Many people find themselves at a certain point within their life searching for a task management software to help them refocus and keep their finger tips about what is important. Task management products organize, schedule and ensure that tasks get done promptly. On short it could boost your productivity. By being better organized and much more focused on what you have to do, you save time and reduce stress.

Good task and project management software was difficult to find a couple of years ago when people were using Outlook. Nowadays productivity has become almost an obsession of geeks everywhere, therefore the increasing request for such tools generated a big base of good task and project management solutions. There are a great number of choices to greatly help manage the tasks, ranging from standalone applications to web-based services.

Exactly what are users looking for?

Most of them are actually searching for a personal organizer application to place some order in their busy and messy life. “Initially, I somehow managed to keep everything in my own head. Then, when i began to take on more projects, I realized that I needed an activity management system to keep me organized and focused.” says Deborah Woehr a freelance researcher and writer. These personal organizers generally take the proper execution of the so called “TO ACCOMPLISH List” applications where users create a list of tasks that they set a start date, some deadlines and important – something very simple.

The Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology

Most of the to-do-list applications these days adopt, to 1 degree or another, the GTD approach to task management according to the work-life management system by David Allen that delivers concrete solutions for transforming overwhelm and uncertainty into a system of stress free productivity. Apps vary concerning how tightly or loosely bound to GTD they’re. The problem, though, with TO ACCOMPLISH lists and personal organizers is that are only good for your work. Task management or task tracking software is more than just a to-do list. In a small business many of the tasks are collaborative and require multiple team members to satisfy several tasks in a single project. In this instance you need an application where assignments could be made, all tasks could be tracked, and completed work could possibly be archived. It is a true task management tool. Users sometimes need to manage multiple projects and delegate work to resources, schedule tasks in time or even create plans. This is the further step to an upper level: project management or project planning software.

Why do we are in need of an activity management application?

Every day we spend quite often on urgent but low priority tasks while the most important ones get delayed until another day. Unfortunately, that “another day” might never arrive. The famous Pareto principle of 80/20 rule applies here: 80% of most important work gets completed if you try to figure out the 20% of high priority tasks. Basically a highly effective task management software must give you the best way to find these top 20% of important tasks for a effective project management process. It is a major problem with task management applications: they might need too much effort on users part. It is easy to spend too much time on organization, and not enough on getting things done. Way too many apps spoil the productivity. Task management apps should flow, should make using them easier than writing things down on a bit of paper.

Benefits of an activity management tool

helps you to organize, assign and prioritize tasks

enables you to establish goals and milestones and to manage deadlines

no need to remember all tasks and more productivity using reminders

entire work integration, effort delegation for increased efficiency and reduced costs

the break down of complex tasks into smaller deliverables which can be controlled with minor difficulty

A task management software is an essential component for organizational and business operations and may make managing the project simpler.