inding the best task management software has become a difficult endeavor with so many apps and features on the market. With how fast technology is moving, it’s important to find software with the right feature for your business. How will it affect the way your employees perform their jobs? How much time will it save them? How will task management software make them work better as a team?
Depending on your company’s culture and dynamics, different elements might be more important than others. For more complex tasks like software development, a detailed project management or task management tool can be helpful. However, for most enterprises, these types of software are hard to adopt and difficult to use. You don’t want your task management software to be a hindrance.
With that in mind, when you are looking for tools to help different teams manage their daily tasks, what are the best task management software elements you should look for?
Minimal to No Data Entry
Ideally, you want to automate tasks to save time on repetitive, manual processes. This works on the basis of trigger and action. When you change or move a task, it automatically changes in other apps, or information gets sent to someone else. For instance, imagine have a system that allows employees to move tasks from ‘In Progress’ to ‘For Review.’ In this case, once the task is moved to ‘For Review,’ the finished task is sent to the reviewer. That reviewer will get an alert so that they can review the work right away. After reviewing, they can either attach revisions to the task and move it back to ‘In Progress,’ or they can approve the work and move it to ‘Completed’ or ‘Delivered.’
You probably noticed in that process that no one had to use multiple applications, and no one had to call or message someone to inform them that their work was finished. With an automated process, everyone gets alerts and becomes aware of what’s happening in real-time with minimal effort. It might not seem like writing a few emails to notify people when tasks are completed would take that much time out of someone’s day. But over weeks and months, that time writing emails adds up to hours and days. With automation, employees can move right along to their next task quickly and easily.
Easy to Use Interface
Employees don’t have the time to learn new software. They need an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn interface that’s intuitive. The best task management software is the one that employees actually utilize. Companies are always thinking about the user experience for their customers and often neglect the user experience for their employees. Outdated interfaces can be frustrating for employees and they can get fed up with using them. This affects motivation, performance, and in the end, productivity.
Since tech startups started realizing that enticing and fun office environments made employees happier and work harder, we’ve seen a change in how businesses surround their employees. It’s now common to see game rooms, bean bags for power naps, or even a basketball court. In the same way, employees don’t want a dull workplace environment, the best task management software has fun colors, uncomplicated layouts, and exciting layouts. If employees are spending most of their time on the clock working, you want to ensure their virtual environment makes them feel at home.
Makes Employees Feel Appreciated
The best task management software has features that help make people feel appreciated and rewards them for doing a good job. This may be as simple as team members being able to comment and show their appreciation, or as complex as providing actual financial rewards or incentives for their work. Either way, making employees feel appreciated should be a priority in today’s business landscape. This has proven to be beneficial to employees’ mental and physical health according to the American Psychological Association. Appreciation usually leads to higher engagement, motivation, satisfaction, and productivity. Having task management software that helps appreciate or even reward employees goes a long way in building a healthy employer and employee relationship.
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Management-Level Insights
Always look for dashboards and analytic tools that allow management to see who is completing tasks on time, who’s going above and beyond, who needs some help, etc. This helps management make better decisions on a day-to-day basis so there aren’t any surprises down the line. With this information, management can ensure projects are completed on time because problems can be fixed as they arise. Analytics and dashboards also give management insights into historical team data to know who works best together and which employees you should pair together.
Existing App Integrations
If your task management software doesn’t integrate with your existing applications, your employees will constantly be switching between apps. Make sure that if your employees are sending messages or creating tasks in applications that alerts are sent to your task management software. Can you add dates to your calendar and have it integrate with your task management software? These are important things to consider to make work-life easier for employees.
Bring Everything Together
If you want to automate your processes with an easy-to-use interface that rewards good work, gives management valuable insights, and integrates all your existing apps, MetaSpark might be the solution you’ve been looking for. MetaSpark automatically brings everyone's tasks from every system into one screen. Your employees manage all their tasks from a single dashboard. No more work getting lost in the fray of switching between apps. Its unique interface is so intuitive that your employees can jump right in—no training is needed. Your employees’ workflows will be instantly streamlined.
From a management perspective, MetaSpark's AI unearths insights about team dynamics across your organization. From engagement to D&I, you'll always know how your company is doing and where you can improve. You set goals for these areas right in MetaSpark and can track how the company is performing in real-time. Plus, you can reward employees for the good work they’re doing.
MetaSpark also matches incentives to performance through a "Sparks" system. Employees earn small amounts of Sparks for completing tasks on time. Over time, Sparks add up to meaningful rewards. Your employees can even choose the rewards they want - like gift cards to their favorite store or donations to their favorite charity.
If you’re looking for the best management software elements in 2021 for your business, see if MetaSpark is right for you.