One of the oldest workplace struggles is knowing how to manage and prioritize your work. With the ever-growing to-do list and higher expectations, deciding what deserves your attention can be quite challenging. With erxes Task Management, you can track your team to-do list and implement a prioritization method that suits your company.

So many tasks, so little time

According to the Busy Person’s Guide to the Done List, people never complete 41% of their to-do list items. There could be many different reasons behind this, but one of the most common problems is that people don’t think about the tasks’ importance when you’re recording tasks. And that’s how you end up with dozens of tasks on your to-do list sitting there overwhelming you.

Another problem is that you end up discovering some long-forgotten tasks with the looming deadlines without a project management strategy. Only 21% of companies have standardized project management systems as of 2020.

There can be severe consequences for failing to meet a deadline. Missing a deadline will likely impact your company’s reputation, and it can have profound financial implications, such as a penalty clause in a contract, pending payments, etc. Project management challenges cost businesses $109 million for every $1 billion invested in a project. You lose $11 for every $100 you spend on a project without a proper management system.

So, what can you do? According to PMSolutions, project management tools delivered a 27% improvement in customer satisfaction and a 25% increase in productivity. Using a management tool is one thing, but effectively using it is a different story. With the ever-growing demand to improve your business, your to-do list can become quite long. However, mastering prioritization can reduce stress, and help you focus, which can improve productivity and time management. 

Take on tasks that matter

Too often, the activity of organizing tasks itself can become too burdensome. There are many different methods of organizing, but often the maintenance of the system becomes unsustainable. What are your goals as a company? How important is it to you to ship a project fast? What matters to you the most? These are all critical questions to consider if you’re a small team with big dreams. Here are some of the many different prioritization methods you can use for your company:

Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix, also referred to as Urgent-Important Matrix, helps you decide on and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance, sorting out less urgent and important tasks which you should either delegate or not do at all.

• Urgent and important: These tasks should be done first
• Important but not urgent: Block off time on your calendar to get this done, without interruption
• Urgent but unimportant: Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. 
• Neither urgent nor important: Remove from your to-do list

MoSCoW Method

The MoSCoW method is a prioritization technique used in management, business analysis, project management, and software development. It helps to reach a common understanding with stakeholders on the importance they place on each task.

• Must have – non-negotiable tasks that you guarantee to deliver because you can’t deliver without, or it would be illegal or unsafe without
• Should have  – important initiatives that are not vital, but add significant value
• Could have – nice to have initiatives that will have a small impact if left out
• Will not have  – initiatives that are not a priority for this specific timeframe

Kano Model

The Kano model is a theory for product development and customer satisfaction, which classifies customer preferences into five categories. These categories have been translated into English using various names (delighters/exciters, satisfiers, dissatisfiers, etc.):

• Must-Be – These are expected by your customers. They are features that will not WOW them. They must be included in your product, and are often taken for granted.
• Attractive – These make users happy when they’re there, but don’t disappoint them when they’re not.
• One-Dimensional – These are features that make users happy when they’re there, unhappy when they’re not.
• Indifferent – These have no impact on customer satisfaction levels. For example, refactoring parts of your code so that it is easier to read and understand. There is no direct value to the customer, but it will make it easier for you to maintain in the future.
• Reverse – These make users unhappy when they’re there, happy when they’re not. For example, you might implement high-security features requiring an extra step to login. However, if customers do not value enhanced security, they will become dissatisfied with the extra step.

Another important aspect of prioritization is to review your tasks constantly and be realistic about your to-do list. Resist the FOMO and let go. You can implement different strategies for prioritizing tasks depending on your needs and capabilities at which stage your team is at.

erxes for an improved project or product management

With our Task Management feature, you can create as many projects and task cards as you wish in Kanban or Calendar views. Aside from the essential task management functionalities, such as assigning team members and due dates, leaving notes, etc., you can create your filters to help you prioritize. You can record and track custom properties for your tasks, which goes beyond just labeling them or assigning too generic priorities. This way, you can fully customize and implement a prioritization practice that works for you. 

Once you have your task card properties set, you can mix different default and custom properties to:

• Prioritize initiatives
• Identify items that need to be reviewed or archived
• Analyze trends over time

Beyond task management

With erxes you can achieve prioritization and more. With the omnichannel solution – Team Inbox – all tasks are created from actual conversations with the customers or any other stakeholders you might have. It gives a broad context about the what and the why of a task.

To keep everyone involved in the loop, you can communicate directly from the task card to the associated contacts. It could be sending an email to a contractor about the project’s status or any relevant documents they might need.

What are the next steps for taking action? 

• Take a deep look into your workflow process. Do you need a task management practice?
• Decide on your task management structure. How would you like to set up your task management structure? What makes the most sense for you and your team?
• Choose a prioritization method to implement. Which method suits your business needs without making things overly complicated?

Already set up your Task Management in erxes? Here is the user guide with examples and tips.

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If you want to learn more about how you can improve your productivity with erxes Task Managemen, you can either sign up for a free account to try it yourself or book a call with us.