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Managing a project effectively involves designing a process that consists of tasks. Each task represents a key step in the process to achieve a successful project completion. A project manager can implement task management strategies and workflows that add efficiency and increase productivity. Let’s discuss several my favorite strategies that I’ve used over the years to manage teams and task-based projects.
Strategy 1 – Utilize the Kanban Method
A Kanban task board is a visual project management framework that allows you and your team to visualize the process and the tasks flowing through the process, like an assembly line. Have you ever used sticky notes on a whiteboard to visualize the steps in a process? This is a digital version of exactly that!
The Kanban method displays a list for each stage of the process, such as To Do, In Progress, On Hold, and Completed. This simple technique makes it simple for all team members to see which tasks are next, the tasks currently in progress, and the tasks that have been completed. The stages can be customized to match your current workflows. The Kanban board also helps identify potential bottlenecks in the process if you have too many task cards in one stage of the process that are not progressing as expected.
Each task is represented by a card that holds all the pertinent information about the task and it is easy to move a task card from one stage of completion to another. A Kanban task board is super simple to use and there’s essentially a zero-learning curve.
Strategy 2 – Facilitate Team Collaboration
In addition to managing your tasks individually, a task board can be shared with other team members and tasks can be assigned to them. This enables the team to collaborate on tasks to complete a project. When tasks are assigned, due dates can be set, team members will be notified via email, and each team member can then add comments with status updates to their task cards. Team members can easily see their assigned upcoming tasks and if there are any overdue tasks.
During project status meetings, everyone can review the team’s task management board together including tracking next steps, prioritizing tasks, delegating tasks, and tracking the team’s overall progress. During the status meeting, you might improve efficiency and task management by splitting one larger task into several smaller sub-tasks.
Strategy 3 – Master Task Categorization
Categorizing your tasks increases your productivity by enabling you to group tasks together or to quickly locate specific task types on the task board. For example, organizing tasks by Priority (e.g., high, medium, low) or organizing tasks by Status to find all the pending or in progress tasks. The benefit is that these categories will be visible on the task cards.
Another way to categorize tasks is by color coding them. For example, assigning a red color to high priority tasks so they stand out on the task board. Additionally, many task management systems include a way to add color coded labels on the task cards so you can create a custom categorization nomenclature.
Strategy 4 – Leverage Task Management Within Your eDiscovery Platform
If you use a platform that has task management built-in, you can map out each step of the project, organize all the details of your work, and track individual or team tasks in one shared space. If needed, project task boards can be set to private to create a safe space for sensitive work.
As you can see, effective task management strategies are much more than a to-do list. They involve tracking task progress from beginning to end, assigning tasks to teammates, and setting deadlines to make sure projects are completed on time. They also ensure that steps in your process are not missed. Implementing these task management strategies can streamline processes and encourage team collaboration. Learn more about how Casepoint’s eDiscovery platform can help!
