10 best apps for planning and task control

To organize online work processes, special software solutions are used – task managers. They allow you to store information about the project in one place, provide convenient tools for managing projects, sharing information and communicating with the team remotely.

This article will talk about several popular programs and services for daily planning and task control. We will also talk about what you should pay attention to when choosing such applications.

Todoist

Todoist is a simple and functional task manager that works on all desktop and mobile platforms. The service helps to track productivity and allows you to organize the workflow in the most optimal way. The task tracker offers tools for sorting and grouping tasks by color, which allows you to see the most important ones in the foreground. You can also view all tasks that need to be completed today, or sort tasks by priority rating.

The service is convenient both for keeping a personal diary and for working on team projects. Its main functions include:

• the ability to quickly add tasks;
• view detailed information on each task;
• creating recurring tasks;
• adding sections and subsections;
• the ability to add key tasks to favorites to always keep them in sight;
• viewing the list of completed cases;
• extensive options for setting up notifications;
• adding comments to tasks and projects;
• you can also distribute tasks among employees within projects.

In addition, this task tracker offers automatic backups, an activity log, daily reports on productivity at work, integration with services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

You can start using Todoist as a free task manager, and if you decide that the features of the free plan are not enough, you can upgrade to the Pro or Business plans at any time with monthly or annual payments.

WEEEK

WEEEK is positioned by developers as a tool sharpened for remote work. The service is convenient both for personal planning and for organizing the work of teams in a project, providing the manager with extensive control over projects.

The advantages of the service include: a modern intuitive interface, the ability to set group and individual tasks, support for the separation of functions, capabilities and accesses within a hierarchical structure.

The task manager offers three types of task scheduling, including boards, lists, and a weekly calendar. Thanks to the weekly calendar, it is convenient to plan tasks for the day, work according to the GTD method, as well as block tasks and prioritize tasks.

The user can choose which notifications to receive and where they will come, for example, it is possible to send notifications to Telegram. Management of “hot” keys will allow you to work with the service as quickly as possible.

The organization of work is extremely simple: the user creates workspaces (workspaces) and adds projects to them. It is possible to create subtasks up to six levels of nesting.

In addition to the web version, there are applications for smartphones on Android and iOS mobile operating systems. Alone or in a team of up to five people, you can use WEEEK for free with minor restrictions on functionality. Purchasing premium plans removes all restrictions.

YouTrack

YouTrack project management tool helps to improve team productivity and is easily adapted to the specifics of your processes and individual employees.

The service allows you to create agile boards that will show the tasks your team is responsible for. Thanks to a flexible task queue, you can easily plan the development of your project. It is also possible to create a personal board to keep track of personal responsibilities.

In YouTrack, you can create a knowledge base, which is a team workspace for sharing information. This handy tool allows you to add instructions, project plans, meeting notes, checklists, articles, spreadsheets, multimedia materials. The knowledge base can be searched in full text.

Users have access to reports with flexible settings that will give a visual representation of how your team works and how tasks are distributed throughout the project. You can estimate time and track results using the Gantt chart .

The task tracker offers two editions: the InCloud cloud service and the Standalone version, which is installed on your server. Teams of up to 10 users can use this scheduling tool for free. There are also free trials for additional users.

Jira

The Jira software project management, task and bug tracking platform provides planning flexibility through a mixed methodology: Kanban boards in this task service are used simultaneously with Scrum technology. You can organize tasks by simple drag and drop, and thanks to the performer rating system, the team will be able to work better and more efficiently.

This tool is designed for agile teams, it allows you to visualize all processes and track the progress of work tasks in real time. At the disposal of the user there are diagrams of burning of tasks, reports on the progress or regression of work and other various tools for analyzing work.

Jira Software solution integrates with various development tools and cloud services. For teams of up to 10 users, use is free, there are also paid Standard and Premium plans with a free 7-day trial period.

PlanFix

Planfix is ​​a business process automation system that allows you to customize your workspace for different types of companies and jobs.

The capabilities of this company management system include:

• setting up unique schedulers to control the work of both entire teams and individual users;
• the ability to set up a Gantt chart for managing tasks and projects, where you can see which of the tasks are delaying the project and which were completed ahead of schedule;
• creating any reports and customizing their appearance;
• the ability to customize workspaces for individual employees and departments in the company, and much more.

This service for setting and controlling tasks has already developed configurations that you can customize for yourself. You can create your own desktop if you wish. On one table, you can see all your tasks, see the schedule for the week, track overdue cases, etc.

Task service allows you to create any number of tasks, subtasks and add comments to them. There are sequential tasks that are executed in a chain. You can also create recurring tasks by specifying certain algorithms for their execution in the settings.

You can use a free plan with reduced functionality or choose one of the paid options for using it. To get acquainted with the full functionality, a free 30-day trial period is provided.

MyLifeOrganized

The MyLifeOrganized planning app features a simple, intuitive interface and user-friendly settings. The program works on PCs with Windows, as well as on smartphones and tablets with iOS and Android.

This task manager makes it easy to add new tasks and organize them into a hierarchical tree. To allow the user to focus on priority active tasks, a To-Do list is available in the application. Within each project there is the possibility of division into tasks and subtasks. The list of active actions is generated automatically after adding due dates, contexts, and dependencies.

The task tracker allows you to update your task list and keep it up to date using cloud synchronization between different devices. To synchronize all your devices (mobile and PC) via the cloud, you need to purchase a paid subscription.

Wrike

The Wrike teamwork platform offers powerful project management tools that allow you to plan any work task, as well as keep company employees in communication and monitor changes in real time.

The service provides transparency of work and full control over the implementation of tasks and is perfect for use by both freelancers and companies with teams from a few people to more than a thousand employees. It is possible to adapt the service to the requirements of any team.

The main features of Wrike for project management are: creating tasks and subtasks, the ability to track and evaluate the time spent on their implementation, a Gantt chart, creating reminders, using shared calendars, and a personal taskbar. The service shows the status of tasks in real time, makes it possible to add comments, exchange messages, and work with e-mail.

To use Wrike on your mobile device, you can download the app for iOS or Android. The developer offers 5 types of tariffs, including a free version with basic functionality and a limit of up to five users.

Quire

Quire is a powerful teamwork tool that can make planning and organizing goals and objectives much easier. Equally well suited for a small team, and for an enterprise-level organization.

The task manager knows how to work with nested kanban boards, allows you to break large projects into small components. Among the features of this tool: a lot of filters that can be customized, instant search for any project, organization or its participant, scheduling work using a universal Gantt chart for planning each stage, generating reports on the work done, integration with various services, etc.

Quire features include:

• smart folders that allow you to view and organize tasks from different selected projects in one place;
• delegation of tasks to users who are not employees of the organization;
• the ability to set roles in the project;
• instant messaging;
• the ability to share the project with unregistered users;
• flexible notification system;
• repetitive tasks;
• the ability to postpone your tasks;
• To save time, you can duplicate a project or task and use it as a template.

Quire offers a free version for solo or small teams, as well as professional and enterprise plans for teams with more complex workflows. There are applications for mobile devices on iOS and Android.

asana

The Asana online service is designed for team work on projects, tracking tasks and building communication in a team. This task tracker is suitable not only for organizing teamwork, but for personal self-organization.

Projects can be viewed both as a list of tasks and as a kanban board, which allows you to organize the work on the project so that employees can clearly see the work tasks and their priority. Tasks in Asana are the main element of team work optimization. You can add descriptions to the created tasks, set their priority, as well as attach files, set due dates and specify performers, add tags to tasks.

The service has great opportunities for detailing tasks, allows you to communicate with the team within the service, has integration with cloud services, a notification system, access control, intelligent search, and a function for separating tasks by priority.

This planning tool is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android platforms. Individuals and small teams (up to 15 colleagues) can use the service for free. The free version has a fairly wide functionality, but if it is not enough, you can always switch to one of the paid plans.

Trello

Thanks to its functionality, the Trello task service has gained great popularity among users. The tool allows you to work with projects in a team and individually, so it is suitable for collaboration and project management, as well as for increasing personal productivity.

Projects in Trello are implemented in the form of kanban boards, on which cards with many possibilities are located in different columns. You can set deadlines, assign a text and color label to a task, and set up notifications.

Among the advantages of the task manager: automatic backup, extensive integration with third-party services – Google Drive, Dropbox and others, a functional color filtering system.

The basic functionality of this service is free. To get advanced features, such as access rights management and the data upload function, you need to upgrade to one of the paid tariff plans – Standard, Premium or Enterprise.

The Trello online service is supported by all modern browsers, and this tool is also available on computers as a desktop version, there is also a version for mobile devices.

Tips for choosing a task manager

In conclusion, I would like to note that when choosing services for planning, you should pay attention to the following criteria:

• It does not matter whether you choose a task tracker for yourself or for a company, it is important that the product has an intuitive interface – even on the first use, you should immediately understand how a task is created, deadlines are set, etc.
• The presence of automatic notifications will help you, without being distracted from the current work for independent checks on the status of tasks, not to miss anything important.
• Pay attention to the options for displaying tasks. Many programs provide information in a variety of formats, such as kanban boards, lists, Gantt charts, and calendars.
• Opportunities for resource management need to be considered: the service should help you keep track of how much time each worker takes to complete daily tasks, and help control employee workload.
• In order for the task manager to always be at hand and be able to notify you of new tasks or last-minute deadlines, you need a mobile application.
• Integration with other applications and services: instant messengers, calendars, etc. helps to facilitate the workflow and simplify communication in the team.
• Equally important is the task tracker’s support for reporting, which will allow you to evaluate the performance and analyze the financial component.

You have read the review of 10 task managers for teams of different levels and individual use. Which one to use to control the workflow and timely completion of tasks is up to you.