team collaboration in one platform, Clickup is a powerful software designed for teams and individuals. Professionals love Clickup because it saves them from having to use several tools for to-do lists, calendars, task timelines, project management, document processing, communication, and collaboration. Whereas normally they would need to use several different platforms to manage each of these functions, Clickup offers a way to streamline everything. It’s available as a cloud-based app, desktop app, smartphone app, Chrome extension, email add-on, or voice assistant.

9. Basecamp

Known for its simplicity and ease of use, Basecamp offers task lists, file sharing, and communication tools for team collaboration. With a simple but effective user interface, Basecamp is essentially a productivity tool for projects and people. Developers continually refine a unique set of tools and methods to fundamentally reduce complexity, and make project management more of a joy and less of a chore.

10. Evernote

While primarily a note-taking app, Evernote also includes task management features like to-do lists, reminders, and note organization. Designed to help you organize your work and “declutter your life”, Evernote can be used on desktop or a mobile device to take notes, save and share information, and more. There are other browser extensions that go with this one to further enhance what Evernote can do, including the Web Clipper option for Chrome. It’s important to note that the legacy versions of Evernote have been discontinued as of March, 2024. Though this is a very small - tiny in fact - percentage of Evernote users, it’s good to be aware that their functionality has been significantly upgraded in recent years. Using the latest version will improve your overall experience.

Remember, the best task management tool for you will depend on your specific needs, preferences, and the requirements of your projects or tasks. It's always a good idea to try out different tools and see which one works best for you.

Use Shift for Support

The browser you use can actually work as a task management tool, in a way. Shift is the first browser to merge all your web apps into one powerful window, allowing you to streamline everything you do online. When you install Shift, you can access thousands of apps without leaving your browser. Connect all of your Gmail, Outlook, and Office 365 accounts and manage everything from one centralized window. Build out your Shift browser with apps that integrate seamlessly so you have ultra-fast access to all the tools you use to stream, shop, work, browse, and stay connected. Shift brings it all together with specially designed, time-saving features. With Shift, users experience:

Improved work/life balance

Using Shift’s dedicated spaces, you can keep personal things separate and only access your work-related accounts during your actual working hours. The rest of the time, it can all be out of sight, out of mind - which is ideal for professionals who want to leave work at work.

Less distractions

With customized Workspaces, you can create a digital work environment that contains only what you need - and none of what tends to distract you. You can also customize notifications from all of the apps and tools that you use, so that constant pining isn’t pulling you from important tasks. In short, you have more control over who has access to you, and when - along with narrowing down what you want to focus on in a single session.

Complete access to all email accounts

Connect all of your Gmail, Outlook, and Office 365 accounts and manage everything from one centralized window. Customize your notifications so that you only need to check one place to see all of your latest notices.

The ability to use all of your favorite apps

WhatsApp, Slack, Messenger—we have everything you need to get it done. Browse our Apps Directory, connect yours, and switch between them easily.

Chrome extension connections

Use all of your favorite Chrome extensions like Boomerang, Grammarly, and so much more. You can browse our app directory to see all of the Chrome extensions that integrate with Shift.

Easier tab management

Access the web from inside Shift. Manage your tabs and organize them by account for a better browsing experience.

Expanded search capabilities

Save time and find exactly what you're looking for across any of your Mail, Calendar, and Drive accounts. This is extremely helpful for streamlining search and keeping what you need right at your fingertips.

More focused browsing with Workspaces

Create a Workspace for strictly business and another for weekend plans— with entirely separate tabs, apps, and bookmarks. Workspaces are a focused collection of platforms and accounts. Create a custom Workspace with the exact tools you need to be efficient online, including apps, extensions, bookmarks, email, and more. Workspaces allow for more collaboration and focus which makes you even more efficient online.

Related Post: Why Everyone Needs an App Integrated Browser

In a world hyper-focused on productivity, task management can be a powerful assistant in meeting your goals. Try some of these tools to get a head start on managing your tasks, your time - and your sanity. Make sure to download Shift, the only app-integrated browser, to streamline all of your online activity in your quest for greater productivity.