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Task management is an activity in which an individual or team leader tracks a task throughout its life cycle and makes decisions based on the progress. Task management is done using software tools that help effectively organize and manage tasks by using functions such as task creation, planning and assignment, tracking and reporting.
The reports generated assist the management in analyzing the overall efficiency of an individual, department or organization.
Task management tools are used to track personal, group or shared tasks. The tools may be free or premium software applications, and run in either standalone, LAN-based or Web-based mode. The size and functions of the tools depend on the requirements of the task and on whether they are used for an individual, small-sized or medium-sized business or for a corporate task management’s activity. Typical features include the following:
The team leader is responsible for creating, assigning, prioritizing and monitoring a task to ensure that it is completed on time. When managing a task assigned to a group, some tools provide a real-time view and easy access to all related content and discussions. Administrative features allow administrators to change priorities, reassign tasks, add more time or people to handle the tasks and approve tasks when finished.
With a centralized task management point, it is possible to track and identify a team based on what it is doing, determine the time a task is taking and to determine the team's efficiancy. Most tools allow users to visually manage a task and to see the history of completed, pending, overdue and ongoing tasks. The reports generated by the tools may contain details such as the start date, deadline, overdue date, task budget, main tasks, subtasks and time allocation.
Task management is therefore an important process that allows supervisors to monitor the time employees spend on a task, the ongoing and completed tasks, and an employee’s workload and performance. This information can be used to balance workloads, forecast bottlenecks and guard against delays and missed deadlines.