Managing regular tasks – Wunderlist vs To-Do

Every week and month I have a set of jobs that need to be completed for each client – these range from invoicing to monthly patching. Keeping track of all these tasks is no easy feat. It requires task and time management to ensure work is completed on time.

They say you should only have one task management tool, however I find these two productivity tools very helpful:

• Outlook calendar – https://office.live.com/start/Calendar.aspx
• Wunderlist – https://www.wunderlist.com

Why Wunderlist and not Microsoft To-Do?

As Office 365 advocates you may be wondering why I don’t use Microsoft To-Do. Unfortunately you can’t assign tasks to users in a shared list in To-Do and I use this functionality to manage tasks for others.

This feature is coming according to the Office 365 roadmap so I am happy to keep using Wunderlist until To-Do meets my needs. It’s also handy that you can move lists and task over to To-Do from Wunderlist. It should be an easy transition when the time is right.

Breaking down tasks

I add daily, weekly or once-off tasks to Wunderlist. Typically I only work on tasks that are in my default ‘Today’ list, but I will complete other tasks if I find myself with spare time.

Creating lists by client or project helps with grouping work. I include a due date, priority and any additional information or files so that everything is in the one place.

I add regular monthly activities – such as technical CAB meetings – to Wunderlist as well as my Outlook calendar so I know to set meetings around these activities.

Due dates and reminders

ALWAYS add a due date and remember a due date is different to a task that needs to be done at a specific time. Too many times people fall into the pit of waiting for the due date to roll around before completing a task. This leads to overdue work and a LONG list of tasks. Wunderlist and To-Do both include reminders that can be set to daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

If you don’t think you can complete a task before the due date inform your team and the client. Don’t let tasks pile up as it will make catching up daunting and overwhelming.