Make Every Minute Count
These useful time management
tools will help you prioritise tasks and organise your day
Effective time management
encompasses many pieces and various approaches. Whether for work, home, or
school, being able to organise our time is often key to success in our busy
lives. The tools shown here each have useful features to assist with managing time
and making the most of it, for any business or personal situation.
CREATE A PLAN
Week Plan
With Week Plan, you can
easily see what is on your plate for the entire week.The application has
sections for Roles and Goals as well as a Parking Lot for items to come later.
Click any day of the week to add a new task and set its priority as important
or urgent as needed.
While Week Plan provides
you a nice view of the week ahead, it also offers a month plan, which is
helpful for longer term items. With three plans available, you can try out the
tool for free and look into paid plans that offer additional features such as
subtasks, analytics, and Google Calendar integration.
Weekis
If you prefer basic, simple
weekly planners, then Weekis is the one for you. This no-frills option is a
web-based application where you just enter your tasks for each day of the week.
This also makes it easy to plan your days, one day at a time.
With Weekis, you see the
week at a glance, can rearrange tasks with drag-and-drop, and if you create a
free account, your items will be saved.
Trello
For managing any size
project, Trello is a full-featured tool. Using the Kanban method, the
application gives you boards, lists, and cards to organise projects. You can
collaborate with co-workers, create checklists, and set due dates for tasks.
Aside from a wonderful way
to organise yourself and your team, Trello offers a useful calendar power-up.
To add this option to one of your boards, click Show Menu from the top right
corner, choose Power-Ups, and then next to Calendar select Enable. A link to
the Calendar option will then show up next to the board menu at the top.
Trello is available for
free with Trello Gold as a paid option offering features like large attachment
upload, saved searches, and premium customisation options.
GQueues
GQueues is another handy
application for organisation and calendar integration. With the look and feel
of Gmail, features include repeating tasks, subtasks, sharing and
collaboration, assignments and comments, tags, and prioritisation.
Basic features of the
application are available for free with personal and business paid plan
options. Note that Google Calendar integration is part of the personal paid
plan, however, GQueues Lite (free) comes with a Calendar Gadget. GQueues is
available for mobile devices as well.
If you use a host of Google
tools such as Google Drive, Google Contacts, Google Calendar, and Gmail, this
is a convenient option.
KEEP TRACK OF YOUR TIME
Toggl
Toggl is a vibrant tool for
time tracking that includes project creation, client and team management,
multiple workspaces, and reporting tools. To begin tracking an activity, just
tap the Timer, give the task a name, and press the Play button. You can also add
tags for easy organisation.
Toggl offers integration
with other applications such as Basecamp, Asana, and GitHub. With access via
the Web as well as mobile apps, you can track your time and access your items
from anywhere.
You can sign up and begin
using Toggl and its many features for free. Paid plans include additional
options such as scheduled reports, time audits, and adding team members.
RescueTime
If you prefer to use a
desktop application for time tracking, RescueTime is a good o p t i o n . Yo u
c a n download it for Windows, Mac, or Linux platforms, as well as Android.
Once installed
, choose y o u r m o s t
productive and most distracting activities and pick the days and times you
would like to track. The appli cation then automatically begins tracking your
time.
With automatic time
tracking, you never have to worry about forgetting to start the clock for an
activity. RescueTime offers options for setting goals and viewing a pop-up
daily time log. You can also check out reports for productivity, goals, and
applica tion usage.
RescueTime Lite is
available for free with limited features and RescueTime Premium is a paid plan
with additional features such as daily goal alerts, unlimited report history,
and website blocking to help eliminate distractions.
PRIORITISE TO-DOS
Doris
Doris offers a simple way
to prioritise your task list. This application lets you add numerous to-dos to
your list, edit them, and include notes. To prioritise the tasks, just select
one and drag it to the new position in the list.
You can also view your task
history for the current day, previous week or month, and current week or month.
You will see when each to-do was completed and have options to delete or
restore them. Doris is a basic, free, web-based tool.
Todoist
Todoist is one of the most
popular task list applications and can help you prioritise and keep up with
your to-dos. The application provides colour-coded priority levels so that you
always know what is most important. You can also set up recurring dates, sub
projects and tasks, and handy notifications.
Another time management
aspect that Todoist can assist with is delegation of tasks. With features for
collaboration, assignment of tasks, and discussion options, you can share the
workload with an easy-to-use tool.
Todoist is available for
free and accessible via the Web and on mobile devices. Other options include
browser extensions and integrations with Gmail and Outlook. Paid plans provide
additional features such as location-based notifications, automatic backups, project
templates, and team member management.
DELEGATE TASKS
MeisterTask MeisterTask is
visual tool that is useful for managing projects, tasks, and a team. Set up
different sections for various projects or subprojects and then include
assignable tasks within each one. The application offers due dates, comments,
tags, notifications, attachments, and checklists which all make delegation
easy. For team time tracking, MeisterTask lets you print or export data.
The main screen provides a
good view of your day with a quick overview of your tasks.Integrations with
MeisterTask are also available and include Slack, Zendesk, GitHub, Zapier,
Dropbox, and others.
MeisterTask has a free
version with limited features and a paid plan that provides unlimited
integrations, workflow automation, and custom backgrounds. The application can
be accessed via the web or apps for mobile and desktop devices.
This article first appeared on Makeuseof.com
|
Sandy
Stachowiak
|
No comments:
Post a Comment