Microsoft begins rolling out their combined task management tool this week, with the most users getting it sometime between now and September. This new tool combines the personal tasks of To Do with the project tasks of Planner for more cohesive task management throughout the Microsoft ecosystem. Users will spend less time jumping from app to app—and it’s a more seamless work management experience for both end users and managers.
Now, whether a task is assigned to you during project planning in Planner or is created from the To Do app, Outlook, or @Mentions in any M365 app like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, it will show in the Tasks app within Teams. In other words, there is no need to leave Teams to manage your workflow.
To sweeten the deal, Microsoft has paired this cohesive work management view with new features to enable better work management and greater productivity – all within Teams.
One more great work management tool for Microsoft Teams
Microsoft is making an exciting play here, knowing that more and more users are staying within Teams to do their work. By bringing another work management tool into the Teams experience, users don’t have to switch to another program to stay on top of what they need to do.
This move builds on the momentum created when they brought in Planner and further advances and solidifies Microsoft’s effort to position Teams as the hub of the Digital Workplace.
Better task management in Teams:
- Tasks consolidate tasks assigned to you in both Planner or created in To Do
- Tasks can be easily organized by according to plan, due date, progress, priority, for different project management needs.
- Tasks can be viewed in the traditional board (Kanban), Calendar, and new List views.
- List view allows for greater functionality over managing tasks without having to leave Teams, including editing multiple tasks simultaneously and editing task information right from the List View.
Streamlining work management
Microsoft is thinking through how work gets managed – they want users to know what is assigned to them no matter what app they happen to be in. Since Planner and To Do pull from different sources, combining them makes for a more seamless experience and less jumping from app to app.
Similarly, Microsoft is making moves with Project and Lists, attempting to replace third-party tools like Asana, Trello, and Smartsheet with tools fully integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem. Stay tuned here for more information as updates keep coming.
This year organizations have been onboarding Microsoft Teams at a blistering pace—but most if not all of them can #UseTeamsBetter. We’re here to help, so reach out anytime.
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