Faviola Publico has been in the digital marketing industry for six years and is currently an SEO Content Writer at BrandCrowd, an online logo design and branding marketplace. She specializes in branding and content marketing strategies for B2B and B2C companies.
Is your team missing deadlines or constantly juggling overlapping tasks? It’s time to overhaul your process by setting up a task management system.
A well-structured system is the backbone of any successful project – it keeps your team organized, ensures that everyone has what they need to complete their tasks, and boosts overall efficiency.
But how do you build a task management system that actually works for your team? We’ve prepared a practical guide for you below.
Whether you’re a startup, a remote team, or a large team in a global company, there are various task management systems that you can use.
Of course, the right system will vary depending on your team size, goals, and the kind of roadblocks that you are facing. Still, there are general tips and practices that you can apply to ensure that they will be effective for your team.
Here are some of them:
Before you start implementing any process or download the latest trending project management app, you must first understand your team’s workflow.
Ask yourself:
What type of tasks are your team handling?
How does the work get done?
Does your task undergo review?
What is the typical deadline for each task?
What is the size of your team?
How many people are usually involved in one task?
Is your team in-office, remote, or hybrid?
How does your team primarily communicate?
What issues does your team encounter?
You may find that delays mainly happen between your PM team and dev team. Or that your design team struggles with vague design briefs.
Knowing all of this can help you accurately assess your needs and find the right system that can actually solve your problems.
One of the most common causes of chaos in a team is when no one is sure who is supposed to do what.
Make sure that there is a defined “owner” of the task – one responsible for seeing the task through, even if collaborators are involved.
Speaking of collaborators, make sure you have the right number of people working on a task. Too few might cause your team to feel overloaded, but too many might just cause more chaos. Figure out the right balance.
Your team’s responsibilities should also be set clearly. For example, your writing team will only handle blog articles, while your social media team will write captions. This way, there’s no ambiguity on who to assign for a writing project.
There are tons of project management tools out there – Workast, Notion, Trello, Asana, Clickup, the list goes on.
How do you know which one is right for your team? Some things to consider are:
Match your team’s workflow - A design team might need a Kanban-style visual board, while your dev team might work better with Jira since it supports Agile methodologies. Meanwhile, Paymo might suit a team filled with freelancers and contractors since it has built-in time tracking and invoicing.
Look at integrations - Go for the one that can connect with tools that you are already using, like Slack, Gmail, Google Drive, or Zoom. This can make your process even more streamlined and reduce the time spent switching between apps. For instance, our tool Workast is a game-changer if your team uses Slack since you can integrate it so you can create tasks without leaving your chats.
Consider the size of your team - Each tool may have limitations on the number of users or projects you can have, especially if you are using a free plan. Make sure to check if your team can actually fit before committing!
Check the features - Go through the features of the tools you are eyeing on and see if it fits your workflow and your team’s preferences – if it’s easy to add team members to the projects, if you can set user roles and permissions, if you can set tags, etc.
Aside from project management tools, you can also look into other tools that can automate most of your tasks and make your life more organized. Some examples are knowledge base software like Atlassian and Confluence, marketing templates like Facebook posts or logo makers from Canva and BrandCrowd, or meeting schedulers like Calendly and Motion.
Now that you have your project management tool, each task that you put in there should follow a standard format. This way, you remove confusion and miscommunication in your tasks.
Here’s a basic template to get you started:
Title - Follow a specific naming convention, ex. “[Client Name] - Ad Design - Date”
Description - Include context or any helpful information, or links to relevant files
Project stage - Define steps such “In Progress,” “Under Review.” “Complete”
Assignee
Due Date
Tags or labels - For easy filtering and search, such as “P1”, “Internal”, or “Sales Department”
If you have any recurring tasks, you can set up your project management tools to automatically repeat them daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever a custom date is needed.
You can also create templates or briefs for any recurring projects, so your team won’t need to waste time creating one every time.
It may seem like every task is urgent. But let’s be real, not everything is.
Avoid burnout and missed deadlines in your team by first defining your priority levels. An example is:
P1 - Critical, needs to be done today, can block off other tasks to finish this
P2 - High priority, needs to be done by the week
P3 - Medium priority, can be done within two weeks to a month
P4 - Low priority, or future tasks
And no, you don’t need to specifically use P1 or P2 as terms. You can also go High, Medium, Low, or use a color code system. What’s important is that your team knows what each level means and what the timeline is per level.
Next is to ensure that each level corresponds appropriately to your business goals and objectives. Tasks should have a direct impact on your KPIs to be considered P1. As much as possible, have a team lead or project manager assess each task before assigning priority to ensure that they have the right one (and avoid cases where people will put P1 on every task they put up).
Even the best team and the best task management system can still run into issues. Regular check-ins help ensure that all projects are running as smoothly as planned.
You don’t need to micromanage your team or add 10 meetings to your plate. You can just run short weekly checks, where you can review your priorities, progress, and any bottlenecks. Then you can have a monthly review to take a look at what you’ve accomplished and what’s to come, plus give props for any stellar work.
Of course, the number of check-ins you need to do will still depend on your team. Some fast-moving projects may need daily stand-ups, while some might not even need a weekly check. Go for the one that will work best with your team’s needs.
Some project management tools also visually highlight any tasks that have an upcoming deadline or those that are already overdue. Make sure to leverage these tools so you can easily keep track of your team’s progress.
Lastly, a good task management system is about empowering your team to take ownership of their tasks.
Provide autonomy to your team. Let them update progress on their tasks on their own terms instead of constantly hovering over them. Trust that they can manage their tasks in a way that works best for them.
If someone is stuck or feels overloaded, encourage them to flag it quickly. This way, you can address issues or reassign some tasks instead of having it completely derail your project.
Make sure to celebrate wins and recognize when tasks are done on time or earlier. Even a simple shout-out can help boost morale.
On the other hand, you also need to ensure that your team follows your system. Make sure they close out completed tasks, label things accordingly, follow the standard naming conventions, and so on. This way, your system becomes a part of your culture and not just a tool.
Building an effective task management system is not about micromanaging your team or creating multiple to-do lists – it’s all about creating clarity, reducing ambiguity, and enabling smoother communication within your team.
By understanding your team’s needs and finding the right tool to match them, you’re laying down a strong foundation for helping your team do their best work regardless of the project.
Workast
