task assignment groups

How to Give Assignments to Team Members

Table of Contents

The project has been divided into milestones, goals and objectives broken into tasks, and now it’s time to assign them. But as you open the project management platform, you’re faced with the unflattering process of wording the tasks, and choosing whom to assign them to.

Well, in this article, we offer advice on how to make that jumbled first moment a little clearer. There are actionable tips, learning the difference between allocating and delegating tasks, and suggested criteria on how to choose the best person for the job.

For a more precise overview, here’s a table of contents:

How do you assign employees tasks?

We normally think that assigning tasks is a time-consuming process that focuses on clearing out task lists to keep the project going. However, task assignment should actually be a more employee-oriented process that requires additional dedication and effort, which yields incredible results. But what do we mean by that?

Properly assigned tasks push your employees, projects, and the overall company forward. Here’s how.

• They strengthen accountability and trust between managers and employees;
• They help teach new skills and perfect old ones;
• They allow employees to get familiar with other teams and avenues of work;
• It becomes easier to make project estimates;
• Makes for great bases for performance reviews, etc.

The list could go on, but we’ll stop there for now.

Of course, such long-term benefits don’t come without some proverbial blood and sweat in the planning stage. Let’s take a look at the general ideas on assigning employee tasks, and specific steps you can take.

Motivation comes from knowing the bigger picture

When we talk about the bigger picture in project management, we talk about each team member’s task affecting their peer’s down the line. Since all tasks are usually small pieces of the puzzle, it helps to remind employees how their work contributes. For example:

• A high-quality draft can make a great foundation for the final version, and it can be completed more quickly.
• A well-prepared presentation can shave time off unnecessary questions and additional email inquiries.

It comes as no surprise that people work better and are more productive, when they know that their work has an impact on the company level.

And so, when you assign tasks, try to emphasize how they fit in the bigger picture. Simply saying: “ You doing X will help with Y and Z ” and how it reflects on the project as a whole will let an employee know that the task they were assigned is important.

Get your employees excited to commit

Telling people about the bigger picture and showing them what’s possible can only get them so far. It’s enough to ignite the initial spark, but for them to fully commit to the task, you need to define what that task entails.

They should be able to picture how to go about the work, what skills to use, and how to reach the desired result. The clearer the instructions, the more motivated they will be to work.

Simply put, give directions on how the task should be done, and make sure they understand. You can’t read each other’s minds, so it’s important everyone is on the same page.

Ask for task transparency

One of the best practices a company can employ is transparency among coworkers.

This is achieved by having everyone input their tasks for the day in a timesheet. The purpose of timesheets is to get an accurate idea of what everyone is working on at any given time.

When people know who works on what tasks, it’s easier for them to know if a person is available or busy, how far along they are with a task, etc.

So, when you give assignments to employees, label them with deadlines. Alternatively, you can ask for employees’ assessments on how long the work would take them, and use those timeframes.

Source: Clockify team timesheet

Timesheets are a great way to keep an eye on tasks and the people doing them. You get to:

• see who struggles with what (helps assess people’s skill sets);
• who burns through their workload and is available for additional tasks;
• whether your time estimates need correction;
• identify any wasted time.

💡 If your employees are insecure about keeping public records of their tasks, here are a few resources that can help:

• How to create order in your daily work tasks
• How to be more efficient with your tasks

Keep a crystal clear timeframe

While we’re discussing timesheets and deadline transparency, it’s important to mention that the times you set for task completions need to be clear-cut.

As we’ve mentioned, the safest way to assign deadlines is to consult the employees. They are better at assessing how long it will take them due to the tasks’ difficulty, overall deadlines, the standards that need to be met, and the skill required to complete it.

When they get a say in how long they should be doing an assignment, people tend to feel more accountable for the whole process. They will do their best to finish in time, since they actively participated in setting the deadline.

Set very clear expectations

Assigning a task should always include your (the supervisor’s) expectations pointed out. For example:

• Does a logo pitch need as many drafts as possible, or just a few finished pieces?

If you ask a designer to make some drafts for a logo pitch, you must specify the kind of quality you’re looking for. Explain whether you are looking for some sketches and drafts for a brainstorming meeting, or if you want clean, presentable pieces to show.

Additionally:

• How many pieces should the designer do?
• Is there a specific color palette they need to follow?
• How important is the task? Is this the day they finally decide on a logo, or is it still in the brainstorming stage? (decides on the quality of the work itself)

Assigning the task using the above questions, you help the designer understand how much effort precisely they need to invest. They become more motivated with clear instructions, as they know what is expected of them. There’s no fear of having their work criticized for something that wasn’t communicated in the beginning. And on your end, it prevents breached deadlines or subpar results.

Avoid creating dependency by being less involved

It’s not unusual for employees to ask their supervisors for their opinion on a certain task, or their performance.

The problem arises when a supervisor makes themselves too involved with the process. When they feel like the project might fall apart if they don’t have their eyes on every moving part all of the time. And when you have, say, 20 people waiting for that person’s approval, advice, or consultation, the workflow runs into a gridlock.

And wait time is wasted time.

Plus, people lose motivation, patience, and grow frustrated, as they could be doing other things.

So, learn not to jump in every time people call for your aid. Assign reliable people who can address smaller issues, while you handle the big picture. Learn how to expend your own energy where it is needed more.

For example – making a pitch presentation for potential investors keeps getting put off because one person needs you to check a client email they want to send, another wants your signature on a form, and the third wants to ask something about employee feedback that’s coming up.

In order to not be stretched thin, and have your time wasted on menial tasks, here’s where you can start:

How to mitigate the risk of being over-involved when assigning

• Remember that you match tasks to people

Which means that, by matching the right people with the right tasks, your involvement will be minimal. Take time to carefully choose who gets to do what. What is the point of assigning tasks if they can’t be done without you?

• Have a 10-point scale to judge the importance of items

How important are certain aspects of your leadership role? Are you absolutely necessary in every meeting, or during every call? Which tasks need your approval, and which ones can be approved by someone under you?

Rank these items on a scale of 0 to 10, based on their importance to you and the project. Top priority tasks should get your undivided attention. And what can be delegated, should be.

• Analyze your schedule

Your energy and time are needed on a much broader scale. The best way to spot if you’re wasting time being too involved is to look at your schedule. Identify how much time you’ve spent on low-priority items, and assess which issues could’ve been solved without you.

• Take into account priorities and deadlines

Step in only when absolutely necessary. You are in charge of things getting done on time, by people most qualified for assigned tasks. Determine what your priorities are for each project, and concern yourself only with those issues, unless there is a risk of breaching a deadline.

• Formulate a list of dependable people

If you know your employees (or team members) well enough, then you should be able to single out those who are more dependable and ready to take on a little more responsibilities. Write out the reasons how they could help by getting involved on low-priority items instead of you. When the time comes, rally them and present them with the idea, keeping in mind that this solution helps push the project forward. When authority is delegated to several people, there’s fewer chances of a hold-up in the workflow.

This also falls into the realm of task delegation , which we’ll get into later.

How do you decide what tasks to assign to which employees?

1. assign based on priority.

Naturally, some tasks will be more important than others. When you break down a project into tasks , spend some time assessing their priority level.

High-priority tasks should be the first on your list to allocate. Whether it’s because they’re time-sensitive, or require more effort and dedication.

Low priority tasks can be allocated as fillers to the first available person.

2. Assign based on employee availability

Another factor to consider when assigning tasks is who is available at the moment.

As the project moves along, new tasks will be added. You will have to allocate new work, but odds are you won’t always be able to pick who you want. Especially if a deadline is approaching, the person with the smallest workload should be your first choice.

Overloading an already busy individual just because they’re more skilled or you have faith in them the most puts an unnecessary strain on them. It’s cause for frustration, poorer results, and decreased productivity.

And as we’ve mentioned, if you have a timesheet with an overview of all the tasks and employees working on them, it’ll be much easier to spot who is free and who isn’t.

3. Assign based on employee skill level

High-priority tasks should go to employees with more experience in a given field or skill. However, you should occasionally give such tasks to other employees as well, to help them grow and become just as dependable. Giving people challenging tasks that can boost their experience is essential to productivity and morale.

Not to mention you get to have multiple high-skilled employees.

Low-priority tasks can be assigned to anyone, despite their experience level. They’re a good opportunity to practice, pick up new skills, or get smaller tasks out of the way to make room for more important ones.

4. Assign based on preference

Last, but not the least, preference can also play a big part in how you assign tasks.

It’s a given that some employees will prefer certain tasks over others. So it could be good to assign tasks at a meeting with the team. As you discuss priorities, deadlines, and availability, ask them which tasks they would like to work on.

If someone shows interest in a specific type of work, they should (with some consideration), be allowed to take it. After all, people are more productive when they’re assigned to something they find new or exciting.

Note: Apply this rule with caution. Letting people do only the tasks they want can stunt their career growth. Getting out of our comfort zones and occasionally doing tasks that we don’t like is how we develop and learn. So, don’t forget to document assignments as you hand them out, to spot these potential issues early on.

Allocating vs delegating tasks

While semantically similar words, delegation and allocation in terms of tasks are two different things.

When you allocate tasks , you are assigning tasks without giving the employees much authority, challenge, or room to grow. It includes you keeping all of the responsibility – writing out the tasks, making deadlines, providing resources, tools, etc. These are usually recurring tasks that can become repetitive.

When you delegate tasks , you allow for some of that responsibility to fizzle out from your fingers. All you think about are the objectives, while letting the employees figure out the details and means to get there.

However, that doesn’t mean delegation is right and the allocation is wrong.

Task allocation has its own place. It is just as important, as a lot of tasks come down to repeated processes that are still vital to the project progress. Task delegation is just a good opportunity for employees to learn, challenge themselves, and assess their skills and performance.

When should you allocate tasks?

Management and BizDev consultant Artem Albul shared his concept on task assignment, which he dubbed an “algorithm”. He emphasized how these criteria are useful only and only when you wish that employees perform the tasks based on your guidelines and instructions (aka allocation).

Here is how Albul broke down the algorithm:

Source: Artem Albul, TWA Consulting

As we can see, task allocation, while the more “controlling” of the two, also gives in-depth instructions and asks for confirmation on task clarity. A lot of it comes down to everyone being on the same page, leaving little to no room for misinterpretation (but also creative freedom).

How should you allocate tasks?

With all that we’ve mentioned in the previous section, here’s how your task allotment could look like, step by step.

• Break down your project

Detail out the goals, objectives, and some individual tasks (not all, be careful not to start micromanaging). Place the most important deadlines.

• Prioritize tasks and sort them

It’s important to know what tasks need to be done faster/better, to properly allocate your resources and manpower from the start.

• Make a list of teams and team members

Assign team leaders (if you don’t have them), and alternatively, ask for their input on individual employees skills, for a more informed decision on who gets what.

• Schedule a meeting

Make a meeting with the team leads and go through the points above. Assign tasks according to each team’s availability, interest, and skill required to successfully push the project forward.

• As team leads – assign tasks further down the pipeline
• Track task completion and make necessary changes along the way

Whether it’s pushing deadlines, reassigning tasks, or shifting around resources. This is perfectly fine and expected, so long as it doesn’t happen on every task you’ve assigned. Then, it is an indicator of poor pre-planning.

• Offer feedback and write performances

Don’t forget to track the progress and make notes of important details that might help the next task allocation/delegation process. It’s also a useful piece of information for the employees on what they need to improve on.

Allocating tasks is somewhat more complicated than we want it to be. But, this kind of thorough research and preparation will make projects run more smoothly. Employees will also be more satisfied with their work, and there will be less hurdles as deadlines approach.

When should you delegate tasks?

Delegation is a great practice in trust for both the employer/supervisor and the employee. The employer learns how to give away some of their control over the process, while the employee learns how to take more accountability for their work.

This lets you focus on big-picture aspects of your job, since you deal less with assignments that are low-priority for you. You save time and energy, while helping others move up in their careers.

How do you effectively delegate tasks as a leader?

As we’ve mentioned, delegating includes more employee independence. There are some additional components which make this type of task assignment more appealing than allocation, with great opportunities for growth.

Focus on delegating objectives instead of actual tasks

When you delegate, you focus on the objective that needs to be done. You shouldn’t give employees a “color by numbers” instruction on how to complete a task.

Communicate clearly what the end result should be and what expectations you (or the higher-ups) have. Leave the means for reaching that end goal to the employees themselves. Because how you solve a task may be completely different to how they will. And that is perfectly fine, so long as the result is the one you are looking for.

Keep the objectives challenging

When the objectives you’re delegating are too easy, chances are the person will either procrastinate, or feel like you don’t trust them enough. And if they’re too difficult, they get frustrated, anxious, and begin to panic.

It’s a good idea to be aware of an employee’s skill level, so you can gauge how much challenge and responsibility they can take on. For them to be the most productive and achieve great results, they need to enter “the state of Flow”.

Source: Optimal Experience , M. Csikszentmihalyi

💡 We’ve discussed the state of Flow in more detail in an article on time organization.

Encourage discussion and feedback

Let employees voice their opinions on the topic.

They should ask anything about the task, the goals, or the overall impact their work will have on the later stages or others’ workflow. It means they are interested in the task, and getting involved.

And if they aren’t asking questions themselves, you can always nudge them into proactivity.

• Is there something you’d like me to clarify?
• Do you already have any ideas on how to go about the task?
• Is the time we agreed upon enough for you?
• Will you need other resources, tools, or support?
• Do you see any problems or risks?

Questions like these help them feel valued, their efforts acknowledged, and let them know you care about the task and how well they perform. Just be careful not to overdo it, or you’ll start to look like a micromanager.

Give employees free rein, but offer support

Speaking of micromanaging, delegation means you let people problem-solve their way out on their own. There should be no reason for a manager to step in and control or supervise any step of the process, unless absolutely necessary.

However, what you should do is let them know you’re available for any advice should they feel stuck. Just because employees get authority on a certain task, and are left to their own devices, doesn’t mean the project has to suffer until they pull themselves up.

From time to time, ask them if they need anything from you, and make sure they know you’re there for any kind of support, consultation, or mediation. ANother good practice is to also give them additional learning opportunities – such as training, conferences, courses, etc.

Delegate objectives that move people forward

Choose assignments that boost the skills and employ all of their experiences, instead of something that simply needs to be done. For example:

• Tasks that require they brush up on their team communication skills;
• Learning how to allocate smaller tasks;
• Supervising others’ work and doing quality control;
• Learning to work with a new tool;
• Holding a meeting (or more), etc.

Find out which skills your employees may want or need to develop, and then plan your delegations accordingly. You want them to complete the task while having learned something new at the same time.

How to choose who to delegate to

Paul Beesley, senior director and consultant at Beyond Theory proposed a nifty checklist for when you’re choosing an employee to delegate to. It’s meant to simplify and speed up the process.

To successfully complete the delegated task, your chosen employee needs:

S – the skill to perform and complete a task

T – the time to complete the task, and if needed, learn the required skill

A – the authority to handle everything concerning the task

R – the necessary level of responsibility

R – the recognition for successfully completing the task

This list is a set of important criteria that should be covered when you consider who to assign to a specific task. However, depending on your niche, type of service, company size and the project at hand, the criteria are likely to change. And it should accommodate your needs, not the other way around.

Common task delegation mistakes to avoid

With all being said, there are some common mistakes managers and employers make, sometimes without even realizing it.

• Being too vague concerning deadlines (using: as soon as possible, when you get to it, I need it by yesterday). It creates unnecessary pressure.
• Being unavailable for questions and concerns. While you shouldn’t micromanage, you should still be present for support if an employee feels stuck. Ignoring them or handing them over to someone else could cause distrust. However, if you are usually swamped with work, set consultation hours each day or week.
• Having unclear directions. Specifying the allotted time for task completion and expectations should be the bare minimum when delegating tasks.
• Not providing feedback. No feedback is worse than bad feedback. Employees need to be aware when they’re doing good work, as well. In one company I worked for, the mantra was: “If no one is complaining about your work, that means you’re doing good”. And while it sounds like sound logic, it actually caused a lot of frustration. We were left directionless, and simply “floating” from task to task, never knowing if any of them had a positive impact on our performance.
• Not listening to employees. Take into account how they feel about a task or the objective. Let them give you feedback and if there are potential problems from the get-go.
• Assigning other people to the same task. If you notice a person struggling, the first instinct should be to ask them how they’re faring, and if they need any help. Some managers tend to assign other employees to help them without consultation, which leaves a sore taste. The employee will feel even more incompetent and will be less likely to take on a similar task in the future.
• Assuming people will know what you mean. This is one of the biggest problems. When you’re formulating a task, be as clear as possible about the goals and expectations. Oftentimes managers think that these things are implied, but the truth is – no one is a mind reader. To avoid having information misconstrued or misunderstood, communicate clearly and directly.

There could be more mistakes, especially for every different field and industry. If at all possible, identify the most common ones, made either by you or your peers. Note down all the instances where certain tasks weren’t up to par, and see what you could have changed in your assignment process to fix it. Maybe there wasn’t enough time or resources, you were unclear, or the employee wasn’t ready for such responsibility. Use the same procedure in all future task delegations. It’s the only way to learn and make the process quicker.

Use Clockify to assign tasks with ease

Now you’re a master of task delegation — congrats!

But there’s more to it than meets the eye.

In fact, what if you used a digital tool like Clockify to increase the likelihood that each job would be completed on time and on point?

In Clockify, you can easily create highly descriptive assignments that contain information like:

• Start time,
• Billability status,
• Name of the employee,
• Period for getting the assignment done,
• Hours per day to spend on the assignment, and more.

That way, you can plan who works on what, how long, and when.

Similarly, Clockify allows you to create project milestones to achieve results faster.

With the Milestones option, you can select dates for deadlines, allowing you to pin down important events in your projects.

For example, if your client expects you to keep them in the loop about developments, you can inform them promptly on whether your team has reached the agreed-upon milestones.

Refocus on your company’s big picture with a project and time tracking tool.

Marijana Stojanovic is a writer and researcher who specializes in the topics of productivity and time management.

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Running An Effective Task Group: The 5 C's

by Laura M. Fernandez

     Many social work students may ask themselves, “What is a task group? Why should I be concerned with what makes a task group run more effectively?” The majority of students have already participated in a task group, but may not have called it by name. Knowing the skills that contribute to being an effective task group leader will help ensure that your task group experience is a positive and productive one.

     Task groups are groups of individuals brought together to accomplish a specific action or produce a product. If you have participated in an educational planning meeting, been a member of a committee, attended a treatment team meeting, been elected to student government, or joined a social movement group, you have already experienced a task group in action. For some, the experience may not have been a positive one, because running an effective task group takes many different skills. Many social work students will be in the position of leading task groups while they are in school or very shortly afterward. Developing an awareness of the ingredients that go into a successful task group, with satisfied members, is crucial.

     Five areas that are frequently cited by the experts on task groups are the five C's: Control, Conflict, Communication, Consensus, and Cohesion. The five C' can make or break a task group experience.

     Groups are dynamic and fluid, which often means that the five C's will be interrelated and interconnected. All can influence member satisfaction and ultimately the level of success the group will have attaining its goals. Thinking about some of the pitfalls that task groups can experience, and some strategies that may help you avoid them, may help you prepare for your own task group experience.

     Have you ever experienced the leadership vacuum? A leader has been appointed, but the group feels like a ship with no one at the helm. No one clarifies the purpose of the group or establishes concrete goals that can be evaluated. There is no agenda and group discussions meander through many topics. Members feel they are wasting their time, because nothing is being accomplished. On the opposite extreme is the super controlling leader who makes the members feel as if they are working with a control freak. The leader imposes his/her own agenda and refuses any member input. The leader is insensitive to the members’ needs or inflexible about allowing extra time to process an important decision.

     Social workers may feel uncomfortable about assuming a leadership role, but many groups need someone to carry out the leadership functions to fulfill their purpose. Leaders are often responsible for convening meetings, chairing discussions, and facilitating the processes of meeting goals.

     One strategy for leaders is to prepare for meetings by having a written agenda. Leaders should orient group members at the beginning and as new members join, so that all members understand who is in the group and what is the group' purpose. Leaders should start meetings as close to on time as possible and end on time. Also, avoiding long meetings is usually a good idea; members may have a hard time remaining focused in meetings that are longer than two hours. Discussions should be refocused when members remain stuck on one point endlessly or drift on long tangents.

     Leaders should use social work skills such as asking open-ended questions, paraphrasing, and summarizing to help facilitate productive discussions. Someone should be appointed to keep minutes of meetings. Minutes should be reviewed before the next meeting to remind members and leaders what was accomplished and what still needs to be done. Setting some realistic goals that can be reached early on will help group members feel the group has a purpose. Involving group members as much as possible in establishing group rules and task assignments will send a message to members that their contributions are valued.

     Many social workers have been part of a group where the whole meeting was spent arguing over every decision. The members end up feeling as if they are participating in World War III. Some people may get frustrated and drop out. But the conflict-free group can often be just as frustrating. Being part of a group where no one feels they can raise a differing point of view for fear of creating conflict, often forces members to go along with decisions they don’t agree with and will not support in the long run.

     Group leaders should expect some level of conflict as part of a healthy group process and not see conflict as a sign of failure. Group members should be encouraged to give their input, while at the same time, the leader should help members anticipate that there may be differences of opinion. Leaders should not switch topics or end discussion whenever there is a sign of possible conflict, but should intervene when a conflictual discussion moves to a personal level or goes on for so long that it feels unproductive. Negotiation, mediation, and arbitration skills can help resolve conflicts in a productive manner. Leaders should avoid leaving the most conflictual items until the end of the agenda, because meetings should not end on a conflictual note.

Communication

     In any type of group, communication is very important, because miscommunication almost always leads to problems. In task groups, different communication styles can create a situation in which group members misinterpret messages and fail to have a true dialogue. This can be especially true in task groups made up of members from different professions or of community groups with many nonprofessionals. A doctor may use professional jargon which is meaningless to other group members who are involved in a discharge conference. A community organizer may arrive at a meeting to plan a voter registration drive in a Spanish-speaking neighborhood, unable to communicate anything because he or she doesn’t speak Spanish. And nothing is more painful than being in a group where no one will say anything. The silence is deafening.

     Communicating ideas and having a dialogue among members is very important in reaching group goals. Leaders should encourage and model good communication behaviors, which include no talking over others, no interrupting, and the use of “I statements.” Leaders should intervene when members are potentially misinterpreting messages and ask for clarification from the member who has just spoken.

     Leaders need to be aware of nonverbal communication, such as eye rolling, frowning, and shaking heads. Jargon should be avoided if members have different backgrounds. Members who use language that is racist, sexist, or homophobic should be addressed either during the group or afterward in private about the negative consequences of using this type of communication. Leaders should try whenever possible to reframe different communication styles as a positive addition to the diversity of the group.

     Being a member of a group with no cohesion or no sense of belonging can be very disheartening. Members may have difficulty expending a lot of energy in a group where members have no sense of connectedness or common purpose. Some groups err in the opposite extreme, creating a group with an intense sense of connection which is closed to any new members or suggestions from outside the group. Sometimes, a few members within the larger group feel closer and cliques, claques, or fractions are created which contribute to negative feelings between group members or subgroups.

     Cohesion is often linked to group member satisfaction. Leaders should strive for a sense of belonging among their members by involving members in group activities and encouraging interaction between members. When assigning tasks or delegating authority, leaders should try to include everyone, even if the task is very small, because members may feel more a part of a group where they are making contributions. The leader can also encourage and model the benefits of working cooperatively instead of competitively. Never forget the importance of frequently recognizing and praising members’ commitment and contributions to the group.

     Task groups are frequently in the position of having to choose between different options. This means that groups must decide, in advance preferably, how they will arrive at a final decision. One pattern that can develop occurs when a small group of members is in contact outside of the formal meeting and makes a decision. This agreement is then presented to the whole group as if the whole group has already agreed to its mini-consensus. Striving to achieve complete consensus, especially in larger groups, can be aggravating to members. When a social action group has been meeting weekly for three months and is still trying to come to complete agreement by all forty members on the purpose of the group, members may lose interest and drop out.

     Strategies for leaders include reaching an agreement early on in the life of the group as to what consensus will be when a group is formed: a simple majority? over 75% of the members? or 100%? Deciding the procedure for coming to consensus is also crucial: hand raising, secret ballot, and voice votes are all possibilities to consider. These strategies will vary a great deal depending on group size. A five-person treatment team may work well with 100% consensus, while a social action group with 50 members may need another type of decision-making.

     Group processes will vary depending on group objectives and group membership. Sometimes a group will need a controlling leader or be able to tolerate high amounts of conflict. Flexibility and some understanding of group processes/dynamics are very important in helping leaders meet the needs of diverse groups. Leading or being a member of a task group can be very challenging to social work students, so don’t be too hard on yourself if your first experience feels like less than a total success.

     Remembering what it felt like to be a task group member will help you stay in touch with what your group members may be going through. Learning from any mistakes will help you to be more prepared for future task group experiences to come.

Laura M. Fernandez, MSSW, is a 1996 graduate of Columbia University School of Social Work. She became involved in a social action group, The Action Coalition for Social Justice, in January 1995, and began a one-year term as Student Union Treasurer in September 1996. Through these experiences, she has realized the importance of task group leadership to the success of the group.

Copyright © 1997 White Hat Communications. All rights reserved. From THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER , Winter 1997, Vol. 4, No. 1. For reprints of this or other articles from THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER (or for permission to reprint), contact Linda Grobman, publisher/editor, at P.O. Box 5390, Harrisburg, PA 17110-0390, or at [email protected] .

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how to effectively assign tasks to team members to increase productivity?

Picture this: It's Monday morning, and your team is buzzing with excitement, ready to take on the week. But wait! Who's doing what? Does everyone know their roles and responsibilities? Ah, the perennial challenge of assigning tasks . If this rings a bell, worry not. We've all been there. Have you ever felt the sting of mismatched roles? Like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Assigned tasks play a pivotal role in the smooth functioning of any team. And guess what? There are methods and tools that make this process easier. Let’s dive in.

As a leader in the workplace, it is essential to ensure that everyone in the team gets the appropriate amount of work. Sometimes, it's tempting to give an employee more tasks than others, especially if he/she finishes the tasks faster. But keep in mind that as managers, you must be fair. You must learn how to effectively assign tasks to your team members . 

Although it may seem like a simple management function, assigning tasks to your team is actually challenging. As said by Liane Davey, cofounder of 3COze Inc. and author of  You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done , You are “juggling multiple interests” in the pursuit of optimal team performance.

Task distribution among various departments might vary from person to person. For efficient delegation, it is vital to consider guidelines while distributing duties to team members.

Tasks that are delegated effectively move your people, projects, and the entire business forward. It increases management and staff trust and accountability, helps in refining and teaching new abilities, enables personnel to become acquainted with various groups and areas of employment, and is an excellent foundation for performance reviews, etc.

How do you assign tasks to your employees? 

Assigning tasks is typically perceived as a time-consuming activity that focuses on removing items from task lists in order to keep the project moving forward. Task assignment, nevertheless, ought to be a more employee-focused procedure that calls for extra commitment and work, which produces excellent outcomes. 

Here are some tips to effectively assign tasks to your employees:

1. Delegate Positively

Don't just throw work at someone and expect them to deliver when they might not be qualified for that particular assignment. Maintain a mindset of doubting every assignment you gave and go over your personnel roster to see whether anyone else is capable of completing it as effectively as you can. They will be more likely to believe that they can do the assignment in the manner that the leader desires if they have a positive outlook. Employees won't feel inspired to start their assignment if you adversely assign them or have doubts about their competence. A little encouragement will make their day happier and encourage them to confidently do the tasks given to them.

2. Set Clear Goals and Objectives

To understand how your team performs, you should set clear goals and objectives before entrusting them with any responsibilities. When goals and objectives are not defined, it'll be harder for your team to see the big picture and perform tasks in a particular manner. 

3. Assign the Right Task to the Right Employee

This is the key to productivity. Who has the most expertise and experience should be given priority, but don't give that individual too much work. You should also think about who needs to develop their sense of responsibility. Also, take into account the passage of time and their eagerness to seize the opportunity. To do this, the manager should create a delegation plan that considers the various skill sets of each employee and assign tasks that are properly suited to each individual. On the other hand, when a task requires an extraordinary employee and there is a talent shortage, the leaders themselves should do the assignment in an emergency or without a workforce.

4. Obtain Inputs from Your Team and Set Up Meetings if Possible

Get suggestions from your team on what should be modified, who you could include, and how outcomes should be defined. Engage with the specific managers of the sub-teams if you are in charge of a large team or organization. A meeting with the entire team is necessary before assigning tasks to team members. You may obtain a clear picture of who is responsible for what and how purposefully they can do the assignment. Getting suggestions from your team members ensures that each of them will contribute to the task's accomplishment.

5. Conduct Training and Supervision

A project's completion necessitates the blending of various delegation techniques, a high degree of team member commitment, and effective planning and execution. It is essential to teach the team members and meet with the team every day in order to produce a skilled workforce. The training includes free access to resources for developing skills, such as courses from Upskillist ,  Udemy , or  Coursera . Following the training phase, the work must be supervised by a professional to ensure that the team learned from the training provided. Before and throughout the task assignment and execution among several team members, training and supervision are equally crucial.

6. Communicate Constantly

It doesn't mean that when you're done delegating the tasks, everything's good. No, it doesn't work that way. Constant communication is also the key to unlocking productivity. You need to collaborate with your team . Professionals at work must keep a close watch on their team members to learn about any challenges or issues they may be having.  For the task to be completed and the status of each team member to be tracked, communication is essential. Following up on tasks you assign to your employees helps them manage pressure and boost job productivity since problems like stress and pressure may tangle them and slow them down. Employee burnout is a result of micromanagement, which is not a good concept. It is best to let staff go free by following up casually.

7. Know who to Handover Authorization and Control

Decentralized power relieves employers of job management. Make sure to provide your staff some authority when you delegate tasks to them using management apps such as Trello , Asana , Edworking , Slack , and the like. Employees become empowered and responsible for completing tasks as a result of the control transfer. Giving them too little authority can cause issues because they lose interest in their work while giving them too much control might overwhelm them and cause them to forget basic responsibilities. The key to the team's success is giving each member the authority they rightfully deserve while also soliciting input.

8. After the project, assess the results

Ask yourself how you as the manager could support the success of your team members more effectively. Give constructive criticism and accept it in return.

The most vital phase in job completion is assigning tasks to team members. Due to the frequent mistakes made while delegating duties, it is imperative to use management tools when giving your team responsibilities. Project management solutions provide better work allocations by incorporating features like marketing automation. Employee development and time tracking are made easier by the task assignment guidelines, which also help keep workers interested. 

Allocating Vs. Delegating Tasks 

Now that you've learned about some tips to properly assign tasks, you may also have questions like, "what's the difference between allocating and delegating tasks?" 

As stated by Abhinav in a published article on LinkedIn, "The imbalance of responsibility and accountability is the main difference between Delegation and Allocation." What does it mean? Delegation gives a real opportunity for your team to upskill, grow, and develop. Allocating tasks is merely assigning tasks without the goal of helping your team grow.

Although assigning tasks has its merits, delegating tasks offers significant advantages in terms of employee growth and engagement. Because delegation when done well delivers diversity and other intrinsic motivational incentives that make work so much more meaningful, it will be even more rewarding for the manager and team members.

Task Tips and Best Practices 

In order to accomplish our objectives and SMART goals, we define a particular number of tasks that we must do each day. We frequently take on more than we can handle in the fight to remain at the top of our game and maintain our competitive edge.

Even while everything appears to be of the utmost importance, something is off in your struggle to finish everything while maintaining your composure. Some of us have a lengthy list of things we want to get done before a given age or period. Others devote so much effort to honing a particular skill that by the time it shines, it is no longer relevant.

Time management and balancing workload are not just skills of project managers or superiors. In reality, these abilities should be embraced at every level, particularly when working in a team. Research by Cornerstone found that when workers believe they don't have enough time in the day to do their jobs, work overload reduces productivity by 68%. What tips and best practices should you do so you don't only allocate tasks but delegate them effectively?

1. Prioritize. Make a to-do list according to the order of priority

Even if to-do lists are classic, they are still more efficient and effective than ever. People used to keep handwritten notes for ideas and tasks back in the day.  There are smart to-do lists apps and software that provide notifications and reminders prior to the task's due date. 

2. Maximize productivity and minimize procrastination

To start, delegate the tasks to the right people. Don't do it tomorrow or the next day. Do it today. Having a lot to accomplish may be stressful, which is sometimes worse than the actual task. If you struggle with procrastination, it's possible that you haven't come up with a good task management strategy. You might express your lack of starting knowledge by procrastinating. It could not be laziness, but rather a matter of setting priorities.

3. Be motivated

Procrastination and a lack of motivation are closely correlated. When you lack motivation, you tend to get distracted. If you want to meet milestones and deadlines, be motivated.

4. Delegate and be involved

The reality of being overburdened can have a negative impact on productivity if it is not properly managed. At the end of the day, we're still just humans. When it comes to having patience, resilience, working under pressure, or finishing a task quickly, each one of us possesses a certain set of skills. So, delegate the right tasks to the right person in your team, and don't just stop there. Be involved. Leaving the stadium just because you're done delegating is a big no. Keep in touch with them and follow up on the progress of the tasks assigned.

Task Vs. Subtask 

Tasks and subtasks are quite similar. The only difference is that a subtask should be completed as an element of completing a larger and more complex task.

For example, the task is to increase your company's social media presence. So, what should you do to accomplish those tasks? That's when you have subtasks such as creating optimized posts and content on various social media platforms, scheduling them, interacting with your audience in the comment section, etc. 

The additional stages that make up a task are called subtasks. They are essential while working on large projects with a wide range of tasks. In some task management tools, You may create as many subtasks as you need in the task view, but you must first choose the parent task before you can create a subtask.

Why You Should Assign Tasks Effectively to Team Members

Enhance team productivity.

Efficient task assignment can work wonders for your team's productivity. When each team member knows their role and is well-suited for their tasks, they can focus on delivering high-quality results. Imagine a well-oiled machine, with each cog spinning smoothly and in harmony - that's your team at peak productivity!

Consider these points:

• Match tasks to individual skills : Ensure tasks align with your team members' unique abilities and expertise.
• Set clear expectations : Be transparent about deadlines, deliverables, and objectives.
• Foster collaboration : Encourage communication and collaboration among team members.

Nurture a Sense of Ownership

Assigning tasks effectively helps to in still a sense of ownership and responsibility within your team. When individuals understand their role in a project, they are more likely to take pride in their work and strive for excellence. It's like planting a seed - with proper care and attention, it'll grow into a strong, thriving tree.

Key elements to foster ownership:

• Encourage autonomy : Allow team members to make decisions and take charge of their tasks.
• Provide feedback : Offer constructive feedback and celebrate successes.
• Support development : Invest in your team members' growth through training and development opportunities.

Reduce Work Overload and Burnout

Nobody wants to be buried under an avalanche of tasks. By allocating work effectively, you can prevent team members from feeling overwhelmed and burned out. Just as we can't run on empty, neither can our team members - so, let's ensure they have a manageable workload.

Strategies to avoid overload:

• Balance workloads : Distribute tasks evenly and consider individual capacities.
• Encourage breaks : Promote a healthy work-life balance and remind your team to take breaks.
• Monitor progress : Regularly check in with your team members to assess their workloads and stress levels.

Boost Employee Engagement

An engaged employee is a happy and productive one. When you assign tasks effectively, you're laying the groundwork for increased engagement. Think of it as a dance - with the right choreography, everyone knows their steps and performs in harmony.

Steps to enhance engagement:

• Align tasks with goals : Ensure tasks contribute to the overall goals of your team and organization.
• Offer variety : Mix up tasks to keep things interesting and provide opportunities for growth.
• Recognize achievements : Acknowledge hard work and accomplishments.

Improve Overall Team Morale

Finally, effective task assignment can lead to a happier, more cohesive team. When everyone feels valued and supported, team morale soars. Imagine a choir, each voice blending harmoniously to create a beautiful symphony - that's a team with high morale.

Ways to uplift team morale:

• Empower decision-making : Encourage team members to contribute their ideas and be part of the decision-making process.
• Foster a positive atmosphere : Cultivate an environment of open communication, trust, and support.
• Celebrate successes : Acknowledge both individual and team achievements, and celebrate them together.

Tools to Simplify Task Assignments in Teams

Microsoft outlook: not just for emails.

Yes, you heard that right. Beyond sending emails, Outlook has task features that allow managers to assign work to team members. You can set deadlines, prioritize, and even track progress. Think of it as your digital task manager. How cool is that?

Google Docs: Collaboration Made Easy

A favorite for many, Google Docs allows real-time collaboration. Need to distribute tasks ? Create a shared document, list down the tasks, and voila! Everyone can view, edit, or comment. Ever thought of using a simple shared document as a task distribution board?

Trello: Visual Task Management

For those of us who are visual creatures, Trello is a game-changer. Create boards, list assigned duties , and move them across columns as they progress. Remember playing with building blocks as a kid? It’s pretty much that, but digital and for grown-ups!

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Assigning tasks effectively is a skill that every leader must master to ensure team productivity and employee satisfaction. While the tips provided earlier can help you get there, being aware of common mistakes in task assignment is equally crucial. Avoiding these pitfalls can save you from derailing your projects and hampering your team's morale.

1. Overburdening Skilled Employees

It's tempting to give the bulk of the work to your most skilled team members, but this can lead to burnout and decreased productivity in the long term.

2. Lack of Clarity in Instructions

Vague or unclear instructions can result in misunderstandings, leading to poor quality of work or project delays. Always be specific and clear about what is expected.

3. Micromanaging

While it’s essential to oversee the progress of tasks, hovering over your team members can undermine their confidence and create a stressful work environment.

4. Failing to Prioritize Tasks

Not all tasks are created equal. Failing to prioritize can lead to poor allocation of resources, with less important tasks taking away time and energy from critical objectives.

5. Ignoring Team Input

Ignoring suggestions or feedback from your team can result in missed opportunities for more effective delegation and stronger team cohesion.

6. One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Remember that each team member has unique skills and limitations. Assigning tasks without considering these factors can lead to ineffective results and frustrated employees.

7. Neglecting Follow-Up

Assigning a task is not the end but part of an ongoing process. Failing to follow up can result in delays and could indicate to your team that the task wasn’t that important to begin with.

8. Fear of Delegating

Sometimes managers avoid delegating tasks because they feel that no one else can do the job as well as they can. This not only increases your workload but also deprives team members of growth opportunities.

A significant aspect of a leader's duties is delegating assignments to team members effectively. The secret to a manager's team functioning like an efficient machine is wise delegation.

Because of delegation, you won't have to spend hours on work that someone else can complete more quickly. Trying to handle everything on your own can quickly wear you out, regardless of your knowledge or expertise. Effectively delegating tasks enables you to keep on top of your own work while assisting team members in acquiring new abilities and developing a sense of comfort with taking ownership of tasks. 

Proper delegation of tasks also provides managers and team members with a learning opportunity since it enables everyone to build trust and become accustomed to exchanging comments and showing each other respect and appreciation.

Less is more when attempting to boost your team's output. Your team may become burned out if you try to increase their production too rapidly. In contrast, if you're too aggressive, your team can lose interest in their work and productivity might drop. Keep in mind that everyone will be more productive if they are part of the decision-making and execution process.

If you want to delegate tasks with ease and convenience, go for Edworking . This management tool lets you assign tasks and oversee your team's progress in a specific task. You can also conduct meetings to meet your team.`

Know that productivity greatly matters. With the right knowledge of assigning tasks to your team members, you can maximize productivity. Thus, achieving the goals and objectives of your organization.

What is the best way to assign tasks to team members?

Recognizing and understanding each member's unique strengths and expertise is paramount. Instead of assigning tasks randomly, it's always better to match each job with the individual’s skill set. Consider open dialogue, seek feedback, and ensure the assigned tasks align with both team and individual goals. It's a bit like giving everyone their favorite role in a play; wouldn't they shine brighter?

How do you assign tasks to a team in Teamwork?

In Teamwork, tasks can be assigned effortlessly. Start by creating a task list, then add individual tasks. Within each task, there's an option to 'Assign To.' Simply choose the team member you wish to assign the task to. Think of it as passing the baton in a relay race – each person knows when to run and when to pass it on!

Why is it important to assign tasks to your team members?

Assigning specific tasks helps in streamlining the workflow, ensuring accountability, and reducing overlaps or gaps in responsibilities. It also empowers team members by giving them ownership of their work. Have you ever seen a football team where everyone runs after the ball? Without clear roles, it's chaos!

How do you politely assign a task?

Start by acknowledging the individual's capabilities and expressing confidence in their ability to handle the task. Then, clearly explain the job's scope, expectations, and its importance in the overall project. Think of it as offering a piece of cake, not dumping a plate on their lap!

How do short term goals differ from long term goals?

Short-term goals act as stepping stones towards achieving long-term goals. While short-term goals focus on immediate challenges and tasks (think weeks or months), long-term goals look at the bigger picture and can span years. It's like comparing a sprint to a marathon. One's quick and intense, the other's about endurance and the long haul.

Center for Teaching

Group work: using cooperative learning groups effectively.

Many instructors from disciplines across the university use group work to enhance their students’ learning. Whether the goal is to increase student understanding of content, to build particular transferable skills, or some combination of the two, instructors often turn to small group work to capitalize on the benefits of peer-to-peer instruction. This type of group work is formally termed cooperative learning, and is defined as the instructional use of small groups to promote students working together to maximize their own and each other’s learning (Johnson, et al., 2008).

Cooperative learning is characterized by positive interdependence, where students perceive that better performance by individuals produces better performance by the entire group (Johnson, et al., 2014). It can be formal or informal, but often involves specific instructor intervention to maximize student interaction and learning. It is infinitely adaptable, working in small and large classes and across disciplines, and can be one of the most effective teaching approaches available to college instructors.

What can it look like?

What’s the theoretical underpinning, is there evidence that it works.

• What are approaches that can help make it effective?

Informal cooperative learning groups In informal cooperative learning, small, temporary, ad-hoc groups of two to four students work together for brief periods in a class, typically up to one class period, to answer questions or respond to prompts posed by the instructor.

Additional examples of ways to structure informal group work

Think-pair-share

The instructor asks a discussion question. Students are instructed to think or write about an answer to the question before turning to a peer to discuss their responses. Groups then share their responses with the class.

Peer Instruction

This modification of the think-pair-share involves personal responses devices (e.g. clickers). The question posted is typically a conceptually based multiple-choice question. Students think about their answer and vote on a response before turning to a neighbor to discuss. Students can change their answers after discussion, and “sharing” is accomplished by the instructor revealing the graph of student response and using this as a stimulus for large class discussion. This approach is particularly well-adapted for large classes.

In this approach, groups of students work in a team of four to become experts on one segment of new material, while other “expert teams” in the class work on other segments of new material. The class then rearranges, forming new groups that have one member from each expert team. The members of the new team then take turns teaching each other the material on which they are experts.

Formal cooperative learning groups

In formal cooperative learning students work together for one or more class periods to complete a joint task or assignment (Johnson et al., 2014). There are several features that can help these groups work well:

• The instructor defines the learning objectives for the activity and assigns students to groups.
• The groups are typically heterogeneous, with particular attention to the skills that are needed for success in the task.
• Within the groups, students may be assigned specific roles, with the instructor communicating the criteria for success and the types of social skills that will be needed.
• Importantly, the instructor continues to play an active role during the groups’ work, monitoring the work and evaluating group and individual performance.
• Instructors also encourage groups to reflect on their interactions to identify potential improvements for future group work.

This video shows an example of formal cooperative learning groups in David Matthes’ class at the University of Minnesota:

There are many more specific types of group work that fall under the general descriptions given here, including team-based learning , problem-based learning , and process-oriented guided inquiry learning .

The use of cooperative learning groups in instruction is based on the principle of constructivism, with particular attention to the contribution that social interaction can make. In essence, constructivism rests on the idea that individuals learn through building their own knowledge, connecting new ideas and experiences to existing knowledge and experiences to form new or enhanced understanding (Bransford, et al., 1999). The consideration of the role that groups can play in this process is based in social interdependence theory, which grew out of Kurt Koffka’s and Kurt Lewin’s identification of groups as dynamic entities that could exhibit varied interdependence among members, with group members motivated to achieve common goals. Morton Deutsch conceptualized varied types of interdependence, with positive correlation among group members’ goal achievements promoting cooperation.

Lev Vygotsky extended this work by examining the relationship between cognitive processes and social activities, developing the sociocultural theory of development. The sociocultural theory of development suggests that learning takes place when students solve problems beyond their current developmental level with the support of their instructor or their peers. Thus both the idea of a zone of proximal development, supported by positive group interdependence, is the basis of cooperative learning (Davidson and Major, 2014; Johnson, et al., 2014).

Cooperative learning follows this idea as groups work together to learn or solve a problem, with each individual responsible for understanding all aspects. The small groups are essential to this process because students are able to both be heard and to hear their peers, while in a traditional classroom setting students may spend more time listening to what the instructor says.

Cooperative learning uses both goal interdependence and resource interdependence to ensure interaction and communication among group members. Changing the role of the instructor from lecturing to facilitating the groups helps foster this social environment for students to learn through interaction.

David Johnson, Roger Johnson, and Karl Smith performed a meta-analysis of 168 studies comparing cooperative learning to competitive learning and individualistic learning in college students (Johnson et al., 2006). They found that cooperative learning produced greater academic achievement than both competitive learning and individualistic learning across the studies, exhibiting a mean weighted effect size of 0.54 when comparing cooperation and competition and 0.51 when comparing cooperation and individualistic learning. In essence, these results indicate that cooperative learning increases student academic performance by approximately one-half of a standard deviation when compared to non-cooperative learning models, an effect that is considered moderate. Importantly, the academic achievement measures were defined in each study, and ranged from lower-level cognitive tasks (e.g., knowledge acquisition and retention) to higher level cognitive activity (e.g., creative problem solving), and from verbal tasks to mathematical tasks to procedural tasks. The meta-analysis also showed substantial effects on other metrics, including self-esteem and positive attitudes about learning. George Kuh and colleagues also conclude that cooperative group learning promotes student engagement and academic performance (Kuh et al., 2007).

Springer, Stanne, and Donovan (1999) confirmed these results in their meta-analysis of 39 studies in university STEM classrooms. They found that students who participated in various types of small-group learning, ranging from extended formal interactions to brief informal interactions, had greater academic achievement, exhibited more favorable attitudes towards learning, and had increased persistence through STEM courses than students who did not participate in STEM small-group learning.

The box below summarizes three individual studies examining the effects of cooperative learning groups.

What are approaches that can help make group work effective?

Preparation

Articulate your goals for the group work, including both the academic objectives you want the students to achieve and the social skills you want them to develop.

Determine the group conformation that will help meet your goals.

• In informal group learning, groups often form ad hoc from near neighbors in a class.
• In formal group learning, it is helpful for the instructor to form groups that are heterogeneous with regard to particular skills or abilities relevant to group tasks. For example, groups may be heterogeneous with regard to academic skill in the discipline or with regard to other skills related to the group task (e.g., design capabilities, programming skills, writing skills, organizational skills) (Johnson et al, 2006).
• Groups from 2-6 are generally recommended, with groups that consist of three members exhibiting the best performance in some problem-solving tasks (Johnson et al., 2006; Heller and Hollabaugh, 1992).
• To avoid common problems in group work, such as dominance by a single student or conflict avoidance, it can be useful to assign roles to group members (e.g., manager, skeptic, educator, conciliator) and to rotate them on a regular basis (Heller and Hollabaugh, 1992). Assigning these roles is not necessary in well-functioning groups, but can be useful for students who are unfamiliar with or unskilled at group work.

Choose an assessment method that will promote positive group interdependence as well as individual accountability.

• In team-based learning, two approaches promote positive interdependence and individual accountability. First, students take an individual readiness assessment test, and then immediately take the same test again as a group. Their grade is a composite of the two scores. Second, students complete a group project together, and receive a group score on the project. They also, however, distribute points among their group partners, allowing student assessment of members’ contributions to contribute to the final score.
• Heller and Hollabaugh (1992) describe an approach in which they incorporated group problem-solving into a class. Students regularly solved problems in small groups, turning in a single solution. In addition, tests were structured such that 25% of the points derived from a group problem, where only those individuals who attended the group problem-solving sessions could participate in the group test problem.  This approach can help prevent the “free rider” problem that can plague group work.
• The University of New South Wales describes a variety of ways to assess group work , ranging from shared group grades, to grades that are averages of individual grades, to strictly individual grades, to a combination of these. They also suggest ways to assess not only the product of the group work but also the process.  Again, having a portion of a grade that derives from individual contribution helps combat the free rider problem.

Helping groups get started

Explain the group’s task, including your goals for their academic achievement and social interaction.

Explain how the task involves both positive interdependence and individual accountability, and how you will be assessing each.

Assign group roles or give groups prompts to help them articulate effective ways for interaction. The University of New South Wales provides a valuable set of tools to help groups establish good practices when first meeting. The site also provides some exercises for building group dynamics; these may be particularly valuable for groups that will be working on larger projects.

Monitoring group work

Regularly observe group interactions and progress , either by circulating during group work, collecting in-process documents, or both. When you observe problems, intervene to help students move forward on the task and work together effectively. The University of New South Wales provides handouts that instructors can use to promote effective group interactions, such as a handout to help students listen reflectively or give constructive feedback , or to help groups identify particular problems that they may be encountering.

Assessing and reflecting

In addition to providing feedback on group and individual performance (link to preparation section above), it is also useful to provide a structure for groups to reflect on what worked well in their group and what could be improved. Graham Gibbs (1994) suggests using the checklists shown below.

The University of New South Wales provides other reflective activities that may help students identify effective group practices and avoid ineffective practices in future cooperative learning experiences.

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., and Cocking, R.R. (Eds.) (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school . Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Bruffee, K. A. (1993). Collaborative learning: Higher education, interdependence, and the authority of knowledge. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Cabrera, A. F., Crissman, J. L., Bernal, E. M., Nora, A., Terenzini, P. T., & Pascarella, E. T. (2002). Collaborative learning: Its impact on college students’ development and diversity. Journal of College Student Development, 43 (1), 20-34.

Davidson, N., & Major, C. H. (2014). Boundary crossing: Cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and problem-based learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25 (3&4), 7-55.

Dees, R. L. (1991). The role of cooperative leaning in increasing problem-solving ability in a college remedial course. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 22 (5), 409-21.

Gokhale, A. A. (1995). Collaborative Learning enhances critical thinking. Journal of Technology Education, 7 (1).

Heller, P., and Hollabaugh, M. (1992) Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 2: Designing problems and structuring groups. American Journal of Physics 60, 637-644.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Smith, K.A. (2006). Active learning: Cooperation in the university classroom (3 rd edition). Edina, MN: Interaction.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Holubec, E.J. (2008). Cooperation in the classroom (8 th edition). Edina, MN: Interaction.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Smith, K.A. (2014). Cooperative learning: Improving university instruction by basing practice on validated theory. Journl on Excellence in College Teaching 25, 85-118.

Jones, D. J., & Brickner, D. (1996). Implementation of cooperative learning in a large-enrollment basic mechanics course. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference Proceedings.

Kuh, G.D., Kinzie, J., Buckley, J., Bridges, B., and Hayek, J.C. (2007). Piecing together the student success puzzle: Research, propositions, and recommendations (ASHE Higher Education Report, No. 32). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Love, A. G., Dietrich, A., Fitzgerald, J., & Gordon, D. (2014). Integrating collaborative learning inside and outside the classroom. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25 (3&4), 177-196.

Smith, M. E., Hinckley, C. C., & Volk, G. L. (1991). Cooperative learning in the undergraduate laboratory. Journal of Chemical Education 68 (5), 413-415.

Springer, L., Stanne, M. E., & Donovan, S. S. (1999). Effects of small-group learning on undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 96 (1), 21-51.

Uribe, D., Klein, J. D., & Sullivan, H. (2003). The effect of computer-mediated collaborative learning on solving ill-defined problems. Educational Technology Research and Development, 51 (1), 5-19.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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20 best task management software

Task management software is more than a digital base for your to-do lists. It’s a collaborative space where your teams can come together and understand their role in shared workloads.

This guide walks through the features you should look for in team task management software and 20 vendor examples to kickstart your research for the perfect tool.

What is team task management?

Task management is the systematic process of planning, organizing, assigning, tracking, and completing tasks to meet your business objectives. Each task is a single unit of work that individual team members are responsible for completing. Managing these overall tasks involves coordinating team members’ efforts, setting priorities, and monitoring task progress to ensure efficient collaboration, streamlined workflows, and successful project outcomes.

Why do teams need task management software?

The right task management software will move your team away from endless email chains and focus on the necessary tasks to keep your work and projects flowing. From here, it’s easy for teams to work together efficiently and identify potential issues such as bottlenecks or imbalanced workloads.

What features should task management software have?

When researching team task management software, you’ll notice that platforms have a wide range of features, and some will share common functionality. Before you invest, check your preferred tool is equipped with the following:

• Multiple views : Visualize your tasks using common views like Calendar, Kanban, List, or countless alternatives. For example, monday work management offers 15+ options, including Gantt Charts, which visually display task milestones and dependencies between items for a clear overview of your work.
• Intuitive interface : Ensure your team easily adapts to any new task management tool.
• Range of integrations : Connect your task management software with multiple other tools in your tech stack to prevent tool-hopping.
• Custom automations : Simplify repetitive workflows by setting up automations that run in the background. For example, an automation could email the entire team when someone completes their task.
• Ability to set subtasks and dependencies : Break tasks down into smaller chunks called subtasks and specify the order they must occur by making some tasks dependent on the next. For example, editing a blog post would depend on someone writing the first draft.

Now you know the features and functionality you’re looking for in a quality task management software, here are twenty solutions to compare when researching the right platform for your team.

1. monday work management

Best for: Any size of team that wants to reach shared goals faster and at scale.

monday work management is a feature-rich work management platform built on top of the monday.com Work OS.

Companies use our platform to plan and organize any type of workflow or project, with task management being a key collaboration feature. monday work management offers the following features:

• 15+ board views, including the Workload View delivering visibility into team member capacity. This visibility is essential for task assignment as project leads and managers have clarity about what each team member is available to work on.
• Customizable dashboards using 10+ drag-and-drop widgets to display high-level project data. You can see to-do lists, team goals, and task reports at-a-glance and in real time.
• Automations to eliminate repetitive tasks from your workflow, like updating team members with email or Slack notifications when each task is complete. This enables peers to review the work, or move on with their task at the next stage of the project.
• Recurring tasks  are another automation you can set up. For example, schedule regular team meetings to keep on top of your projects, or set up recurring requests for weekly project reports.
• Integrations with the tools you already know and love, so you can run powerful projects without switching tabs. For example, you might integrate monday work management with Google Drive to attach docs to your tasks or Slack to update a team channel following completion.
• Time tracking to ensure your team spends its time efficiently. Use the data to accurately forecast how long your team might need to allocate to specific tasks, or to bill clients accordingly.

monday work management pricing

monday work management offers five different price plans:

• Free: $0 for up to 2 users: 20+ column types, 200+ templates, iOS & Android apps, whiteboard collaboration, shareable forms, and more
• Basic : $27/month/3 users with annual billing: Unlimited users, 5GB storage, unlimited boards/docs, custom fields, unlimited free viewers, and more
• Standard : $36/month/3 users with annual billing: Unlimited users, 20GB storage, 6-month activity log, integrations, guest access, and more
• Pro : $57/month/3 users with annual billing: Unlimited users, 100GB storage, 1-year activity log, time tracking, workload management, and more
• Enterprise: Custom pricing, 5-year activity log, up to 50 boards, dedicated customer success manager, enhanced admin controls, and analytics

More details on monday.com pricing here

Best for: Teams seeking simple task and project management with clear communication capabilities.

Asana is a task management software offering a simple interface for tracking your team projects’ various sections, tasks, and subtasks.

Key features

• Customizable views , such as the Timeline view to gain visibility into upcoming deadlines or the Workload view to understand team member capacity.
• Task celebrations which occur when you check the task completion box.
• Integrations with 200+ tools in your tech stack, allowing you to automate tasks between them. For example, you might create a new Google Drive folder for each new task you add in Asana.
• Weekly focus mode , which allows you to capture your top priorities for the week ahead.

Asana pricing

• Free : Up to 15 users
• Premium : Starting at $10.99/user/mo
• Business : Starting at $24.99/user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing, includes Business plan features, custom branding, data export, and 24/7 support

Related: Asana alternatives , Asana pricing , Asana work management

Best for : Cross-functional teams aiming to streamline workflows and communication.

Wrike is a project management software you can use to assign tasks to team members, upload files, set deadlines, and track progress. One of Wrike’s strengths is supporting cross-collaborative teams from a central platform.

• Multiple dashboard views to gain insights into task statuses.
• Real-time collaboration , including commenting and file sharing from a central location.
• Customizable pre-built templates designed for marketing, IT & engineering teams, etc.

Wrike pricing

• Free : Suitable for teams up to five people
• Team : From $9.80 per user/mo for teams of 2-25 people
• Business : From $24.80 per user/mo for teams up to 200 people
• Enterprise : Custom pricing is available for companies who require features like user audit reports and custom access roles.
• Pinnacle : Additional enterprise features include advanced reporting, budgeting, and billable hours tools.

Related: Wrike pricing

Best for : Agile software development teams focused on issue tracking and project planning.

Jira is an Atlassian product created for software developers who follow Agile project management principles.

• Interactive timelines , including mapping work items, task dependencies, and new releases.
• Reports and insights tied to your tasks and overall projects to understand metrics like deployment frequency and cycle time.
• Autonomy preferences allow you to decide whether your projects are company or team-managed.

Jira pricing

• Free : For up to 10 users
• Standard : From $7.75 per user/mo
• Premium : From $15.25 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing for unlimited sites, central security controls, user subscriptions, 24/7 Enterprise support.

Related: Jira pricing, Jira work management

Best for: Visual thinkers and small teams managing tasks with a simple, card-based interface.

Trello uses a Kanban-style methodology for task management which will appeal to teams who like to visualize all the projects they have on the go and the specific tasks they need to complete.

• Boards, lists, and cards , where boards represent projects, lists are each project stage, and cards are for individual tasks. Users move cards between lists once they’ve completed them to indicate they’re ready for the next project stage
• Multi-device compatibility , including availability on your browser and mobile devices, even when you’re offline
• Collaboration , including commenting or tagging teammates on specific cards and adding relevant attachments

Trello pricing

• Free : For up to 10 boards
• Standard : Starting at $5/user/mo
• Premium : Starting at $10/user/mo
• Enterprise : Starting at $17.50/user/mo for larger organizations requiring advanced security and controls.

Related: Trello pricing , Trello vs. monday.com

6. Basecamp

Best for: Startups and small teams looking to centralize project communication and tasks.

Basecamp offers a way to set up a single page to house everything you need for each project.

• Project scheduling tool which displays your deadlines, milestones, dated to-dos, and relevant events.
• Campfire conversations which act as Basecamp’s in-built group chat tool.
• Doors that are integrations to external tools like Slack, Airtable, Google Drive, Miro, etc.

Basecamp pricing

• Basecamp : $15 per user/month
• Basecamp Pro Unlimited : Starting from $299/month for unlimited users

Related: Basecamp alternatives

7. Evernote Teams

Best for: Creative teams requiring note-taking and information sharing in a digital workspace.

Evernote Teams is a collaborative workspace for note-taking, brainstorming, or hosting a company wiki. 

• Real-time collaboration , including the ability to edit notes simultaneously. 
• Task assignments , with functionality such as delegations and reminders. 
• Searchable document repository to find the right note based on its title, keywords, content type, or dates. 

Evernote Teams pricing

• Professional : From $17.99 per user/mo

Teams : From $20.83 per user/mo

8. Airtable

Best for: Data-driven teams wanting a flexible database and project management solution.

Airtable is a no-code database platform designed to help teams manage projects and store data.

• Spreadsheet view with a drag-and-drop function to manipulate your data layout.
• Multiple views, including Kanban, Gantt, List, and Calendar.
• Rich media support , including the ability to attach videos, images, and audio files to your tasks.

Airtable pricing

• Free : Designed for individuals or small teams
• Plus : Starting at $10/seat/mo
• Pro : Starting at $20/seat/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing for larger teams requiring features like unlimited workspaces, extensions, and Salesforce & Jira on-prem sync integrations.

Related: Airtable pricing , Airtable vs. monday.com

9. Smartsheet

Best for : Teams involved in business operations requiring access to dynamic spreadsheet capabilities.

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like project management platform designed to help teams manage work, automate repetitive tasks, and collaborate on documents.

• Multiple data views , including Grid, Chart, Gantt, and Calendar.
• Pre-built templates for tasks like planning and budget goals which you can customize to fit your requirements.
• Customizable forms to collect insights and data from internal or stakeholders.

Smartsheet pricing

There are four Smartsheet pricing options:

• Free : Suitable for individuals
• Pro : Starting at $7/user/mo
• Business : Starting at $25/user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing is available for large teams, with access to Smartsheet Advance offerings.

Related: Smartsheet project management

10. HubSpot

Best for : Sales and marketing teams that need to track leads and manage customer relationships.

HubSpot isn’t a traditional task management software. However, it does offer the ability to add tasks within the CRM platform.

• To-do list prioritization for scheduling tasks related to your customer base
• Task dashboards which act as a base for your tasks, contact details, and meetings
• Embedded reporting , including past task tracking of closed deals, calls made, and activities completed

HubSpot pricing

• Free : $0 for marketing, sales, service, CMS, and operations tools
• Starter : From $30 per month
• Professional : From $1,600 per month
• Enterprise : From $5,000 per month

11. Todoist

Best for: Small teams focused on a holistic approach to collaborative task management.

Todoist is a simple task management app that enables teams to manage tasks, projects, and collaboration in one place.

• Task assignments including the ability to create projects, add tasks, set due dates, and assign responsibility.
• Messaging functionality which allows team members to share files, discuss details and provide updates.
• Task filtering so users can see each other’s activity streams or upcoming due dates.

Todoist pricing

• Starter Plan: For up to 5 active projects.
• Business Plan : From $6 per member/mo

12. MeisterTask

Best for : Creative teams seeking intuitive project planning and visual workflows.

MeisterTask is another Kanban-style task management tool that gives teams a clear overview of their to-do lists.

• Agendas which are private boards visible only to individual team members
• Task watchers to keep relevant people in the loop about specific tasks
• Task relationships allow you to tag whether tasks are related or duplicates

MeisterTask pricing

• Basic : For up to three projects
• Pro : $8.25 per user/mo
• Business : $20.75 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing is available for a dedicated account manager, personalized onboarding assistance, and SAML single sign-on.

Best for : Teams requiring knowledge-sharing and project management using a single platform.

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that uses custom blocks, including text, images, or tables, to store your notes, documents, and project tasks.

• Task views allow you to filter by calendars, task lists, Gantt Charts, tables, and more
• Template library with access to 5,000 customizable templates to suit your project tasks.
• Integrations with tools like Loom or Slack so you can attach video messages or conversations to your tasks.

Notion pricing

• Free : Small teams can try a limited block trial.
• Plus : Starting from $8/user/mo
• Business : Starting from $15/user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing with advanced security features, among other benefits.

14. MS Project

Best for : Large enterprises managing complex projects with advanced scheduling.

Microsoft Project is a platform that allows you to manage large-scale projects from a central location.

• Coauthoring tools which allow multiple stakeholders to update task lists and project schedules simultaneously.
• Interactive roadmaps you can build to increase visibility across your organization.
• Timesheet submissions for capturing time spent on tasks.

MS Project pricing

MS Project is available as part of the following cloud-based packages:

• Project Plan 1: $10 per user/mo
• Project Plan 3 : $30 per user/mo
• Project Plan 5: $55 per user/mo

15. Microsoft OneNote

Best for: Teams on a budget requiring collaborative note-taking and information organization.

Microsoft OneNote uses Notebooks as the highest level of organization within the platform, which includes sections and pages to store your notes and tasks.

• Built-in OneNote templates for mapping out project lists
• Task prioritization by adding High, Medium, or Low project tags
• Handwriting compatibility using Surface or Surface Slim Pen 2 devices allows you to digitize your handwritten meeting notes and transform them into tasks

Microsoft OneNote pricing

OneNote is available with a Microsoft 365 subscription, which starts from $6 user/mo for a Business Basic package.

16. Adobe Workfront

Best for : Creative teams that need to manage projects, approvals, and digital assets.

Adobe Workfront is a cloud-based collaboration and project management solution that enables teams to track progress, tasks, resources, and budgets in one place.

• Automated handoffs to simplify reviews and approval of work tasks.
• Real-time dashboards that enable you to gain visibility of your work and address any bottlenecks.
• Scenario planning tools to anticipate how incoming tasks will impact your team.

Adobe Workfront pricing

Adobe Workfront offers Select, Ultimate, Prime, and Custom pricing plans, but you must contact the vendor for an accurate quote.

Best for : Visual collaboration, brainstorming, and diagramming among remote teams.

Miro is a visual task management tool you can use as a digitized version of a whiteboard and sticky notes.

• 2,000 Miro and community templates offering frameworks like mind maps and service blueprints.
• Integrations with 130+ apps in your existing workflow, including Jira, Zoom, and Google Docs.
• Flowchart maker to plot out the essential tasks in your project processes.

Miro pricing

• Free : For unlimited team members.
• Starter : From $8 per member/mo
• Enterprise Plan : Custom pricing for SCIM license management, enhanced security with 2FA, domain control, etc.

Best for: Teams looking for integrated project management and communication.

Hive is a productivity software that enables teams to manage upcoming tasks and collaborate on wider projects.

• Six project layouts , including database and summary views
• Meeting note task assignment enabling you to take action following team discussions
• External user task assignment if you need to work with guest users like freelancers, clients, or third-party business partners

Hive pricing

• Teams : From $12 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing available for enhanced security and permissions, custom analytics, etc.

19. SmartTask

Best for : Businesses seeking an all-in-one platform for task management and CRM.

SmartTask is a work management platform with tools to organize recurring or one-off tasks.

• Task estimates for individual tasks if you need to budget or allocate resources.
• Video meetings which you can trigger directly from tasks.
• Automatic tasks are generated by sending your email communications directly to SmartTask.

SmartTask pricing

• Free : For unlimited users
• Premium : From $7.98 per user/mo
• Business : From $10.98 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing available, including white labeling, SSO, Enterprise API, etc.

Best for : Teams requiring dynamic spreadsheets and project management capabilities.

Any.do is a simple task management platform accessible from various desktop and mobile devices, including smartwatches.

• Automated WhatsApp notifcations for deadline reminders.
• Smart calendar view that displays all upcoming tasks in one place.
• Task color-coding to categorize your work.

Any.do pricing

• Personal : For individual users
• Premium : From $3 per month
• Teams : From $5 per user/mo

monday work management: the perfect team task management software

There are all kinds of task management apps, tools, and software at our fingertips to make us more productive than ever before. monday work management stands out from the rest by making team task management easier, while also being adaptable for all functions related to executing tasks, projects, and processes more efficiently. Here’s how it excels:

• You can set up your task management views including Kanban, calendar, Gantt chart, and task list options.

• You can set rules for dynamic assignments, notifications upon task completion, and a lot more.

• You can integrate with 72+ favorite tools to make a seamless workflow.

• You can streamline communication with one place for comments, updates, and file sharing.
• When you use monday work management as a project management software , you can get a ton of insights into the success and profitability of your project tasks with dedicated and customizable dashboards.
• You can build custom workflows with no-code building blocks and choose from over 200 automation recipe options that make your team task planning so much more efficient.

Since monday work management  is built on a Work OS , it’s an all-in-one platform for everything your business needs, and can grow and scale along with it. You can use monday.com as a CRM for the sales team, create processes and workflows for marketing content, onboard new employees, and manage IT requests.

What is task management software used for?

Task management software is used to organize teams' workflows and projects by assigning tasks and tracking progress. It enables teams to collaborate more efficiently, reduce their reliance on email, and focus instead on progress tracking and delivery.

What are the benefits of team task management?

Teams who use task management software will enjoy the following benefits:

1. Increased clarity & visibility: Team task management is all about accountability. Each team member should know who is working on what, the requirements, and the time frame for the task. When mapped out for everyone involved, managing time, prioritizing tasks, and reassigning work becomes easier.

2. Reduced stress: Task management can prevent a lot of frustration because it relieves your team of questions like “Who is the owner of that task?” or “How can I prioritize my other work in accordance with this project?”

3. More data points for accurate project reporting: Task management isn’t just crucial for project planning and execution—it also comes in handy with post-project analysis. For example, if you’re managing cross-company content requests, you can track details like task completion date and department to get a big picture of demand over time.

4. Boosted productivity: 82% of people rely on a list or an email inbox as their means of task management. Surely there is a better way? Task management helps you accurately take stock of your tasks and assign priorities and deadlines. You can spend more time doing what matters most instead of searching for what to do next.

What is the simplest way of managing tasks?

Here are some classic steps for team task management, no matter what tool you decide to use:

1. Make a list of your team’s required tasks: Add additional details, such as which are recurring vs. one-off. Use a start and end date as your boundaries. 2. Add task deadlines and timeframes: This is critical information before you assign tasks to your team. Be sure to leave enough time for execution and feedback. 3. Assign task priorities: Different priority levels, such as low, medium, and high, provide a more granular view of what's important for your team. They can also help you refine due dates. 4. Note other relevant task information: You might include task dependencies, important files, or related client information. 5. Assign each task to a team member: Review each team member’s workload to ensure no one has too much on their plate. 6. Track your team’s progress: Check in with your team regularly to see if you need to make any adjustments.

monday work management can help you manage and automate many of these steps.

What are the 4 types of tasks?

To determine which tasks are a priority, some teams use the Eisenhower Matrix, which divides tasks into those that are:

1. Urgent and important, for example, if a deadline for a critical project is due today 2. Not urgent but important, for example, arranging a long-term planning and strategy development session 3. Urgent but not important, for example, attending a team social meeting in your calendar 4. Not urgent and not important, for example, browsing your social media feed.

Table of Contents

Guideline for Assigning Tasks to Team Members

Assignment of tasks is part of daily office life for meeting organizational goals. When the project manager delegates work to the task receiver, the receiver reacts to the delegated task.

Assigning tasks can differ from person to person concerning different offices. For this reason, it is necessary to look into guidelines when assigning tasks to team members for effective delegation.

Assigning tasks is one of the processes of major importance in an organization. When the members fail to assign tasks legitimately, you cannot expect good results from the delegated task.

Assigning tasks requires understanding, direction, focus, and answerability to doubts within a certain time with a step-by-step guide.

The biggest secret lies in the task assigner and task receiver’s understanding of the delegated task. 

Why is Assigning Tasks to Team Members Important?

Every team is strong when members work together with trust and team spirit. The different types of tasks need division and distribution and knowledge of the capacity of each team member .

Here are some reasons why task assignment is important for assigning tasks to team members:

1. Improvement in Project Efficiency

Tedious tasks are divided among different team members, then the overall efficiency of the team increases.

Without task distribution, the project is unmanaged and vague without effective delegation.

2. Improvement in Project Productivity

When the correct tasks are assigned to team members, each project sector is looked after as responsibilities are divided.

This situation aids in enhancing productivity from every member’s side to complete the task with time management.

3. Highly Developed Morale

Assigning duties to each individual makes them happy, accepts responsibility, and works confidently to reach better goals for delegating effectively.

Project management software with a project management tool helps the project manager assign tasks to team members.

4. Habit of Consideration

The Duties assignment teaches the whole team to consider different situations while completing a project.

Each member earns to support the other, building a stronger team for better outputs and delegating effectively.

Some Guidelines to Assign Tasks To Team Members

A team lead cannot assign tasks to team members without proper planning and experience and the habit of providing feedback .

Task assigners need a good experience of previous task assignments, and the new members can showcase their ability in different types of tasks. 

Another major concern is the impact of employee engagement , for which task holders need interest and passion to continue the work assigned. Some guidelines for assigning tasks to team members are:

1. Assign Tasks Positively

Assigning tasks to employees requires positivity and when you ask them to do a certain task, provide them with details.

A positive attitude will help them know that it is possible to conduct the task in the way the leader wants them to.

If you assign common tasks negatively or doubt their capability, employees will feel demotivated to begin their task.

A hint of positivity will brighten their day and make them complete assigned tasks with full confidence.

2. Be Clear of Goals and Objectives

Before assigning any duties to employees, the assigner needs to know the work’s goals and objectives to know how employees perform. Task givers need to understand what they want and expect from the work process.

When goals and objectives are unset, the task giver is confused due to lack of vision and cannot command the task completers to do a role in a certain way. The task providers need to set clear ways and methods with proper delegation strategies.

3. Right Task to Right Employee

Allotting the right task to the right employee is the key to productivity and needs a step-by-step guide.

But before dividing and designating the work for employees, the role provider needs to know the type of each employee.

The leader should build a delegation strategy including the different capacities of different employees and give duties that fit the employees perfectly .

When a task demands an exceptional employee and a lack of talent, the leaders themselves should conduct the task without a workforce or emergency.

4. Get Ideas and Hold Meetings

Before giving away responsibilities to team members, a discussion with all members is essential.

The team lead can ask each employee to express their assigned duties and get ideas via unlimited access to team meetings.

After attending the meeting with employees, you can get a vivid idea of who is responsible for what and how deliberately they can finish the task.

Getting ideas from employees assures the lead of the task completion from every team member’s side.

5. Communicate Efficiently

There are situations in which employees may let go of duties given. The reasons may include lack of employee engagement , absenteeism, and presenteeism.

When assigning tasks, you should figure out how to deal with lazy employees. Project management tools allow proper communication between team members.

Communication is a great way to improve employee engagement and advise lazy employees to know how employees perform.

If you wish to change plans in the middle of a project process, you can re-explain the team members. Communication also decreases the chance of conflict in an organization.

6. Mark Deadline with Timeline

The best way to finish a work in a team is by properly planning the entire resources like cost, time, and workforce.

When you make a timeline and ask others to conduct work, you can give them deadlines—management software helps track employees’ time.

When each employee finishes the task at the right time, the project takes off smoothly. Assigning tasks with deadlines to follow a timeline is a very good organizational practice that helps in reducing organizational risks.

7. Track Progress and Ask Feedbacks

After task distribution, you cannot just throw tasks away and let the employees handle everything else.

Proper task assigning also includes getting feedback from employees during work processes and tracking their progress.

Tracking productivity with different tools is an easy process. Productive employees yield better results and complete tasks on time.

So it is essential to stay in touch with employees’ progress and know their situation while working.

8. Train and Supervise

Completing a project requires the fusion of different delegation skills and a high level of dedication from team members with proper planning and implementation.

For producing a skilled workforce, there is a necessity to train the team members and meet the team daily.

The training includes unlimited access to skill-enhancing resources like courses from Udemy or Coursera.

After the training phase, the work conduction requires supervision from the expert to check up on the application of skills learned via the project management tool.

Training and supervision are equally important before and during the task assignment and completion among multiple people.

9. Follow up to Stay Connected

It is essential for work professionals to follow up on their team members to get notified of the obstacles and problems faced by the group workers.

It is important to stay connected with each member to check on work progress and complete the task.

Issues like stress and pressure can tangle the employees and slow them down, so following up on common tasks helps them cope with pressure and increase work productivity.

Micromanagement is not a good idea as it leads to employee burnout. It is better to set employees free by casual follow-ups.

10. Authority and Control Handover

Decentralization of authority relieves an employer for managing tasks. When you assign duties, make sure you allocate a certain amount of power to the employees via management apps.

The control handover makes employees empowered and responsible for finishing tasks.

Providing very little power can result in problems as employees lose interest in the work while giving too much power can overpower employees, making them forget basic duties.

The strength lies in giving enough power to each member that only deserves it and providing feedback.

11. Respect and Support

Every employee in an organization deserves equal respect and support. Each role has its significance, and without equal respect from the employer’s side, it is impossible to reflect the same behavior from the employee’s side.

Respect is mutual, and when working, it is important to let go of judgments and unnecessary assumptions about each other.

Acceptance is a way to help each other during any technical, moral, emotional, or skill-related difficulties.

Supporting and working along in a team is a great idea for completing a task. The task assigner is responsible for setting such a culture, keeping in mind the importance of time management.

12. Learn from Last Project

Before planning for the upcoming project, it is essential to reflect upon the past projects and learn from the delegation’s mistakes.

Leading other team members requires experience and, more than that demands the idea of accepting mistakes and learning from them while assigning responsibility.

When you assign new team members, use the same strategies and ideas you did in the previous project.

If there were errors in the previous try, assign tasks to correct the previous ones and accept the changes as a stepping stone for success.

13. Evaluate Project Post-Assigning

After all, employees are done with their tasks, and it is time for you to evaluate the quality of work and check if all the criteria are fulfilled. Sometimes some tasks are incomplete, and some are full of bugs.

You will have to re-assign the same tasks to members due to lack of perfection and inefficiency to deliver proper output by tracking time.

It is better to analyze the task output and ask the responsible person to fill gaps in the work provided. 

14. Brain-map to Assign Tasks Again

All projects have different tasks and require different approaches to reach goals. Task assigners must detect which approach is better for a certain project, i.e., which methodology to follow, like the agile model or the waterfall project method .

The research for the new project includes ideas for task division and finding the best employees.

The leader needs to brainstorm accordingly so that the newer ideas are included. The foremost task of assigning tasks to others runs smoothly for the overall conduction of the project in a directed and glorious way.

Some More Guidelines for Task Assignment

Team members require extra care and a lot of patience to understand the objective of common tasks and delegation strategy.

When conflict arises, it is upon the person to solve the matter. Soft skills with proper guidelines help assign employee tasks and remedy conflict resolution.

Some other guidelines for assigning tasks to team members are mentioned below:

15. Focus and Direction

After tedious tasks are provided to every team member, it is important to know where each member is heading with their duties.

In the first place, the task giver should have clear ideas of responsibilities and follow directions. 

Secondly, it is upon the task to stay focused and move in the correct direction of task competition.

The team leader’s responsibility is to guide the employees in the correct direction so they don’t lose focus and get distracted by unnecessary things during office time.

16. Avoid Stressing and Pressure

When you distribute tasks, ensure you don’t stress employees without beginning the task. Complications during task completion are common, but a good leader does not pressure the employees for task assignments.

You must understand the situation of employees and take steps accordingly. Working under stress and pressure may decrease workers’ productivity as they cannot deal with such complications . This situation hampers the employee’s well-being and wellness.

17. Be Answerable to Doubts

Questions can arise anytime regarding the task completion, and it is upon the task provider to clear doubts and queries of the seekers.

When you fail to deliver the correct answer or provide what the employees are seeking, that may harm the process of task completion. 

As team managers, it is upon you to remove the veil of doubts from their minds in the bigger picture, so they conduct the work with dedication and enthusiasm .

It is bad to leave employees confused as a confused state is a dormant state that hampers the speed of work completion and demotivates multiple people.

18. Honest Feedbacks to Employees

Speaking softly and not hurting others is a good virtue, but there are times when you have to act abruptly and state the employees’ mistakes.

It is essential to give honest feedback to employees who need to work on their mistakes.

If you don’t give them honest feedback before assigning tasks, there is no hope for completion. Honest feedback helps employees rise in their respective works and provides a great chance for improvement in their careers.

19. Do Not Assign Same Task to Different People

Assigning the same task to different people is a waste of time and resources unless you want to compare the results of two task receivers.

It is better to plan the task division than mess up assigning tasks to team members at the last moment.

Healthy competition between the team members is a good idea but make sure you don’t hurt the feelings of any of them.

Working and learning are part of every employee’s journey, and it is important to keep them interested in any task.

20. Listen to Your Employees

When you assign tasks, it is equally necessary for you to listen to your employees. Some employees may not be sure about a certain task and can ask you to switch tasks with other members.

So it is needed for the team leader to understand each member and listen to them from the beginning of a task to the end of a work assignment.

Assigning tasks to team members is the most important step for task completion. Delegation mistakes are common while managing tasks, and so it is important to take help from management apps while assigning responsibility to employees.

Marketing automation and other features are provided by project management tools that help in better task assignments.

The guideline for task assignment helps in employee development and setting aside time tracked; employees remain engaged.

Samir Luintel

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How to use Outlook Groups and tasks to collaborate more effectively

Outlook can bring teams together in ways well beyond replying to an email. Here's how you can start to collaborate more effectively.

As well as you may think your team or colleagues produce and exceed, there's always room for growth. Outlook 2016 has a few features available that can help centralize your team communication, tracking, scheduling, and resources. Here is how you can get started.

What are Groups in Outlook?

Managing groups and assigned tasks in outlook, getting started with groups in outlook.

Outlook 2016 taps into the Groups feature of Office 365. It gives users a shared place where teams can work and collaborate. Not to be confused with a distribution list, this group is truly a means to see how all pieces contribute towards a common goal. You have a shared inbox, calendar, and even a document library. Even without groups, you can still manage projects through tasks.

How to create a group task

To create a Group task:

• Click the Home tab in the navigation ribbon.
• Click on New Items in the New group.
• Select Task from the dropdown list.
• Enter in details of the task, including due dates, reminders, and priority.
• Click Save & Close to create the task.
• Click on Tasks in the navigation pane.
• Select Folder tab in the navigation ribbon of the Task window.
• Select Share Tasks in the Share group.
• Select recipient(s) or a distribution group.
• Select or deselect the Request permission to view recipient's Tasks folder option.
• Select or deselect the Allow recipient to view your Tasks folder option.
• Click Send .

How to open shared tasks

To open your shared tasks:

• Click the Folder tab in the navigation ribbon.
• Click Open Shared Tasks in the Share group.
• Click Name in the name dialog box.
• Find the name of the person in the address list.
• Click OK to return to the name dialog box.
• Click OK to accept.

It is possible to send a shared task access request to an individual if they have yet to grant you permission. If you choose to send a request, the recipient will receive an email, which also includes an option to have your default tasks folder shared with them.

How to remove a shared task folder

To delete a folder:

• Select Tasks from the navigation pane.
• Select the task folder under the "My Tasks" list.
• Select the Folder tab from the navigation ribbon.
• Click on Delete Folder in the Actions group.
• Click Yes to confirm.

How to assign a task

To assign a task to an individual:

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• Click New Task in the New section of the Home tab.
• Click on the Task tab in the navigation ribbon.
• Select Assign Task in the Manage Task group.
• Enter the recipient's name or email address in the To field.
• Fill out the subject, due or start date, status and priority fields.
• Ensure the checkbox for Keep an updated copy of this task on my task list is checked.
• Ensure the check box for Send me a status report when this task is complete is checked.

How to accept or decline a task

To accept or reject a task:

• Open the task.
• Click on the Task tab in the navigation menu.
• Choose Accept or Decline in the Manage Task group.
• Choose to send your response now or edit the response first.

How to see the status

To track the status automatically:

• Click on the File tab in the navigation ribbon.
• Click Options .
• Click Tasks in the left pane in the Outlook options window.
• Select the check box for the Set reminders on tasks with due dates option.
• Choose a reminder time.
• Select the check box for the Keep my task list updated with copies of tasks I assign to other people option.

To manually view the status of assigned tasks:

• Click the View tab in the navigation ribbon.
• Click Change View in the current view group.
• Click Assigned .

How to create a Group in Outlook 2016

To create a Group:

• Click on the Home tab in the navigation ribbon.
• Select New Group in the Groups section.
• Enter a name for the Group in the Choose a name field.
• Enter in a Group ID in the Group ID field.
• Select Public or Private as the privacy level for the group.
• Select a classification for the group.
• Select or deselect the check box for the group conversation notification to appear in the inbox for each member.
• Select members of your organization to add.
• Choose a photo to represent the group.
• Enter a description for the group to help others understand the purpose of it.
• Click OK to finish.

How to delete an Outlook Group

To delete a Group:

• Select the Group in the Groups section of the left navigation bar.
• Select Edit Group .
• Select Delete Group .
• Select the check box for the I understand that the Group will be permanently deleted warning.
• Click OK to confirm and delete.

How to add a member to an Outlook Group

To add a member:

• Select the Group from the left navigation bar.
• Select Add members .
• Enter the name of the individual to be added.

Adding an external user to the group is the same process as adding a member. You will be warned that the guest will have access to the content of your group. They will receive calendar items and group conversations in their inboxes, but they will have limits placed on their access including contact cards for group members or the list of group members.

How to remove an Outlook Group member

To remove a group member:

• Click on the Group in the left navigation bar.
• Click on the member in the Members list.
• Click the X next to their name to delete.

How to begin a Group conversation in Outlook

To start a conversation:

• Select the Group in the left navigation screen.
• Select the Home tab in the navigation ribbon.
• Select New Conversation in the New group.
• Compose your message.
• Click Send to generate an email to the rest of the group.

With conversations that you receive, you can also reply to the group or to the sender. You can also choose to like a message.

How to schedule group meetings in Outlook

To scheduling a meeting:

• Click the group in the left navigation screen.
• Click on Calendar in the navigation ribbon.
• Click New Meeting .
• Enter meeting details such as subject, location and the start or end times for the meeting.
• Enter any important details in the meeting section.

Wrapping up

Outlook is a wellspring of resources and results. How is your team using Groups? What are your favorite features? Let us know in the comments.

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20 Best Task Management Software Tools to Elevate Your Workflows [2024 Edition]

Sudarshan Somanathan

Head of Content

May 14, 2024

Just a few years back, I was always stuck in a cycle of frustration and self-blame—all because my professional workload was spiraling out of control . I’d make ambitious plans for me and my team and watch in agony as they fell flat. Things became so bad that I got used to the anxiety that accompanied my zillion unattended tasks. What followed was constant overwhelm, a clear lack of motivation , and even sneaky health repercussions. 😔

Eventually, I confided in some peers and realized that I was definitely not alone. In fact, there’s research revealing that as many as 41% of workers experience stress due to their heavy workloads. 

I was able to get out of this rough patch over time, and I cannot emphasize enough how life-changing it was for me to find the right task management software. You see, it’s never the amount of work that creates chaos—but poor task management.

In my case, for instance, I once unknowingly orchestrated a team burnout as I had the habit of setting over-enthusiastic ( read: unreasonable ) deadlines and delegating tasks without realistic workload considerations. It was only after I found my perfect task management tool that I had the knowledge and visibility needed to make more practical choices.

I’d call myself a much saner task manager now, and I hope my team here at ClickUp agrees. We have worked together to bring you this article exploring the 20 best task management software , with a special focus on tools that can assist you in assigning tasks and optimizing priorities effectively in 2024. You can learn about their key features, limitations, and pricing before locking your ideal task manager tool. 🌻

What Should You Look for in a Task Management Tool?

• 1. ClickUp—best overall project & task management software

2. Asana—best for remote teams

3. jira—best for experienced it professionals, 4. monday.com—best for marketing and pmo teams, 5. trello—best for small teams, 6. hive—best task management software for multi-layered team collaboration, 7. meistertask—best for kanban task management, 8. ntask—best task management software for scheduling, 9. zenhub—best for software teams, 10. zoho projects—best for complex project management, 11. activecollab—best for personalized task management experience for client-based workflows, 12. wrike—best for scalable workflow management, 13. todoist—best for teams on a budget, 14. proofhub—best for granular task tracking, 15. smarttask—best for managing multiple projects, 16. hubspot (hubspot task management)—best for crm tasks, 17. paymo—best for client tasks and bookings, 18. timecamp—best for time tracking and billing tasks, 19. any.do—best for creating to-do lists, 20. smartsheet—best for spreadsheet-style task management, leveraging the best task management tools: which one to pick.

For cross-collaborative teams like mine, task management software doesn’t just help identify, monitor, and manage tasks . It goes beyond supporting a simple to-do list and offers features to efficiently collaborate on elaborate workflows for effective goal completion .

The best task management software allows my team to set deadlines, prioritize tasks , track progress, and adjust schedules with ease, which results in smoother decision-making. Other useful functionalities that we prioritize include:

• Flexibility: In my experience, good task management software is always the one that has a user-friendly interface. Bonus points if it runs smoothly on all major operating systems across devices, giving my team more control over everyday work
• Time tracking: We find it’s best to go for a task management solution that lets us improve our time management through seamless time tracking
• Task automation: As your business grows, automation plays a key role in expanding your task base sustainably. The best task management software lets us automate recurring admin tasks, leaving everyone more time to focus on cognitively demanding, high-level assignments
• Communication support: Because I’m running a busy, distributed team, I value tools that support productive task-related discussions, file sharing, and instant announcements
• Reporting and analytics: We’ve noticed that quality task management software provides reporting features to record and analyze information (like clock-in/clock-out data, absence, and overtime hours) for productivity analysis, invoicing, and payroll management
• Integration with other tools: Now this may be a personal preference, but I like it when my task management system integrates with other software we use, like messaging apps , project management tools , and writing assistants , simply because this eliminates context switching and makes team collaboration and task monitoring way easier 😇

20 Best Task Management Software for Balanced Task Planning and Execution

When we started testing out the tons of task management apps available on the market, one aspect was clear—they’re not all cut from the same cloth. For instance, some are versatile tools, while others focus on nailing specific functions like task dependencies.

We eventually narrowed down to 20 best task management software that just had to be on our list. We cherry-picked them after considering diverse criteria like feature set and affordability, so you’re sure to find something that addresses your immediate needs. 🧐

Here’s a snapshot of our list, which will be followed by detailed and honest reviews of each software:

1. ClickUp —best overall project & task management software

Why end with a bang when we can start with one? 💥

We might be a bit biased here, but ClickUp has repeatedly proved itself to be the best task management solution for individuals, professionals, and teams alike. It’s not just us; even G2 considers it to be the best-rated task management and team task management software , ranking it #1 in 15+ competitive categories in 2024!

What makes ClickUp click is its AI-enabled, end-to-end support for managing tasks and priorities, monitoring progress, and staying productive.

How we use ClickUp for hands-on task management

The way we leverage ClickUp for my team is pretty straightforward—for starters, we go to ClickUp Tasks for everything, from centralized task planning and scheduling to tracking individual assignments.

I love how the platform makes our task management process super intuitive and data-rich. We get to categorize team tasks by type and set Custom Task Status from To Do to Done to make tracking effortless. We can use as many Custom Fields as we want to set deadlines, add assignees, and define further details we want to track or filter through. For each task assignment, our team can also: 

• Add links and comments to centralize contextual knowledge and discussions
• Specify task dependencies to offer visibility for schedule management
• Define subtasks and checklists to support extensive deliverables 
• Use @mentions and action items to delegate tasks and share updates

Our Task View is by default a pop-up window, but we can also minimize it to a sidebar or Task Tray if we want to keep our individual to-do lists accessible or track time as we go.

If you are a visual task manager like me, there’s good news! I frequently use the 15+ project views of this task management software for comprehensive visibility over our entire workflow—I manage tasks on Kanban boards, sort through them in the List view, and visualize timelines with colorful Gantt charts. 🌈

ClickUp comes with a drag-and-drop Calendar view that aids our granular task planning. We also make use of the Recurring Tasks feature to schedule routine stuff, like meetings and sprint retrospectives, and visualize or adjust our day-to-day directly on the Calendar.

At any given day, we have 100+ active tasks across departments, and it’s near impossible to follow up on each one of them. Thankfully, we can stay on top of our task lists with ClickUp Reminders . We create them from any task comment or notification, which gives us more flexibility to manage team tasks seamlessly from any device we’re on without losing sight of inter-departmental dependencies.

And, if we’re dealing with an overwhelming workload, we identify what to prioritize and deprioritize using ClickUp Task Priorities and its color-coded tags. We also lighten team workloads with ClickUp Automatons , which lets us automate time-consuming tasks like checking emails or organizing documents.

Bonus! Our secret to stress-free productivity? ClickUp Brain and pre-made templates

Beyond tracking and prioritizing tasks, ClickUp also lends us a hand with Project Management . For instance, we employ ClickUp Brain , the platform’s AI assistant, to automate project summaries, task planning, and task standups and updates.

ClickUp Brain is a neural network connecting the team’s tasks, documents, and discussions living on the platform—it helps us extract and summarize information and action items through simple prompts and questions.

We also take our productivity to new heights with numerous customizable ClickUp templates that help us standardize task assignments immediately! If you’re new to the platform, the ClickUp Task Management Template can be a great starting point. By downloading this free template , you can organize your tasks into Lists like Action Items , Ideas , and Backlog for easier navigation. Open separate views to track assignments by department or priority label. 🚩

ClickUp best features

• 1,000+ templates to kickstart skillful task management
• Intuitive task scheduling platform with time tracking
• ClickUp Dashboards for real-time task tracking and productivity metrics
• ClickUp Goals to set measurable task KPIs
• Task Checklist feature for easy to-do list creation
• Multiple project views like List, Table, and Timeline
• Custom task statuses to complement your workflow
• A Bulk Action Toolbar to edit multiple tasks at once
• Automates recurring, error-prone tasks
• Built-in task prioritization levels  
• Universal Search and Tags to access tasks quickly
• Supports task generation directly from ClickUp Docs and Whiteboards
• Integrates with 1,000+ apps like Slack, Gmail, Zoom, Outlook, and HubSpot
• Dedicated mobile app for iOS and Android
• Compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux
• Built-in chat and file-sharing options for task collaboration
• Easy-to-use, no-code interface

ClickUp limitations

• It takes time to explore all its task management features (you can leverage the ClickUp Help Center to ease the learning curve)
• A dedicated subtask reporting feature would be a great add-on

ClickUp pricing

Most of ClickUp’s task management features are accessible on the free plan. The price-to-features ratio on the paid options is one of the best in this space.

• Free Forever (supports unlimited tasks and members)
• Unlimited: $7/month per user
• Business: $12/month per user
• Enterprise: Contact for pricing
• ClickUp AI: Add to any paid plan for $5 per member per month

*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model

ClickUp ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)

The platform has garnered largely positive reviews as a task management solution. Here’s how one user describes their experience :

My favorite feature is the ‘add to’ function for tasks, which enables me to have a central location for all major projects. Within the project/Epic, subtasks can be assigned to the correct space/list to be worked on by whoever needs it. Having a top-down view of the location and status of each subtask is invaluable to keeping track of what is completed and incomplete. Adding custom fields wherever I need them is also fantastic.

There’s no milder way to put it—we just love Asana as an online task management software for remote teams! For starters, we can use pre-built templates to organize our remote projects and coordinate on tasks and updates using the centralized Inbox feature.

As we tested the tool further, we noticed that it was incredibly easy to add and track cross-team tasks across multiple projects. Essentially, I can ensure the same task is never duplicated in another department, which is a common pain point for remote teams!

Its breadth of features is quite similar to ClickUp (you can check out a detailed ClickUp vs. Asana comparison here ). For instance, I can add task descriptions in the form of bulleted lists, embed files to add context, set due dates, and add assignees in a few clicks. It’s also effortless to create subtasks, identify blockers, and streamline approvals on task changes.

What makes Asana stand out among its alternatives for me is the Workflow Builder feature —it gives us a smooth interface to create workflows without coding, helping us automate routine tasks and expedite projects. This quality task management software also features a My Tasks list , which helps prioritize work by auto-promoting tasks based on due dates.

Overall, Asana is a collaborative task management tool for anyone working remotely —my distributed team was able to communicate directly within the app, encouraging cross-functional collaboration with minimal friction. For added transparency, we recommend adding relevant collaborators to your team’s tasks to keep them updated on progress async.

Asana best features

• Templates for task management
• Remote-friendly collaboration tools
• Zero-code workflow builder
• Search and filtering options for simpler navigation
• Integrates with apps like Slack and Dropbox, as well as ClickUp
• Mobile app for Android and iOS

Asana limitations

• May be challenging to implement for larger teams
• Storage and collaboration features could use improvement

Asana pricing

• Personal: Free forever (for up to 10 users)
• Starter: $10.99/month per user
• Advanced: $24.99/month per user

Asana ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (9,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (12,000+ reviews)

Many users have favorably reviewed Asana’s auto-reminders feature, like this one :

I like how Asana helps us to make and assign tasks to employees in our team, and also it auto gives them reminders to complete the tasks on time. Their reminder emails are very much helpful, this way our co-workers have the list of To-Do’s ready without checking multiple messaging platforms and emails.

When I first started exploring Jira, it was evident to me that this was not as beginner-friendly as other alternatives due to a somewhat complex feature set. But then, Jira is a popular task management software option among seasoned professionals in industries like IT, finance, marketing, and HR, so it was worth a try.

To give you some context, Jira was first launched by Atlassian as an issue-tracking tool for software developers—but has now branched out to become a useful tool for project managers and task managers alike. In my experience, I found it to be an incredibly handy tool for Agile project management .

My team tried to set up a sample workflow for a complex Agile project, and we were able to break everything into manageable sprints . We got the option to set up tasks under:

• Company-managed projects: A standard admin-controlled workflow
• Team-managed projects: A more self-contained workspace for independent teams

Jira’s multiple views, like boards and timelines, makes it easy to track sprint tasks and identify roadblocks to ensure continuous improvement . The tool also supports team collaboration by allowing members to brainstorm and exchange task information across departments through shared workflows.

Moving to productivity, it’s worth noting that Jira, like ClickUp , lets us update custom task statuses in real time, while its automaton feature allows for running manual actions in the background. Plus, project managers can automate work using its numerous task management templates . 😀

Tip: Explore the Jira-ClickUp integration to manage your Agile workflow better!

Jira best features

• Workflow automation support
• Multiple task views for agile teams
• Templates for niches like human resources , marketing, and IT
• Integrates with Atlassian Work Management and other popular apps
• Effective task management apps for Android and iOS

Jira limitations

• The system can be slow at times
• The user interface and dashboard design could be improved

Jira pricing

• Free: Up to 10 users
• Standard: $8.15/month per user
• Premium: $16/month per user
• Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing

Jira’s business support is only available on paid tiers. However, free plan users can seek out community support .

Jira ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (5,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (13,000+ reviews)

Bonus read: Check out these Jira alternatives !

Can using Monday.com for managing tasks can make Mondays less dreadful? We think yes! This simple task management software provides all key features, from multiple task views to task templates, that you’d find in most Monday alternatives .

However, what our research team loves the most is the software’s specific task management features for marketing and PMO teams . For example, marketing teams can benefit from key features like brand asset management , robust Gantt charts (to build task timelines), and campaign tracking . Meanwhile, PMO teams rely on features for monitoring OKRs , identifying dependencies, and tracking time for future task planning.

I think Monday.com also stands out with its smooth interface . Its Work Management feature lets you create no-code marketing workflows for specific functions like content creation, social media, and event planning.

I consulted a few project managers who use the tool, and they even appreciated its intuitive layout. For example, the platform allows them to make informed decisions by accessing quick overviews of task progress on a dashboard. 📈

Plus, Monday.com allows you to organize workspaces into projects with individual tasks and subtasks, complete with color-coding options to help you track task priorities and statuses easily.

Overall, it’s a powerful task management tool—quite similar to ClickUp and Asana in terms of design and feature set. Plus, the platform integrates with top marketing tools as well as other collaborative platforms ( including ClickUp ).

Monday.com best features

• Includes 200+ automation options
• Color-coded custom task statuses and priority levels
• User-friendly project templates
• No-code workflows setup
• Offers a mobile app for iOS and Android
• Integrates with over 200 apps

Monday.com limitations

• The initial setup tends to be overwhelming
• Some users struggle with custom reminders and experience delays in notifications

Monday.com pricing

You can access the following plans by first signing up for a 14-day free trial:

• Free: Up to two users
• Basic: $9/month per user
• Standard: $12/month per user
• Pro: $19/month per user

Monday.com ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (10,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews)

I’m a religious fan of Kanban boards, which is partly why I always have a blast using Trello. One of the main reasons why I put it high up on our list is simplicity—most project management software are not as easy to learn as Trello, which makes it perfect for managing linear tasks on a smaller scale.

This good task management software is all about moving tasks like sticky notes on a drag-and-drop Kanban board for easier status tracking. Individuals can use it to create personalized task lists, while team members can rely on advanced checklists to add context to tasks by adding due dates and assignees. 

As far as basic task management is concerned, this software supports task prioritization through labels like high, medium, or low priority. Say I want to access a specific batch of tasks and prepare a quick status report—all I have to do is filter through these labels.

Trello’s no-code (and cute!) automation tool called Butler is also incredibly comfortable to use. Even the less tech-savvy members of my team can automate recurring tasks by creating simple rules, buttons, and commands.

Trello lets us view tasks on calendars, timelines, and neatly organized tables, which is often more than enough to manage workloads in smaller teams. However, if you’re running a larger team or a more complex project that requires agility and a wider variety of project views, Trello alternatives with enterprise features may be a better option.

Trello best features

• Butler—a no-code automation tool
• Kanban-based task tracking software
• Includes checklists, calendars, and timelines
• Color-coding helps prioritize tasks
• Android and iOS mobile apps
• Integrates with other task management systems like ClickUp and Jira

Trello limitations

• Gets costly as users increase in number
• May not support complex project management

Trello pricing

Trello’s free plan is pretty generous and supports up to 10 boards. You need to get a Premium tier to access more views and AI-driven features, which are necessary for effective task management in modern workspaces.

• Standard: $5/month per user
• Premium: $10/month per user
• Enterprise: $17.5/month per user

Trello ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (13,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (23,000+ reviews)

Here’s what one user had to say about completing tasks and projects with Trello:

Trello provides software development projects with a smooth platform for managing Agile and Kanban workflows. Tasks can be easily created and organized because of its user-friendly interface and customisable boards, lists, and cards. While Trello’s ease of use is one of its main advantages, it might not have all the complex project management capabilities of more all-inclusive applications. 

I had little idea of what Hive is like when I first started testing it. The platform advertises itself as an all-encompassing project management software with use cases ranging from project and resource management to client engagement. While I mostly explored features for task management, I can confidently say that this tool wins when it comes to facilitating team collaboration.

Hive provides any hybrid team with a task management platform to:

• Assign, track, and execute tasks together, regardless of location
• Monitor upcoming tasks across departments
• Streamline task intake data with forms
• Collaborate async or live with Hive Notes and Text and Voice Chat

Like ClickUp, Hive supports project collaboration by letting teammates communicate across projects by leaving comments on action cards or tagging team members.

Collaboration here is smoother because you get to observe your tasks from unique angles . For example, we can use the Portfolio view to get a detailed overview of tasks across projects or the Label view to categorize subtasks. I thought I could focus better by activating the My Actions view to display my task assignments in a concentrated way. 

We can also rely on key features like task status to easily track progress, templates to customize project layouts and business processes, and notifications to never miss a beat. Plus, Hive offers Workflows App —a no-code task automation tool to help you cut down on manual labor and design personalized automated workflows. 

Hive best features

• Collaborative task management tool
• Supports individual, group, or project discussions
• AI assistant ( HiveMind ) and templates to support standard tasks
• My Actions view tracks all the tasks assigned to you 
• Includes a no-code task automation tool
• Integrates with Dropbox and Google Drive

Hive limitations

• The mobile app has limited functionality
• UX may get compromised with many collaborators

Hive pricing

Hive’s free plan neatly supports basic task management for all your projects, but you’ll have to upgrade to paid plans for features like custom fields, task labels, and an in-app calendar.

• Starter: $5/month per user
• Teams: $12/month per user

Hive ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 (500+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)

Bonus: Check out these Hive alternatives !

Most alternatives to MeisterTask include Kanban boards as one of their key features. However, I’d emphasize that MeisterTask excels as Kanban-based task management software because of how user-friendly and intuitive it is. 😻

The tool is beautifully crafted and provides customizable Kanban-style boards that let us organize and monitor task cards. We can mark if tasks are In Progress , Done , or on the To Do list (or create custom sections). What’s cool is that we can also switch to a Gantt-like timeline view to access more linear scheduling.

These boards keep all work centralized and let us communicate effectively through task comments. We can mention teammates in the comments, add them as project watchers, and assign them tasks directly from the board. Whenever you manage projects prone to changes, just activate real-time notifications to keep everyone in the loop about the latest updates.

Besides collaborative boards, the software offers personal Kanban pinboards called Agendas , where we can organize all the tasks assigned to us, as well as access due dates and important files faster.

Many user reviews for MeisterTask compliment the tool’s pretty interface —here’s what a verified user shared:

The colorful Kanban-type interface, the multiple project lists you can have, tags, integration from MindMeister, easy integration from other websites to spawn tasks. I use it on my phone, tablet, and iPad.

MeisterTask best features

• Easy-to-use Kanban boards to track project progress
• Can serve as a personal task management software
• Task-related collaboration through comments
• Dashboards to track tasks, time-tracking data, and notifications
• Lets you automate recurring tasks
• iOS and Android mobile apps

MeisterTask limitations

• The software could benefit from adding a workflow calendar to its features
• Notifications may be delayed on mobile devices

MeisterTask pricing

• Basic: Free (doesn’t allow integration with other apps)
• Pro: $6.50/month per user

MeisterTask ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 (100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (1,000+ reviews)

nTask serves as an SMB-focused hub for tracking and scheduling tasks under three sections: To-Do, Workflow, and Projects . The idea is to create both personal and professional task lists, as well as define workflows for specific functions like designing, fund management, and freelancing. 

In my opinion, the Projects tab has quite a clutter-free interface to design granular schedules and assign tasks or entire task lists to your teammates. If you’re new to the platform, you can start with a weekly scheduling sheet to create a baseline of tasks, along with descriptions and assignees. Then, you can use the Task Builder to add tasks as needed.

As a visual task management tool, my team was able to use nTask to plan and prioritize tasks on a Kanban layout, manage interconnected delivery timelines, and visualize projects with color-coded Gantt charts.

For example, we scheduled tasks by setting planned and actual due dates and creating task dependencies and milestones to ensure timely completion. Then, we set priorities, custom statuses, and real-time notifications to ensure no action remains overlooked.

nTask’s robust time-tracking capabilities help us stay within realistic timeframes. I can monitor time spent on tasks and estimate the time my team will need for future tasks, which makes scheduling (and invoicing) easier over time.

nTask best features

• Offers multiple project views (board, grid, list, and calendar)
• Comprehensive task tracking
• Visual task management and task scheduling through Gantt charts
• Recurring tasks feature with daily, weekly, or monthly repeats
• Integrates with 1,000+ tools like Apple Calendar, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams
• Android and iOS support

nTask limitations

• Attaching documents and images to tasks may be challenging
• User interface could be more intuitive

nTask pricing

You can access a 7-day trial period for all plans. NGOs may be able to get up to 50% off upon contacting sales.

• Premium: $3/month per user
• Business: $8/month per user

nTask ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (10+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.2/5 (100+ reviews)

ZenHub is a project management solution that primarily caters to software development teams. It provides a native GitHub integration via a browser extension for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. This helps reduce context switching by keeping project tasks connected with GitHub code. 

Plus, ZenHub offers automatic task updates as users complete issues in GitHub, streamlining task completion by eliminating manual status check-ins from your team’s to-do list. There are also automated hand-offs to update all connected workspaces.

This online task management software and software development tool brings tasks together on intuitive, drag-and-drop Kanban boards , allowing teams to view all current tasks and their statuses.

Use these boards to prioritize tasks, track projects, and attach pull requests to corresponding issues. Group related issues into Epics or connect various private and public GitHub repos to a single board. 👨‍🏫

Additionally, ZenHub offers sprint planning features, making it a handy tool for agile teams . It lets us set automated sprint cycles, auto-generate new sprints with prioritized and unfinished tasks, and receive periodical reports on progress.

I’ve also heard pretty exciting things about ZenHub AI (automatic issue categorization, sprint reviews, etc.). However, I wasn’t able to get past the waitlist to try out its beta program.

ZenHub best features

• Various key features for agile teams
• Native GitHub integration
• Provides spring planning and tracking
• Boards with intuitive task management capabilities
• Automate repetitive tasks and hand-offs
• Acts as a visual task management tool with roadmaps and timelines
• Integrates with Figma, Miro, and Loom

ZenHub limitations

• Steep learning curve
• The interface may be challenging to navigate

ZenHub pricing

• For Teams: $8.33/month per user (annual billing after a 14-day free trial)
• For Enterprises: Contact sales for pricing

ZenHub ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (30+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (30+ reviews)

Zoho Projects is a reliable project management software with features such as issue tracking, team monitoring , project timesheets, and resource utilization charts. From the range of use cases we explored, this platform can be excellent for managing complex projects in industries like marketing, construction, IT, and consulting.

Zoho Projects offers a comprehensive toolset for task management that assists us in breaking projects down into milestones, task lists, and subtasks for simpler tracking. This task management platform is all about details—each task can have attributes like assignees, work hours, priorities, and reminders. Plus, we can use timesheets and timers to record time spent on each task.

We were able to schedule tasks on a calendar and get an overview of team members’ capacity simultaneously. This, I think, is crucial for balanced task planning and avoiding the risk of team burnout.

Like many Zoho alternatives , this tool simplifies task organization by providing Kanban-style boards with drag-and-drop task cards and flexible statuses. As for planning and tracking complex workflows, we can use Gantt charts to identify granular team tasks, set dependencies, and monitor deadlines to ensure everything is done on time. ⌛

I believe that using Zoho Projects is great for consolidating your task ecosystem when you use other Zoho applications, such as Zoho Mail or Zoho CRM, as the tool gives you a unified view of your tasks across sister platforms.

Zoho Projects best features

• Quick-access Gantt charts
• Supports versatile task management use cases
• Highly customizable workflows with project templates
• Easy task scheduling on calendars
• Integrates with various Zoho, Google, and Microsoft apps 
• Task management apps (iOS 9.0+ and Android 4.1+)

Zoho Projects limitations

• Initial setup may be challenging
• Software customization can be time-consuming 

Zoho Projects pricing

• Free: Up to three users
• Premium: $4/month per user (10-day trial)
• Enterprise: $9/month per user (10-day trial)

Zoho Projects ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (300+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (400+ reviews)

Reviews mostly mention the product to be useful, albeit confusing at times. Here’s an excerpt :

Zoho Projects is useful when using to assign tasks, getting multiple projects done, and needing to know who will do it by when. It allows people to go in and time themselves to track how long it took them to do it. It does get really confusing at times to create tasks because of the many tedious needs that can be miscommunicated while trying to assign (tasks). 

ActiveCollab is all about increasing productivity and meeting deadlines with ease in client-based workflows. Whether you’re a startup or a small creative team, the tool lets you invite unlimited clients to the platform for improved collaboration and feedback loops. In my opinion, this alone can help eliminate those hard-to-keep-track-of client meetings and follow-up email chains.

My experience? Besides adding tasks for my team, I was also able to break down complex actions into subtasks for my clients, ensuring all assigned tasks got done as planned. Additionally, we saw functions to:

• Add due dates, assignees, and detailed task descriptions
• Group tasks based on different criteria
• Duplicate repetitive tasks

This online task management software offers only three project views to choose from, which is less than what ActiveCollab alternatives typically offer. Still, it includes frequently used views—the Kanban board, Gantt chart, and List view. 📝

I know automation is a recurring theme at this point, but still worth a mention—ActiveCollab can reduce manual labor by automating recurring tasks like drafting weekly reports. And, if you need to ensure actions are completed in a fixed order, just create dependencies between multiple tasks.

ActiveCollab stresses the importance of a personal task manager, which freelancers may find useful. It provides a My Work page where you can find and organize your task assignments by project, client, or due date. 

ActiveCollab’s timesheets also impress me quite a bit. Besides getting an overview of all my time records, I can access project-level time tracking for easier billing. I can even revisit my productivity in terms of the comments posted, tasks created or closed, or due dates modified.

ActiveCollab best features

• Excellent personal task management software
• Tools to automate repetitive tasks
• Dependencies for completing tasks in a specific order
• Android and iOS smartphone apps
• Integrates with other task management tools like Asana and Trello

ActiveCollab limitations

• The file-sharing feature of this task management software could be simpler to use
• Adding more customization options could be beneficial 

ActiveCollab pricing

All plans come with a 14-day free trial. However, you have to subscribe to the most expensive plan for features like workload management and days-off planning.

• Plus: $9.5/month 3 users/month
• Pro: $8/month per user/month
• Pro+Get Paid: $11.75/month per user

ActiveCollab ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.2/5 (90+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (300+ reviews)

Wrike is well-known for its robust task and workflow management features. But what many users miss is how beautifully scalable it is! For instance, the platform lets me build a library of custom tasks that mimics our core processes—we can use it as a baseline for all our future workflows. And the best part is, we can expand this library to build a workspace tailored to a role, department, or even industry.

During the time we tested this tool, we created multi-level task lists across levels like folders, milestones, phases, and projects. Some of us even created personalized dashboards by pinning important tasks from our to-do list, all automatically sorted by priority and due date.

Like most of Wrike’s competitors , the platform supports strong teamwork —we can collaborate on real-time project plans, task assignments, and decision-making within the platform. Plus, the software includes built-in proofing tools for quick yet detailed task feedback and task automation to save time and increase work efficiency.

Additionally, Wrike allows project managers to build customizable reports on task and team performance. I was, for instance, able to further optimize workflows by analyzing relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) on dashboards.

Wrike best features

• Comprehensive project dashboards with personalized reports
• Supports feedback-friendly team collaboration
• Multiple project views
• Visualize tasks in views like Gantt Chart, Kanban, and Calendar
• 400+ third-party integrations
• Task automation

Wrike limitations

• Could use more custom display options
• Some users experience task syncing issues

Wrike pricing

Wrike offers integrations and additional cloud security features for an extra fee, but all of the following plans contain task management features:

• Team: $9.80/month per user
• Business: $24.80/month per user
• Enterprise and Pinnacle: Contact sales

Wrike ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.2/5 (3,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (2,000+ reviews)

While many Todoist alternatives on our list offer additional project management features, this veteran app is purely focused on task management. I think Todoist is one of the few apps that consistently upgrades itself within its niche space. For instance, we can now create detailed daily to-do lists and set recurring tasks using natural language.

The tool ticks all the boxes for basic task planning and management—we can create tasks and subtasks, determine priorities, add due dates, and set reminders to ensure nothing goes overlooked. 👀

Although it’s primarily a task management app, Todoist can help you manage small-scale projects as it includes goal-setting features , labels to categorize tasks, and task descriptions to keep information centralized.

I personally loved its Upcoming calendar view —it displays which tasks are due urgently, and if anything’s too demanding, I can use a drag-and-drop function to reschedule assignments. And if I need to focus on team tasks that are currently due, I simply go to the Today view .

While Todoist’s simple navigation and low price make it a handy tool for personal task management, it’s also a good to-do list app for teams on a tight budget . Its project management features aren’t too comprehensive, but you can still assign tasks and leverage comments for better teamwork and transparency. Here’s what a small business owner had to share after using the tool :

Extremely easy to use for all levels of technological understanding. I use Todoist several times a day and we have integrated this across our whole team. We’ve experienced far less chance of tasks being lost or forgotten and people stay accountable because of the notifications received upon completion.

Tip: ClickUp has a neat Import from Todoist feature if you need to switch to a more extensive project management tool in the future.

Todoist best features

• Efficient daily task management
• Multiple task views (including Kanban boards and lists)
• Basic team collaboration support
• Easy navigation to monitor project progress
• Integrates with various productivity and time-tracking apps
• Has a to-do list app for Android and iOS

Todoist limitations

• Integrating the software with some apps may be challenging
• It would be beneficial if the app displayed tasks when you’re offline

Todoist pricing

• Beginner: Free
• Pro: $4/month per user
• Business: $6/month per user

Todoist ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (700+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (2,000+ reviews)

Besides being a good task management tool, ProofHub is a task tracking software that lets you easily create task lists and individual tasks, assign them to more than one team member, and closely follow due dates and priorities across task categories . I am particularly in awe of the platform’s Table view for task tracking—I get to monitor progress percentages for actions in different categories (without being a pesky micromanager). 😁

Similar to ProofHub alternatives , the software is fully customizable —we can build personalized workflows and use custom fields to capture any task-related data my team deems important. Custom fields enhance task tracking —because we customize them to track virtually any detail, be it deadlines or output.

Speaking of tracking, ProofHub has an intuitive interface for creating task dependencies for ensuring tasks are completed in a predetermined order. If you want to offer more clarity to assignees, leave comments on tasks or use mentions to guide them.

Additionally, ProofHub offers various reporting options to help gain insight into a project’s progress. You can enhance resource allocation by analyzing resource utilization reports or track project-specific progress with task completion reports.

ProofHub best features

• Multi-faceted task tracking software
• Customizable workflows
• Supports task-related discussions through comments and mentions
• Reports to gauge task progress
• Various project views like Kanbans and tables
• Mobile-friendly

ProofHub limitations

• Notifications can get difficult to manage
• Some users find its customization features complex

ProofHub pricing

Note that ProofHub currently avoids the per-user billing format, which may make it appealing for some teams.

• Essential: $45/month for unlimited users
• Ultimate Control: $150/month (or $89/month for a limited time offer)

ProofHub ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 (80+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (90+ reviews)

SmartTask includes all key features you’d typically find in a task management tool. You can set deadlines, add dependencies, and manage tasks in views like calendar, list, and board. I’d highlight that you can create a realistic workflow here by optimizing dependent, overlapping, and ignored tasks—this is the kind of visibility you need when your team is juggling 5+ projects simultaneously.

This software stands out for me especially because of its tools for managing multiple projects simultaneously in a cross-functional setup. Its Project Portfolios feature allows you to create multiple boards to track separate goals, aligning your marketing, sales, and design teams. To play it safer, you can even share task lists across teams to prevent orphaned actions. 

SmartTask supports team collaboration by letting us comment on tasks and generate real-time notifications for updates. We can also invite clients, vendors, and external stakeholders to collaborate on any task or project by sending them an invitation.

Plus, it provides dashboard reports on both project tasks and sales that you can easily find through its advanced search bar. 🔎

SmartTask best features

• Internal and external team communication
• Set recurring tasks (daily, weekly, or monthly)
• Task and sales reports
• Supports managing tasks across projects
• Time tracking for individual tasks
• Task management tools for iOS and Android

SmartTask limitations

• The UI and UX could use some improvement
• Adding more integrations would be useful

SmartTask pricing

SmartTask may offer discounted pricing to NGOs upon contact. Eligible startups can also apply for a $1,000 worth of credit.

• Free Forever
• Premium: $7.99/month per user
• Business: $10.99/month per user

SmartTask ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 (60+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (30+ reviews)

I’ll admit that HubSpot Task Management is far from a traditional task manager—it’s more of a suite designed to help marketers streamline Customer Relationship Management (CRM) processes. Now, we know that effective CRM depends on properly storing, tracking, and managing lead- and customer-based activities. HubSpot helps you streamline these scattered tasks to boost revenue.

We explored this software extensively and can confirm that it reduces the need to switch between multiple tabs when talking to prospects, all thanks to dashboards that centralize all CRM work. In terms of use cases, utilize the dashboards to track your to-do list items, view prospect details, and stay on top of meetings. 

Need to create new tasks? Do that directly from your workflows, email inbox, or to-do list. And if you need insights from past task performances, like deals made and activities completed, leverage HubSpot’s reporting tools. This platform simplifies communication with email templates (for sending messages in bulk) and real-time team chat. 

While sales and marketing teams may enjoy HubSpot’s task management style, some of HubSpot’s alternatives could be a better choice for companies in IT or finance. You can even consider the HubSpot-ClickUp integration if you want to organize your customer-facing processes more diligently.

HubSpot best features

• A wide array of CRM functionalities
• Live team chats
• Dashboards to centralize prospect-related work
• Integrates with apps like WordPress, Gmail, and Zapier
• iOS and Android mobile app for HubSpot CRM

HubSpot limitations

• Limited option to prioritize tasks
• Workflow automation is limited on the free plan

HubSpot pricing

For individuals and small teams:

• Starter: $15/month
• Professional: $800/month

HubSpot (CRM) ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (11,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (4,000+ reviews)

Paymo is a simple task management software and invoicing app rolled into one, so I can see how it holds enormous appeal for professionals and freelancers who want to manage client work, time tracking data, and resources within one platform . It lets you automatically set up ghost bookings based on the task details you’ve entered in the past, as well as receive a visual overview of all bookings for the immediate team on a single screen. 🖥️

Paymo also simplifies managing resources by allowing multiple managers to work on scheduling to avoid overbooking or underbooking. We can:

• Book time for time-sensitive tasks by the hour
• Accommodate unscheduled tasks with a simple drag-and-drop function
• Visualize our team’s availability on timelines
• Send booking notifications only to relevant team members

The platform lets my employees view their tasks in a single view, while our task managers monitor both their personal tasks and team’s work in separate views. Like with most Paymo alternatives , we get project views like Gantt charts, Tables, and Calendars to visualize tasks.

Paymo also encourages team collaboration, offering a detailed Task View to chat in real time about the latest task updates. Finally, Paymo provides task priority levels like critical, high, normal, or low across teams, which we can adjust based on our delivery commitment to clients.

Paymo best features

• Timelines to assess employee availability
• Allows booking time for client tasks by the hour
• Real-time chat
• Project views like Gantt chart and Kanban board
• Integrates with apps like Slack, Google Calendar, and JotForm
• Mobile app support for iOS and Android

Paymo limitations

• The mobile app may be tricky to navigate
• Takes time to train employees to use the platform

Paymo pricing

• Free (for up to five clients)
• Starter: $5.9/month per user
• Small Office: $10.9/month per user
• Business: $16.9/month per user

Paymo ratings and reviews

• Capterra: 4.8/5 (400+ reviews)

I have talked to many freelancers about their task management routines, and I think one of their main problem areas is connecting tasks to tracked hours and, eventually, invoices. That’s precisely why I made sure this handy all-in-one tool was on our list.

While most TimeCamp alternatives on this list include typical task and project management features, TimeCamp shifts its focus to time-task budgeting instead.

With its one-click time-tracking capabilities , you can track your or your team’s working hours effortlessly. You can use this data to standardize times for specific jobs, plan and create task assignments and invoice estimates, and monitor each team member’s productivity.

TimeCamp also provides features for measuring the profitability of your projects and tracking billable hours, streamlining invoicing and resource management. Basically, the tasks you had to do manually, like creating invoices and approving timesheets, are automated on this platform.

Although this software highlights time tracking, it’s still a task management tool. Its TimeCamp Planner product helps you organize tasks and monitor their progress on Kanban-style boards. 

If you’re dealing with repeatable tasks, automate them by specifying information like due dates, assignees, and progress statuses. Plus, you can switch from team task overview to your own using the My Tasks feature , which displays your assigned tasks on a list, calendar, or timeline view.

Note that TimeCamp’s time tracking and task management features are available on separate pricing plans .

TimeCamp best features

• Comprehensive time-tracking tools
• Kanban board for easy task tracking
• Personal task lists
• Can automate repeatable tasks
• Includes apps for Android and iOS
• ClickUp (you can use this integration to time your ClickUp tasks and enjoy billing accuracy)
• Google Calendar

TimeCamp limitations

• The user interface and server load time could be better
• The tool may be buggy at times

TimeCamp pricing (for TimeCamp Planner)

• Starter: $2.99/month per user (best for freelancers)
• Premium: $4.99/month per user (ideal for businesses tracking profitability)
• Ultimate: $7.99/month per user (for better analytical reporting)
• Enterprise: $11.99/month per user (for higher security and custom integrations)

TimeCamp ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (500+ reviews)

Any.do specializes in providing easy-to-use to-do lists to help you achieve both personal or professional goals efficiently. It caters to individuals, families, and teams, and is available via 10+ platforms, including Mac, Safari, and iPad.

During my time with this tool, I was able to organize my to-dos in separate lists and projects, all color-coded to set clear priorities and determine task categories. We can enhance our task lists with:

• Subtasks and attachments for added task awareness
• Deadlines and reminders

Sharing responsibilities is also simple—just share a task list with your teammates or family to collaborate on task completion . For example, you can assign different items on a grocery list to family members and track the list to ensure they complete the task successfully. If there’s an urgent matter you wish to discuss, use the chat function to communicate in real time.  

For companies looking for a task management tool with project management capabilities, Any.do is a solid choice as it also offers features like customizable workflows, views, pre-made templates, and powerful integrations with other work tools.

If you want more comprehensive workflow features, though, explore some more advanced Any.do alternatives .

Any.do best features

• Provides simple to-do lists
• Great as a daily task manager
• Lets you share lists with teams, family, and friends
• Reminders for timely task completion
• Has apps for iOS and Android
• Integrates with other task management tools like ClickUp and Asana (via Zapier)

Any.do limitations

• Some users desire more integrations (like with Microsoft Calendar)
• Limited advanced features for this price range

Any.do pricing

Remember to get a Family or Teams plan to access shared lists.

• Premium: $2.99/month per user
• Family: $8.33/month per four users
• Teams: $4.99/month per user

*All listed prices refer to approx values billed annually

Any.do ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.2/5 (100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (100+ reviews)

At the time of reviewing this tool, we noted a few less-than-positive reviews by Android and iOS users, mostly about some UX elements. However, the reviews for the overall functionalities are quite positive. Here’s what a sales manager who uses the product had to say :

With Any.do, organizing my tasks is simple and fast. The app works fine, and it does the job that it’s supposed to do, setting daily reminders and scheduling to keep myself on track of what’s going on. I love apps that offer a simple, minimalistic professional design.

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like task management tool . It’s great for those who are comfortable tracking tasks in Excel but are open to switching to a tool with less complicated calculation work. The tool is popular in construction, healthcare, and education industries where task management is all about working with scattered data.

Like ClickUp, Smartsheet offers comprehensive project and task management tools for handling different workflows. For example, it lets you schedule tasks, create subtasks, allocate resources, and track assignments efficiently from one platform. ✅

Here, tasks are represented on spreadsheets for individual projects. Like most Smartsheet alternatives , we can add basic task information, like due dates and assignees, in clear fields and columns. We can also merge several spreadsheets to have a consolidated view of our tasks across categories.

However, these aren’t traditional spreadsheets—they also provide the advanced features of a modern task management tool. For instance, we can use checkboxes, dropdown lists, and comments to interact with tasks on Smartsheet.

This is a great task management software for teams working on extensive projects as it includes templates for agile project management, OKR tracking, budgeting, and resource management.

It also supports task automation, real-time collaboration , and advanced analytics. Plus, it integrates with services we may already use, like Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams.

Bonus read: Explore ClickUp vs. Smartsheet !

Smartsheet best features

• Spreadsheet-based project management tool
• Advanced functionalities for monitoring complex projects
• Supports real-time team communication
• Templates for agile project management
• Integrates with numerous communication, data visualization, and project delivery apps
• Available as an iOS or Android mobile app

Smartsheet limitations

• There may be a steep learning curve for users figuring out advanced features
• It could benefit from adding more template options

Smartsheet pricing

• Free (for up to two task editors)
• Pro: $7/month per user
• Business: $25/month per user

Smartsheet ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (14,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (3,000+ reviews)

Our first-hand experience with these tools has been both adventurous and enlightening. We think each of these options understands their target users and strives to deliver. However, if you’re still struggling to find “the one,” make a list of what you really prioritize in a task management platform.

Typically, great task management software provides features that help you plan, organize, track, and assign tasks, but you shouldn’t have to pay a fortune for these functions. Some features, like reminders, automation, and task views, are the bare minimum, and we see them in almost every tool we discussed.

What you can explore is the overall functionalities you get for a given price. Say Tool A gives you 30 advanced features and the more popular Tool B gives you 25 advanced features at the same price point—you know what to pick!

Lastly, the best task management tools are supposed to make your life easier, not vice versa, so ensure your chosen tool is easy to implement and fun to work with! 🥳

If you absolutely can’t make a choice, we’ll be cheeky and persuade you to try ClickUp ! It’s got all the features you’ll need to streamline task management with minimal effort. Whether you want to set goals, track and assign tasks, manage time, reduce manual labor, or communicate with your team, the possibilities are endless.

Sign up to ClickUp today and enjoy the best toolkit a free task management software has to offer! 💖

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Assign and track tasks

In addition to creating your own tasks, you can create tasks to assign to others.

Tasks help track things you need to do. You can assign tasks to other people as well.

On the navigation bar, click Tasks , and then click New Task , or open an existing task.

Keyboard shortcut     To create a task, press Ctrl+Shift+K.

Click Assign Task .

In the To box, enter a name or an email address.

Enter Subject , Start date , and Due date .

If you want the task to repeat, click Recurrence , select the options you want, and then click OK .

Click Send .

Note:  If you assign a recurring task, a copy of the task remains in your task list, but it never updates. If you check the Send me a status report when this task is complete box, you receive status reports for each completed occurrence of the task.

When you open a task you assigned, you can review the progress of assigned tasks with the % Complete box which either you or the recipient can update when they send you an assigned task status report.

Note:  Tasks assigned from Outlook for Windows must be accepted or declined using the Outlook for Windows application. This experience is not supported in Outlook on the web. 

Assigning tasks to multiple people

Outlook can track the progress of a task assigned to one person. If you want to multiple people to work on a task, it’s a good idea to divide the task into smaller pieces or assign each task individually. For example, to track a report to be written by three writers, create three separate tasks named Write Report: Anne , Write Report: Carlos , and Write Report: Michiyo , and assign each individual task to the appropriate writer.

Track tasks you've assigned to someone else

On the navigation bar, click Tasks .

Click View > Change View > Assigned .

Assigned tasks are missing

If you’re not seeing tasks you’ve assigned, Outlook might not be set up to keep copies of tasks you assign.

Click File > Options > Tasks .

Under Task options , check the Keep my task list updated with copies of tasks I assign to other people box.

Turning on this option doesn’t track the tasks you’ve already assigned, but it will track any new ones you assign.

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Getting organized: The best task management software

Level up your team’s task management system to boost efficiency and enhance collaboration.

By the team at Slack May 24th, 2024

A to-do list can get you only so far. More often, we find ourselves spending too much time prioritizing countless tasks to ensure that a project goes smoothly. Task management systems can make complex projects easier to handle.

If you’re looking to add task management software to your team’s toolkit, we’re here to help. We’ve sifted through this saturated market to identify the best task management programs to streamline and automate your workflows in 2024.

What is a task management app?

Task management refers to the process of overseeing a task from beginning to end, including planning, implementation, quality assurance, and tracking and reporting status updates. If you’re managing various tasks among different work projects, a task management tool can make it easier to prioritize action items and stay organized, on schedule and on budget.

What to look for in a task management program

The best task management software should be easily accessible to stakeholders and provide a user-friendly, visual representation of your in-progress tasks and where each one stands in its lifecycle. Many platforms use graphs, charts, lists and other graphics to clearly display information in a way that’s easy to understand. Look for a task management app that:

• Creates a digital “paper trail”
• Gives everyone on the team input
• Clearly displays the status of each task
• Tracks due dates
• Automates repetitive tasks

Who uses task management software?

Just about any team can benefit from good task management technology. If you’re working with multiple people on multiple projects or initiatives, you can probably use help planning, prioritizing, tracking and organizing your team’s ideas, responsibilities and to-do items. The best task management tools integrate seamlessly into your existing work process and can even automate certain workflows , letting your team focus on the most important tasks.

Benefits of task management software

Task management software helps you handle projects more efficiently, with a reduced risk of human error. The advantages of using a task management app include:

• More visibility and trust between teams and management
• Less mental clutter
• Uniform, streamlined processes
• Time savings
• Lower likelihood of redundant efforts and having to repeat tasks
• Flexibility for team members to access projects and tasks at their convenience

How to choose the right task management software

The best task management app should help your team navigate its biggest roadblocks. Here’s how to pick the best platform for you.

1. Identify your team’s specific requirements

Your team is unique, and your chosen time management system should adapt to your needs and processes. What sorts of projects does your team handle, and how many do you typically tackle at a time? How big is your team? Will you need mobile access, or scalability if your team is growing? What about remote work support?

2. Evaluate the user interface and ease of use

The best task and project management software should be quick to learn and easy to understand. Think about how your team members will actually use the software in their day-to-day work.

For example, if your team will need to use its task management app while they’re in the field or otherwise away from their desks, you should prioritize platforms with strong mobile apps. And if your team is not particularly tech-savvy, you’ll want software with a simple, intuitive interface.

3. Consider integrations with your existing tech stack

Task management doesn’t happen in a vacuum; you probably already have a set of tools you know and like. Look for a task management app that seamlessly integrates with those tools so your team can move quickly and easily between managing projects and completing them.

4. Look for automation capabilities

The best task management systems can help you cut down on actual labor hours by automating repetitive tasks that don’t require much human input.

Slack’s Workflow Builder , for example, simplifies processes by automating repetitive workflows, such as sending follow-up surveys after certain meetings or delivering paperwork to new hires on their first day. This frees up users to focus on larger tasks, which can boost engagement and productivity. It also cuts down on manual errors and context switching.

The best task management software

Our picks for the best task management trackers are user-friendly and compatible with other popular tech tools. These apps offer customization options and automation features. Plus, they integrate with Slack .

Asana ranks among the most popular task management software solutions, offering a clean layout that makes it easy to delegate responsibilities and track projects, subtasks and status. The project management platform also features AI-powered tools for goal-setting and reporting.

Project management software Wrike makes our list thanks to its highly customizable workflows and data visualizations. Users can assign and check work in Wrike, streamlining processes and boosting team collaboration .

Flow is a simple task management app that packs a powerful punch. You can zoom out for a high-level overview of each project and then zoom back in to track each individual task. Easily view your own tasks and those delegated to other team members.

Work management platform Trello makes collaboration and organization easy with customizable boards, cards and lists that break down even the most complex projects into sensible, digestible steps.

Jira Cloud , an agile task management tool, is designed for big, complex projects across various industries. The software walks you step-by-step through designing and customizing each project. AI-powered support features make Jira even easier to use.

Are you more of a visual collaborator? Miro is one of the best for visually oriented people and projects. From mind mapping to real-time data visualization and digital sticky notes, it offers a full-scale collaboration platform for agile teams. Plus, Miro is free.

The highly customizable Workast lets users plan, implement and complete projects all in its work management platform. It integrates with a wide variety of applications and makes everything you need for each project, from forms to meeting notes, readily available with just a couple of clicks.

Notion , another free task management platform, stands out for its easy drag-and-drop format. Even those unfamiliar with other project management platforms can easily get the hang of Notion’s intuitive interface. The software makes it simple to break down your project into bite-size steps that make sense for your team’s work style.

Cloud-based Figma , along with its whiteboard companion, FigJam, takes remote collaboration on design projects to the next level. This task management app focuses on interface design, making it easy for distributed teams to brainstorm, prototype, diagram and even keep digital sticky notes as they work through each project’s lifecycle.

Monday.com is a flexible operating service that lets users create their own project management apps, no coding required. Use it to easily tweak and scale your workflows as needed, and automate simple workflows to save time and reduce errors.

Integrate your favorite task management software with Slack

Slack makes your favorite task management tools work even better for you. Integrating your task management software with Slack can give you important reminders, real-time status updates and automated workflows right in the AI-powered collaboration platform you know and love. To get the most out of your task management system, contact Slack’s sales team or sign up today.

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Configure group types for assignment groups

Use the Type field to define categories of groups. Once defined,\n you can use these categories to filter assignment groups based on the group type using a\n reference qualifier.

For example, when selecting an assignment group from the Incident form,\n Type can be used to filter groups based on whether they are typically\n involved in the Incident management process. Groups such as Network or Help Desk are displayed\n as they are typically involved. Groups such as HR or New York are omitted.

The following items are provided in the base system.

• The types catalog , itil , and\n survey .
• The reference qualifier on [task.assignment_group] filters on [Type] [equals]\n [null] .
• A reference qualifier named GetGroupFilter is available to filter for\n group types using Create a dynamic filter option .

Add a new group type

You can add additional group types to filter assignment groups for tasks.

You may need to configure the form to display the Type \n field.

• \n Navigate to All > User Administration > Groups . \n
• \n Select a group record. \n
• \n Click the lock icon beside Type . \n
• \n Click the lookup icon beside the selection field. \n The Group Types dialog opens. \n
• \n Click New . \n
• \n Enter the group type name and description. \n For example, to define a type for a group as\n incident and problem ,\n enter: incident,problem . \n Click Submit . \n
• Optional: \n Add additional group types if needed. \n
• \n Click Update . \n

Assign a group type

You can assign group types to filter assignment groups for tasks.

• \n Navigate to All > User Administration > Groups and select the desired group. \n
• \n Click the lookup icon beside the selection field and select one or more group\n types. \n \n Note: Because the default behavior of\n task.assignment_group is to filter out groups with\n group types defined, adding a type to a group filters it out of the\n Assignment Group field on tasks. To change the\n behavior, set up the reference qualifier. \n\n \n

Preference-Aware Group Task Assignment in Spatial Crowdsourcing: Effectiveness and Efficiency

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Consensus-Based Group Task Assignment with Social Impact in Spatial Crowdsourcing

• Open access
• Published: 15 September 2020
• Volume 5 , pages 375–390, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Xiang Li 1 ,
• Yan Zhao   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0242-3707 2 ,
• Xiaofang Zhou 4 &
• Kai Zheng 3  

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30 Citations

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With the pervasiveness of GPS-enabled smart devices and increased wireless communication technologies, spatial crowdsourcing (SC) has drawn increasing attention in assigning location-sensitive tasks to moving workers. In real-world scenarios, for the complex tasks, SC is more likely to assign each task to more than one worker, called group task assignment (GTA), for the reason that an individual worker cannot complete the task well by herself. It is a challenging issue to assign worker groups the tasks that they are interested in and willing to perform. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for group task assignment based on worker groups’ preferences, which includes two components: social impact-based preference modeling (SIPM) and preference-aware group task assignment (PGTA). SIPM employs a bipartite graph embedding model and the attention mechanism to learn the social impact-based preferences of different worker groups on different task categories. PGTA utilizes an optimal task assignment algorithm based on the tree decomposition technique to maximize the overall task assignments, in which we give higher priorities to the worker groups showing more interests in the tasks. We further optimize the original framework by proposing strategies to improve the effectiveness of group task assignment, wherein a deep learning method and the group consensus are taken into consideration. Extensive empirical studies verify that the proposed techniques and optimization strategies can settle the problem nicely.

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Group Task Assignment with Social Impact-Based Preference in Spatial Crowdsourcing

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1 Introduction

With the ubiquitous deployment of wireless networks and mobile devices (e.g., smart phones), spatial crowdsourcing (SC), an emerging paradigm utilizing the distributed mobile devices to monitor diverse phenomena about human activities, has attracted much attention from both academic and industry communities. The main idea of spatial crowdsourcing is recruiting a set of available workers to perform the location-specific tasks by physically traveling to these locations, called task assignment .

Most existing SC researches focus on single task assignment [ 20 , 22 ], which assumes that tasks are simple and each task can only be assigned to a single worker. For example, Tong et al. [ 23 ] design several efficient greedy algorithms to solve the proposed global online micro-task allocation (GOMA) problem in spatial crowdsourcing. [ 12 ] considers task assignment and scheduling at the same time, in which an approximate approach is developed that iteratively improves the assignment and scheduling to achieve more completed tasks. However, in real-world scenarios, an individual worker may not be able to perform a complex task (e.g., monitoring the traffic flow in an area or moving heavy stuff) independently since completing the task alone exceeds the capability of this worker. In such scenarios, each task should be assigned to a group of workers, which is named Group Task Assignment .

Group task assignment requires a group of workers to perform each task by physically traveling to the location of this task at a particular time. Some previous studies have explored the group task assignment problem in spatial crowdsourcing. For instance, [ 13 ] proposes a team-oriented task planning (TOTP) problem, which makes feasible plans for workers and satisfies the skill requirements of different tasks on workers. Gao et al. [ 14 ] develop a Top- k team recommendation framework in spatial crowdsourcing, in which a team leader is appointed among each recommended team of workers in order to coordinate different workers conveniently. Cheng et al. [ 6 ] consider the collaboration in task assignment, in which workers are required to cooperate and accomplish the tasks jointly for achieving high total cooperation quality scores. Nevertheless, they fail to effectively incorporate the group preference, which is an essential factor for improving the quality of group task assignment in spatial crowdsourcing as the group members may not be willing to perform the task assigned to them when they are not interested in this task. We next illustrate the group task assignment problem through a motivation example.

Figure  1 shows an example of the group task assignment problem, in which each task is required to be assigned to two workers. There exist five workers \(w_1,\ldots ,w_5\) and two tasks \(s_1, s_2\) . Each worker is associated with her current location, her reachable distance range and her movement speed. For the sake of simplicity, we set the movement speed of each worker to 1 in this running example. Each task is labeled with its location where it will be performed. In addition, Fig.  1 also depicts the preferences of different available worker groups for each task. The problem is to assign tasks to suitable worker groups so as to maximize the total task assignments.

Running example

In SC, it is an intuitive move to assign the nearby tasks to workers without violating the spatiotemporal constraints (i.e., the assigned tasks should be located in the reachable ranges of the corresponding workers and workers can arrive in the locations of assigned tasks before the deadlines of tasks). Therefore, we can obtain a task assignment, \(\{{<}s_1,\{w_1,w_2\}{>},{<}s_2,\{w_4,w_5\}{>}\}\) , with the overall group preference of 0.33. Nevertheless, when we assign the worker group, \(\{w_4,w_5\}\) , to task \(s_2\) , the group is likely to quit performing \(s_2\) as they show little interest in \(s_2\) (i.e., the group preference on \(s_2\) is only 0.04), which may leave \(s_2\) uncompleted. If we assign tasks by giving higher priorities to the worker groups who are more interested in the tasks, we can get the task assignment result, \(\{{<}s_1,\{w_2,w_3\}{>},{<}s_2,\{w_1,w_4\}{>}\}\) , the total group preference of which is 0.78.

In this paper, we develop a group task assignment framework based on worker groups’ preferences. The framework is comprised of two primary components. First, we utilize the powerful bipartite graph embedding model (BGEM) [ 31 ] and the attention mechanism to learn the embedding of task categories and worker groups in a low-dimensional space from group–task interaction data. In order to overcome the limitations of data sparsity problem, we integrate the worker–task interaction data and social network structure information (which is used for extracting the social impact of workers) during the process of preference modeling. Secondly, we apply the tree-decomposition-based algorithm [ 35 ] to assign tasks to worker groups to maximize the task assignments by giving higher priorities to the worker groups that show more interest in the tasks.

Although our previous study [ 17 ] can exploit social network features by a linear approach, it fails to capture the nonlinear and complex network structures of social network features. Since the underlying network structure is complex and it is necessary to take into consideration the interactions among features in a nonlinear way, we apply an unsupervised deep learning model, called stacked denoising autoencoders (SDAE) [ 28 ], to learn the complex interactions among social network features, which is depicted in Sect.  3.3 .

The second limitation is that, although our preliminary work [ 17 ] has already achieved the optimization goal of maximizing the overall task assignments by taking social impact-based preferences of worker groups into account, it fails to consider the members’ disagreement (i.e., reflecting the level at which group members disagree with each other) among group members. In group activities, it is more desirable to participate in an activity that all the group members with high consensus are interested in than to attend an activity that polarizes group members even if the latter has higher preferences among them [ 19 ]. As a group activity, an effective group task assignment tends to ask a group of workers with high agreement to perform a task (such as moving a heavy stuff) simultaneously. Therefore, in Sect.  4.2 , we combine the members’ disagreement with the group preference in the phase of group task assignment. More specifically, we calculate a consensus score for each worker group, which includes two aspects. The first aspect is the worker group’s preference (i.e., social impact-based preference), which reflects the degree to which the task is preferred by the worker group members. The second aspect is the group members’ disagreement which reflects the level at which members disagree with each other. The aim of the group task assignment is to maximize the total task assignments by giving priority to the worker groups with higher consensus scores on tasks.

As a summary, the major value-added extension over our preliminary work [ 17 ] is as follows:

We identify and study in depth two limitations in our previous framework, which include failing to capture the nonlinear interactions among social network features and failing to consider the disagreement factor among group members.

We employ the stacked denoising autoencoders (SDAE) method to learn the nonlinear interactions among social network features by exploring their complex inherent structures.

We incorporate the consensus score into the group task assignment process, which tries to formalize the members’ disagreement and group preference to weaken the polarization among group members.

Extensive experiments are conducted to study the impact of the key parameters and effectiveness of our proposed algorithms. In particular, compared with the original exact task assignment approach, our proposed task assignment method with the deep learning strategy (i.e., stacked denoising autoencoders) and group consensus strategy can improve the task assignment success rate by up to 31.58% in order to enhance the effectiveness of task completion.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The preliminary concepts and framework are introduced in Sect.  2 . We then present the preference modeling algorithm in Sect.  3 , including the proposed deep learning method in Sect.  3.3 . Next, the task assignment algorithm taking the consensus (in Sect.  4.2 ) into consideration is presented in Sect.  4 , followed by the experimental results in Sect.  5 . Section  6 surveys the related work, and Sect.  7 concludes this paper.

2 Problem Statement

In this section, we briefly introduce a set of preliminary concepts and then give an overview of our framework. Table  1 summarizes the major notations used in the rest of the paper.

2.1 Preliminary Concepts

Definition 1.

(Spatial Task) A spatial task, \(s=<s.l, s.p, s.e, s.c,s.numW>\) , is a task to be performed at location s . l , published at time s . p , and will expire at s . e , where s . l  : ( x ,  y ) is a point in the 2D space. Each task s is also labeled with a category s . c (e.g., moving heavy stuff) and s . numW is the number of workers allowed to be assigned to perform s at the same time instance.

Definition 2

(Worker) A worker, \(w=<w.l, w.r, w.on, w.off, w.speed>\) , is a carrier of a mobile device who volunteers to perform spatial tasks. A worker can be in an either online or offline mode. A worker is online when she is ready to accept tasks. An online worker is associated with her current location w . l , her movement speed w . speed , her reachable circular range with w . l as the center and w . r as the radius, where w can accept assignment of spatial tasks. Besides, a worker with her online time, w . on , is also associated with her offline time, w . off , before which the worker can be assigned tasks.

In our model, a worker can handle only one task at a certain time instance, which is reasonable in practice. Once the server assigns a task to a worker, the worker is considered being offline until she completes the assigned task.

Definition 3

(Available Worker Set) Given a task s to be assigned and a set of workers in the vicinity of s , the available worker set for task s , denoted as \({\mathrm{AWS}}(s)\) , should satisfy the following three conditions: \({\forall }w \in {\mathrm{AWS}}(s)\) :

\(t_{\mathrm{now}} + t(w.l, s.l) \le s.e\) , and

\({\mathrm{d}}(w.l, s.l) \le w.r\) , and

\(t_{\mathrm{now}} + t(w.l, s.l) \le w.off,\)

where \(t_{\mathrm{now}}\) is the current time, \(t(w.l,s.l) = {\mathrm{d}}(w.l, s.l) / w.speed\) is the travel time from w . l to s . l and d( w . l ,  s . l ) is the travel distance (e.g., Euclidean distance) between w . l and s . l .

Definition 4

(Available Worker Group) Given a task s to be assigned and its available worker set \({\mathrm{AWS}}(s)\) , the available worker group for task s , denoted as \({{\mathrm{AWG}}}(s)\) , should satisfy the following three conditions:

\( {\mathrm{AWG}}(s)\subset {\mathrm{AWS}}(s)\) , and

\( \vert {\mathrm{AWG}}(s) \vert = s.numW\) , and

\({\forall } w_i, w_j \in {\mathrm{AWG}}(s), t_{\mathrm{now}} + t(w_i.l, s.l) \le w_j.off,\)

where \(\vert {\mathrm{AWG}}(s) \vert \) denotes the number of workers in \({{\mathrm{AWG}}}(s)\) .

In the rest of the paper, we will use worker group and group interchangeably when the context is clear.

Definition 5

(Spatial Task Assignment) Given a set of workers \(W_i\) and a set of tasks \(S_i\) at time instance \(t_i\) , a spatial task assignment, denoted by \(A_i\) , consists of a set of \(<task, {\mathrm{AWG}}>\) pairs in the form of \(<s_1,{\mathrm{AWG}}(s_1)>,<s_2,{\mathrm{AWG}}(s_2)>,\cdots \) . We use \(\vert A_i \vert \) to denote the number of task assignments.

\(Problem Statement \) : Given a set of workers \(W_i\) and a set of tasks \(S_i\) at the current time instance \(t_i\) on a SC platform, the group task assignment (GTA) problem aims to find the optimal assignment with the maximum number of task assignments (i.e., \({\mathrm{max}}\{|A_i|\}\) ) by considering the consensus among group members.

2.2 Framework Overview

As shown in Fig.  2 , our framework consists of two major components: (1) social impact-based preference modeling (SIPM) for worker groups; and (2) preference-based group task assignment (PGTA) based on worker groups’ preferences.

In the SIPM procedure, inspired by the success of [ 2 , 30 ] in learning (user) group preference based on both user–item and group–item interaction data, we utilize the bipartite graph embedding model (BGEM) and attention mechanism to obtain each worker group’s preference on different categories of tasks by simultaneously leveraging both worker–task and group–task interaction data. Note that we say a worker interacts with a task if she has performed this task. More specifically, we utilize BGEM to model the individual interaction (i.e., worker–task interaction) and group interaction (i.e., group–task interaction) to learn the vector representation of workers and task categories in a low-dimensional space, respectively. Since the worker groups in spatial crowdsourcing are often formed in an ad hoc manner (called occasional groups) without any interaction with tasks, which means the group interaction data is sparse, we cannot effectively learn the vector representation of groups directly. To solve this problem, we introduce workers’ social impact that represents workers’ weights in a group when making decision about task selection.

Framework of our model

In particular, we integrate the worker–task interaction data with group–task interaction data to construct a social network, based on which we extract the social network information by a deep learning method called stacked denoising autoencoders (SDAE). In order to alleviate the sparsity of group–task interaction data, we employ a joint optimization approach to combine group–task interaction data with worker–task interaction data, in which we can obtain the embedding vectors of workers and task categories as well as workers’ weights (i.e., workers’ social impact). At the same time, the group vector can be calculated by the attention mechanism, which assigns different weights to different workers. Finally, we can obtain the group preference on task categories by taking dot product between group vector and task category vector.

In the PGTA phase, given a set of workers and tasks to be assigned, we first obtain the available worker groups (AWGs) for each task by considering trip constraints, i.e., workers’ reachable range, workers’ available time and tasks’ expiration time. Then, we calculate the consensus scores (including group preference and members’ disagreement) of AWGs. Finally, we employ the optimal task assignment (OTA) algorithm based on tree decomposition to assign tasks to suitable worker groups in order to maximize the total task assignments and giving higher priorities to worker groups with higher consensus scores on tasks.

3 Social Impact-Based Preference Modeling

In this section, we first elaborate how the bipartite graph embedding model (BGEM) [ 31 ] learns each worker’s embedding vector (representing her preference on different task categories) and each task category’s embedding vector based on the historical worker–task interaction data (a.k.a. individual interaction data). Then, in the group interaction modeling, we extract workers’ social impact from the social network, in which we utilize a deep learning method (i.e., SDAE), and employ the attention mechanism [ 2 ] to adapt the social impact to different worker groups. Finally, we design a joint optimization strategy, which can obtain the preference of each group on task categories by simultaneously leveraging both worker–task and group–task interaction data.

3.1 Individual Interaction Modeling

Given the interactions between workers and tasks, i.e., worker–task interaction data, we first construct a bipartite graph, \({\mathcal {G}}_{WC} = (W\cup C, E_{WC})\) , where W denotes the worker set, C denotes all the categories of tasks, \(W\cup C\) is the node set of \({\mathcal {G}}_{WC}\) , and \(E_{WC}\) is the set of edges between workers and task categories. An edge \(e_{ij}\) ( \(\in E_{WC}\) ) exists when worker \(w_i\) ( \(\in W\) ) has performed the tasks with category \(c_j\) ( \(\in C\) ). The weight \(h_{ij}\) of edge \(e_{ij}\) is set as \(h_{ij} = \frac{N^{c_j}_{w_i}}{N_{w_i}}\) , where \(N^{c_j}_{w_i}\) denotes the number of tasks (with category \(c_j\) ) worker \(w_i\) has performed and \(N_{w_i} = \sum _{c\in C}N^{c}_{w_i}\) denotes the total number of tasks \(w_i\) has performed.

Due to the success of BGEM [ 31 ] in learning the embedding of heterogeneous interaction entities, we employ it to model the individual worker–task interaction. For the given worker \(w_i\) , the probability of \(w_i\) interacting with the tasks with category \(c_j\) can be calculated in the following:

where \({\mathbf {w_i}}\) is the embedding vector of worker \(w_i\) representing her preference and \({\mathbf {c_j}}\) is the embedding vector of task category \(c_j\) .

In the sequel, we define the objective function of the BGEM. As we all know from [ 18 ], the target of BGEM is to minimize the KL divergence between \({\hat{p}}(\cdot |w_i)\) and \(p(\cdot |w_i)\) , which represent the empirical distribution and the estimated neighbor probability distribution for each worker \(w_i\in W\) , respectively.

We employ \(d_i\) to represent the outdegree of worker node \(w_i\) , which can be calculated as \(d_i = \sum _{c_j \in C} h_{ij}\) (where \(h_{ij}\) denotes the weight of the edge \(e_{ij}\) ). We define the empirical distribution \({\hat{p}}(c_j|w_i) = h_{ij}/d_i\) . Thus, the objective function can be obtained as follows:

3.2 Group Interaction Modeling

In the similar way, we construct a bipartite graph, i.e., \({\mathcal {G}}_{GC} = (G \cup C, E_{GC})\) , to represent the interactions between groups and task categories, where G is a set of groups, \(G \cup C\) is the node set of \({\mathcal {G}}_{GC}\) , and \(E_{GC}\) represents a set of edges between groups and task categories. There exists an edge \(e_{ij}\) ( \(\in E_{GC}\) ) between group \(g_i\) ( \(\in G\) ) and task category \(c_j\) ( \(\in C\) ) if this group of workers has performed the tasks with category \(c_j\) ( \(\in C\) ). Moreover, the weight \(h_{ij}\) of the edge \(e_{ij}\) is simply set as \(h_{ij} = \frac{N^{c_j}_{g_i}}{N_{g_i}}\) , where \(N^{c_j}_{g_i}\) denotes the number of tasks (with category \(c_j\) ) worker group \(g_i\) has performed and \(N_{g_i}\) denotes the total number of tasks \(g_i\) has performed. Let \({\mathbf {g_i}}\) be the embedding vector for group \(g_i\) and \({\mathbf {c_j}}\) be the embedding vector for task category \(c_j\) . Our target is to obtain an embedding vector for each worker group to estimate the preference on all the task categories.

The objective function in group–task interaction data, which is similar to the worker–task interaction data, can be calculated in the following:

Nevertheless, in reality, there are few persistent groups, while there are large amounts of occasional groups forming in an ad hoc manner to perform a task in spatial crowdsourcing. As a result, the group–task interaction data are over sparse with the cold-start nature (i.e., there is no or little group–task interaction) of occasional groups, which leads it difficult to directly learn the embedding vector of an occasional group. To tackle the sparsity and cold-start issue, we aggregate the embeddings of all the members in a group from the group–task interaction data. We observe that in decisions such as task selection, some group members may outspeak others in expressing their preference (due to prestige, authority, or other personality factors) and thus are more influential on the group’s choice on tasks. In addition, the same worker in different groups may have different contributions on group’s decision-making. Therefore, we introduce a coefficient \(\alpha (k,i)\) to learn the weight of worker \(w_k\) in group \(g_i\) , which represents the group-aware personal social impact of \(w_k\) in deciding the choice of group \(g_i\) on tasks. Specifically, given an occasional group \(g_i\) , we define the embedding vector \({\mathbf {g_i}}\) as follows:

where \(\alpha (k,i)\) is a learnable parameter (where a higher value indicates greater impact on a group’s decision) and \({\mathbf {w_k}}\) denotes the embedding of worker \(w_k\) .

However, occasional groups temporarily gather together to perform a task in a time instance. It is difficult to learn the coefficient \(\alpha (k,i)\) directly from the group–task interaction data because of the extreme data sparsity problem. Therefore, we introduce an additional positive numerical value \(\lambda _k\) for each worker \(w_k\) representing the global personal social impact, which does not depend on specific groups. We employ \(\exp (\lambda _k)\) to represent the relative impact on deciding a group choice on tasks. Thus, \(\alpha (k,i)\) can be calculated in Eq.  5 , which is inspired by the attention mechanism [ 2 ].

It is obvious that once we obtain the \(\lambda _k\) representing the global personal social impact for each worker \(w_k\) , we can easily obtain the \(\alpha (k,i)\) , which represents the group-aware personal social impact in a group. However, if a worker has only participated in very few group activities, it may suffer from over-fitting problems. Moreover, if a worker has never attended any group activities, we are not capable of learning the global personal social impact. As a result, we cannot learn the satisfying social impact only from the group–task interaction data.

In order to improve the accuracy of global personal social impact estimation, we construct a workers’ social network based on both worker–task and group–task interaction data, based on which we extract the social network information, which benefits workers’ global social impact estimation. In the social network, each worker maps to a node and an edge exists if two workers have cooperated with each other in the same group. The weight of the edge is set as the number of cooperations between the workers. Each worker (node) is associated with the number of tasks she has completed. Then, we extract the social network structure information by various measures (e.g., degree centrality and betweenness centrality) and integrate the social network structure information into the learning process of worker’s global social impact, which effectively alleviates the cold-start problem in group–task interaction data.

In particular, we can calculate a social network feature vector \({\mathbf {\beta _k}}\) for worker \(w_k\) and employ a feature selector vector \({\mathbf {h}}\) to assign different weights to different structure features [ 30 ]. We normalize all the feature values into the range [0,1]. Then, we take dot product between the social network feature vector \({\mathbf {\beta _k}}\) and the feature selector vector \({\mathbf {h}}\) as the Gaussian prior for the global personal social impact of worker, i.e., \(\lambda _k \sim ({\mathbf {\beta _k}} \cdot {\mathbf {h}} + b, \rho _V^2)\) ( b is a bias term). Due to the fact that global personal social impact may be affected by other unknown factors, we assume that \(\lambda _k\) follows the normal distribution with the mean \({\mathbf {\beta _k}} \cdot {\mathbf {h}} + b\) to learn the more robust personal global social impact.

In terms of the objective function, we should add a corresponding regularization term \(R_V\) , i.e., \(\frac{1}{2\rho _V^2} \sum _{w_k \in W}(\lambda _k - ({\mathbf {\beta _k}} \cdot {\mathbf {h}} + b))^2\) , into the objective function since we introduce a Gaussian prior for the personal social impact parameter \(\lambda _k\) . The hyper-parameter \(\rho _V^2\) (i.e., variance) can control the weight of the regularization term. Therefore, the new objective function is as follows:

Considering the cold-start issue in group–task interaction data, we combine worker–task interaction data with group–task interaction data during the optimization process. More specifically, we design a joint optimization approach, which can simultaneously learn the embedding vectors of workers and task categories from the worker–task interaction data and group–task interaction data. Besides, the global social impact of workers can be learned during the optimization process. Therefore, we combine \(O_{\mathrm{VGC}}\) and \(O_{\mathrm{WC}}\) to form a joint objective function, which is simply defined as follows:

Here, we adopt the standard stochastic gradient descent (SGD) strategy [ 4 ] to minimize the objective function \(O_{\mathrm{GWC}}\) in Eq.  7 , as a result of which each worker’s embedding vector \({\mathbf {w}}\) , each task category’s embedding vector \({\mathbf {c}}\) and the model parameters (i.e., \(\lambda _k, {\mathbf {h}}\) ) can be learned. We can calculate the coefficient \(\alpha (k,i)\) representing the group-aware personal social impact according to Eq.  5 . Then, each group’s embedding vector \({\mathbf {g}}\) can be correspondingly obtained based on Eq.  4 . Finally, we take dot product between each group’s embedding vector and each task category’s embedding vector to achieve the preference of each group on each task category.

3.3 Deep Social Impact Learning

Since the underlying network structures are complex, shallow models cannot capture the highly nonlinear network structures. In order to tackle this problem, we adopt the stacked denoising autoencoders (SDAE) [ 28 ] model to learn the latent representation of social network features for worker \(w_i\) , denoted as \({\mathbf {x_i}}\) , from the original social network feature vector \({\mathbf {\beta _i}}\) . This is inspired by the success of deep learning, which has a powerful representation ability to learn complex structures of data [ 3 ]. As an unsupervised neural network model of codings, SDAE aims to learn the representation of the corrupted input data to predict the clean input itself in the output. SDAE consists of two parts, the encoder and the decoder, which contains multiple nonlinear functions (i.e., layers) for mapping the corrupted input to a latent representation space and then maps the representation into the representation space to reconstruct the original clean input. The composition of multiple layers of nonlinear functions can map the data into a highly nonlinear space, thereby being able to capture the highly nonlinear network structures.

More specifically, we take the initial social network features of all workers (denoted as \({\mathbf{X}}_c\) ) as input and then corrupt the initial input to get a partially destroyed version (denoted as \({\mathbf{X}}_0\) ) by randomly choosing some elements of \({\mathbf{X}}_c\) to be forced to 0. Given the corrupted input \({\mathbf{X}}_0\) , the output of each layer k , denoted as \({\mathbf{X}}_k\) , can be generated by the means of \({\mathbf{X}}_k \sim {\mathcal {N}}(\sigma ({\mathbf{X}}_{k-1} {\mathbf{W}}_k + {\mathbf{b}}_k), \rho _X^2 {\mathbf{I} })\) , where \({\mathbf{I} }\) denotes the identity matrix and \(\rho _X^2\) is a regularization hyperparameter. The weight and bias parameters of layer k can be represented as \({\mathbf{W }}_k\) (i.e., \({\mathbf{W} }_k \sim {\mathcal {N}}({\mathbf{0} }, \rho _W^2 {\mathbf{I} })\) ) and \({\mathbf{b} }_k\) (i.e., \({\mathbf{b} }_k \sim {\mathcal {N}}({\mathbf{0} }, \rho _b^2 {\mathbf{I} })\) ), respectively, where \(\rho _W^2\) and \(\rho _b^2\) are regularization hyperparameters. Following the process above, the optimization function of SDAE can be defined as follows:

where \(||\cdot ||_2^2\) denotes the Euclidean norm and \(\sigma (\cdot )\) is a sigmoid function. The output of the hidden layer in the middle is the latent representation of the social network features. Then, we can take dot product between the latent vector \({\mathbf {x_i}}\) and the feature selector vector \({\mathbf {h}}\) as the Gaussian prior for the global personal social impact of worker \(w_i\) , i.e., \(\lambda _i \sim {\mathcal {N}}({\mathbf {x_i}} \cdot {\mathbf {h}} + b, \rho _V^2)\) , where \({\mathbf {x_i}}\) is the i th row of the latent representation of the social network features, b is a bias term, \(\rho _V^2\) is a hyperparameter and \(\lambda _i\) denotes the global personal social impact.

Finally, we combine the SDAE model with our proposed group interaction learning framework and the optimization function in Eq.  6 can be converted into:

where \(O_{\mathrm{GC}}\) denotes the objective function in group–task interaction data and \(R_V\) is a regularization term. Then, we can employ the original method (i.e., SGD) to optimize the objective function in Eq.  7 .

4 Group Task Assignment

In this section, we first generate the available worker groups for each task based on the trip constraints (i.e., workers’ reachable range, workers’ available time and tasks’ expiration time). Then, we calculate the consensus scores of available worker groups, and finally a tree-decomposition-based algorithm [ 32 , 35 ] is employed to achieve the optimal task assignment.

4.1 Available Worker Group Set Generation

4.1.1 finding the reachable workers for each task.

Due to the constraint of workers’ reachable distance, workers’ available time and tasks’ expiration time, each task can be completed by a small subset of workers in a time instance. Therefore, we firstly find the set of workers that can complete each task without violating the constraints. The reachable worker subset for a task s , denoted as \({\mathrm{RW}}_s\) , should satisfy the following conditions: \({\forall }w \in {\mathrm{RW}}_s\) :

where \(t_{\mathrm{now}}\) denotes the current time, t ( w . l ,  s . l ) is the travel time from w . l to s . l and d( w . l ,  s . l ) denotes the travel distance (e.g., Euclidean distance) between w . l and s . l . The above three conditions guarantee that a worker w can travel from her location w . l to a task s (which is located in her reachable range) directly before task s expires and during worker w ’s available time.

4.1.2 Finding the Available Worker Group Sets for Each Task

Given the reachable workers for each task s , we next find the set of available worker group, denoted as \({\mathbb {AWG}}(s)\) , under the constraints of workers’ available time in a group and the number of workers allowed to be assigned to perform a task s . Each available worker group in \({\mathbb {AWG}}(s)\) , denoted as \({\mathrm{AWG}}(s)\) , should satisfy the following conditions:

\(\vert {\mathrm{AWG}}(s) \vert = s.numW\) , and

\({\forall } w_j, w_k \in {\mathrm{AWG}}(s), t_{\mathrm{now}} + t(w_j.l, s.l) \le w_k.off,\)

where \(\vert {\mathrm{AWG}}(s) \vert \) is the number of workers in \({{\mathrm{AWG}}}(s)\) . The above two conditions guarantee that workers in a group can arrive at the location of task s without violating the available time of each other.

4.2 Consensus Calculation

The group task assignment aims to assign each task to a group of workers that show interests and preferences on the task. However, group members may not always share the same tastes. Therefore, the group task assignment process should manage the heterogeneity of worker groups. In this part, we design a consensus score for each available worker group, which contains two main aspects: group preference and group members’ disagreement. In particular, the group preference reflects the degree to which the task is preferred by all the members. The more the group members prefer a task, the higher its consensus score should be for the group. The group members’ disagreement reflects the level at which members disagree with each other. Group members who disagree with each other are not willing to conduct a task together, leading a low consensus score of the group.

We next calculate the consensus score for each available worker group that consists of two components, i.e., group preference and group members’ disagreement. More specifically, the group preference is the social impact-based preference, which is given in Sect.  3 . The disagreement of a group g over a task category c , denoted as \({\mathrm{dis}}(g, c)\) , is the deviation of individual worker preference from her group’s average preference. Therefore, the consensus score of g for task category c , denoted by \({\mathrm{con}}(g, c)\) , can be computed by the following formula:

where \({\mathbb {P}}(g, c)\) denotes the preference of group g for task category c by taking the dot product between group vector \({\mathbf {g}}\) and task category vector \({\mathbf {c}}\) (shown in Eq.  11 ). \(\eta (g, c)\) is a function calculating the discount to the group’s preference on the basis of group members’ disagreement, and \({\mathrm{dis}}(g,c)\) is the disagreement among group members that represents the deviation of group members’ preferences from the group’s average preference. \({\mathbb {P}}_{\mathrm{indiv}}(w, c)\) denotes the preference of individual worker w for task category c , which can be computed by taking the dot product between worker vector \({\mathbf {w}}\) and task category \({\mathbf {c}}\) (shown in Eq.  14 ) and \({\mathbb {P}}_{\mathrm{mean}}(g, c)\) denotes the mean of the preferences of all the members in group g for task category c . \({\mathbf {g}}\) , \({\mathbf {c}}\) and \({\mathbf {w}}\) are obtained in Sect.  3 . Note that we normalize the preference values (e.g., \({\mathbb {P}}(g, c)\) and \({\mathbb {P}}_{\mathrm{indiv}}(w, c)\) ) to lie between 0 and 1, using a Min–Max normalization procedure.

4.3 Optimal Group Task Assignment Algorithm

It is easy to know that the global optimal result is the union of one possible available worker group (AWG) of all tasks. We introduce an algorithm, i.e., tree-decomposition-based strategy [ 32 , 35 ], to achieve the optimal task assignment with the maximal task assignments, in which we give higher priority to the worker groups with higher consensus scores on tasks. More specifically, we first construct a task dependency graph, G ( V ,  E ), according to the dependency relationship among tasks. (Two tasks are dependent with each other if they share the available workers; otherwise, they are independent.) We consider that each vertex \(v \in V\) represents a task \(s_v \in S\) . There exists an edge \(e(u, v) \in E\) between u and v if two tasks \(s_u\) and \(s_v\) are dependent with each other. Subsequently, we utilize a tree decomposition strategy to separate all tasks into independent clusters, which are the maximal cliques of the task dependency graph. Then, we utilize a recursive tree construction (RTC) algorithm [ 32 , 35 ] to organize them into a balance tree structure, such that the tasks in sibling nodes of the tree do not share the same available workers. Facilitated by such a tree structure, we can solve the optimal assignment subproblem on each sibling node independently. Finally, the optimal assignment result can be found by a depth-first search through the tree, during which we assign tasks to the available worker groups with higher consensus scores on tasks.

5 Experiment

In this section, we conduct extensive experiments on a real-world dataset to evaluate the performance of our proposed algorithms. All the algorithms are implemented on an Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2650 v4 @ 2.20 GHz with 256 GB RAM.

5.1 Experiment Setup

We conduct our experiments on a check-in dataset from Twitter, which provides check-in data across USA except Hawaii and Alaska from September 2010 to January 2011 including locations of 62,462 venues and 61,412 users. The dataset is used widely in evaluation of SC platform [ 11 ]. Due to the lack of category information of venues in dataset, we generate the category information (i.e., task category information) associated with each venue from Foursquare with the aid of its API. When using the dataset in our experimental research, we assume that the users in dataset are the workers of SC platform since users who check in to different spots may be good candidates to perform spatial tasks in the vicinity of those spots, and their locations are those of the most recent check-in points. We assume the spots are the tasks of SC platform and employ its location and earliest check-in time of the day as the location and publish time of a task, respectively. We consider each worker’s average travel distance as the worker’s movement speed. We extract 20 kinds of check-in categories to simulate the task categories, i.e., the categories of check-ins. Checking in a spot is equivalent to accepting a task.

As Twitter does not contain explicit group information, we extract implicit group task completion activities as follows: We assume if a set of users visit the same spot or different spots with the same category which are near to each other (e.g., the distance between any two spots is less than 10km in our experiments) in one hour, they are regarded as the members of a group.

The default values of all parameters used in our experiments are summarized in Table  2 .

5.2 Experimental Results

5.2.1 performance of preference modeling.

In this experiment, we evaluate the efficiency of worker groups’ preference modeling phase and its impact to the subsequent task assignment. Specifically, we compare the efficiency (i.e., CPU time) of the following algorithms:

AVG: Average preference calculation (AVG) method, where the average preference of a group g is computed by \(\frac{N^{c}_{g}}{N_{g}}\) . \(N^{c}_{g}\) denotes the number of tasks (with category c ) worker group g has performed and \(N_{g}\) denotes the total number of tasks g has performed.

SIP: the social impact-based preference (SIP) modeling algorithm by employing the linear approach for exploiting social network features.

SIP+SDAE: the social impact-based preference (SIP) modeling algorithm by employing stacked denoising autoencoders (SDAE).

For effectiveness of task assignment based on the above preference modeling methods, we compare the assignment success rate (ASR) by applying the optimal group task assignment (OGTA) algorithm. ASR is the ratio of successful assignments to the total assignments for all workers in a time instance. Note that once all the group members actually perform (check in) the tasks (spots) with the same category which are near to each other (e.g., the distance between the tasks is less than 10 km in our experiments) in one hour, we regard this task assignment as a successful assignment.

Performance of preference modeling: effect of \(e-p\)

Effect of \(e-p\) . First, we investigate how the valid time of tasks, \(e-p\) , affects the efficiency of preference modeling and the effectiveness of group task assignment. As we can see from Fig.  3 a, the CPU time of all the methods increases gradually when \(e-p\) is longer, as there are more workers and tasks to be processed. SIP+SDAE and SIP have similar performance since both of them calculate the group preference by taking the dot product process between group vector and task category vector (that can be obtained by the SDAE method and the linear method in the training phase). Although AVG is the least-consuming, it performs worst in terms of ASR (Fig.  3 b). In Fig.  3 b, the optimal group task assignment algorithm based on SIP+SDAE achieves the highest accuracy, followed by SIP and AVG. Compared with SIP, the assignment accuracy of SIP+SDAE is higher, which confirms the superiority of taking SDAE into consideration. This is due to the fact that SDAE can better capture the nonlinear interactions among social network features to improve the estimation of workers’ global personal social impact.

Performance of preference modeling: effect of off–on

Effect of off–on . Figure  4 illustrates the effect of off–on on the performance of all algorithms. As expected in Fig.  4 a, increasing workers’ available time will incur more CPU time for all the algorithms. This may be due to the fact that, when the available time is more relaxed, more worker groups will be generated, which means we have to compute the preferences for more worker groups. The ASR values of all the methods are enhanced with the increasing off–on, which is depicted in Fig.  4 b, since a worker group has more chance to be assigned their interested tasks when off–on grows. SIP+SDAE performs better than SIP in terms of ASR, confirming the advantage of using SDAE during preference modeling. The reason behind it is that the workers’ personal social impact learned by the deep learning model is more accurate.

Performance of preference modeling: effect of r

Effect of r . Next, we study the effect of workers’ reachable range r . The CPU time generated by all approaches has a growing tendency as r being enlarged (Fig.  5 a), with the similar reason of the effect of tasks’ valid time, i.e., the larger the workers’ reachable regions are, the more available worker groups for each task need to be processed. From Fig.  5 b, the ASR of all the approaches increases with the enlarged r and SIP+SDAE is better than other methods, since group members have more chance to be assigned their interested tasks when r is larger.

Performance of preference modeling: effect of numW

Effect of numW . We study the effect of numW in this set of experiments. As demonstrated in Fig.  6 a, it is worth noting that the CPU time is gradually decreasing as the number of each group being enlarged, since the number of the available worker groups for each task decreases when numW gets larger. The ASR of all methods shows a decreasing trend (Fig.  6 b), the reason behind which is that we cannot assign the tasks to the suitable groups because of the less available worker groups. However, the optimal group task assignment method based on SIP+SDAE still shows a higher superiority than other methods, which confirms the effectiveness of our proposed methods.

Performance of preference modeling: effect of | S |

Effect of | S |. In this part of experiments, we evaluate the scalability of all the approaches by varying the number | S | of tasks from 1 to 5 k. As depicted in Fig.  7 a, all the methods become time-consuming when | S | increases since more tasks and available worker groups need to be processed. The optimal group task assignment method based on SIP+SDAE still outperforms other methods (i.e., SIP and AVG) in ASR, which is shown in Fig.  7 b.

Performance of preference modeling: effect of | W |

Effect of | W |. Finally, we measure the performance of our methods by expanding the number of workers (| W |) from 1 to 5 k. We can see from Fig.  8 a naturally, the running time of all methods increases when the number of workers gets larger. The main reason behind it is that the number of available workers to be assigned grows when | W | gets larger, which in turn leads to longer time cost. The assignment success accuracy of all algorithms shows an increasing trend, which is shown in Fig.  8 b. SIP+SDAE has the highest assignment success rate, demonstrating the superiority of our proposed method in modeling worker groups’ preference.

5.2.2 Performance of Group Task Assignment

In this part, we evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the group task assignment approaches in terms of CPU time, assignment success rate (ASR) and the overall number of task assignments. Specially, the CPU time is given by the average time cost of performing task assignment at each time instance, the ASR and number of assigned tasks can measure the quality of task assignment strategies. We compare and evaluate the performance of the following methods:

OGTA: optimal group task assignment (OGTA) algorithm based on tree decomposition algorithm without considering worker groups’ preference.

SIP+SDAE-OGTA: OGTA algorithm with worker groups’ social impact-based preference calculated by the SIP+SDAE method.

SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA: greedy group task assignment (GGTA) algorithm with both worker groups’ social impact-based preference (calculated by the SIP+SDAE method) and group members’ disagreement (DIS). A basic greedy task assignment algorithm is introduced to assign each task greedily to the worker groups with the maximal consensus until all the tasks are assigned or all the worker groups are exhausted.

SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA: OGTA algorithm with both worker groups’ social impact-based preference (calculated by the SIP+SDAE method) and group members’ disagreement (DIS).

Effect of \(e-p\) . We first study the effect of the valid time \(e-p\) of tasks. As illustrated in Fig.  9 a, longer expiration time means on average each worker group has more freedom to choose tasks, which results in greater search space. SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA runs slower than other methods as it must compute the consensus score of worker group for the reachable tasks during the task assignment. On the other hand, as shown in Fig.  9 b, the accuracy of all algorithms except OGTA has an increasing trend when \(e-p\) grows longer. This is due to the fact that a worker group has more chance to be assigned their interested tasks with the growing valid time of tasks. OGTA keeps almost constant as it does not consider worker group’ preference. SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA and SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA outperform the SIP+SDAE-OGTA algorithm for all values of \(e-p\) in terms of ASR, which indicates that considering the consensus score is beneficial to assignment accuracy. The reason behind it is that it is more desirable to assign a task that each worker group member is interested in than to assign a task that polarizes group members. Although SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA is fastest among all the methods and has the similar ASR with SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA, it assigns less tasks compared with other methods (i.e., OGTA, SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA, SIP+SDAE-OGTA), as shown in Fig.  9 c.

Performance of group task assignment: effect of \(e-p\)

Performance of group task assignment: effect of off–on

Effect of off–on. In this set of experiments, we evaluate the effect of the workers’ available time. Obviously, from Fig.  10 a, the running time of all algorithms increases with the longer workers’ available time, since there are more available worker groups for each task to be searched. SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA is more time-consuming than other algorithms. The ASR of SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA and SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA methods consistently outperform other methods, and SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA is slightly higher than SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA (Fig.  10 b). The ASR of all the methods except OGTA has a similar tendency with \(e-p\) when off–on grows, with the similar reason that worker groups have more chance to obtain their interested tasks with the increasing available time off–on. From Fig.  10 c, we can see that the number of task assignments grows quickly when workers’ available time is longer, the reason behind which is that there are more available worker groups for each task as workers’ available time gets longer.

Performance of group task assignment: effect of r

Effect of r . Next, we evaluate the effect of r , the range of workers’ reachable radius. Not surprisingly, as we can see in Fig.  11 a, the running time of all methods increases when r grows, while the growth of computational cost for SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA is faster. The ASR of SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA and SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA is higher than SIP+SDAE-OGTA and OGTA methods, which confirms the superiority of considering the consensus score for each worker group (Fig.  11 b). Although SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA and SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA show a similar performance in ASR, SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA assigns more tasks than SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA, which is depicted in Fig.  11 c. The number of task assignments generated by all approaches has a growing tendency as r being enlarged, since the larger the workers’ reachable regions are, the more chance the SC server can assign more tasks to the suitable worker groups.

Performance of group task assignment: effect of numW

Effect of numW . Figure  12 shows the effect of numW . Figure  12 a illustrates the CPU time of different methods. As expected, the running time shows a downward tendency when the number of workers of each group (i.e., numW ) gets larger. It is due to the fact that there are less available worker groups for each task as numW gets larger, which reduces the search space. SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA is still the most time-consuming method. The assignment success rate of all algorithms declines with numW , as shown in Fig.  12 b. However, the method based on SIP+SDAE+DIS still shows a higher superiority than other algorithms, demonstrating the advantage of taking group members’ disagreement into account. In addition, Fig.  12 c demonstrates that the number of task assignments of SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA has no advantage compared with other methods.

Performance of group task assignment: effect of | S |

Effect of | S |. In this set of experiments, we evaluate the scalability of all the proposed algorithms by changing the number | S | of tasks from 1 to 5 k. As expected, although the CPU time increases as | S | increases, SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA performs well in improving the assignment success rate and the number of task assignments, which is demonstrated in Fig.  13 b, c. Figure  13 a indicates that SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA is the most efficient algorithm, while other algorithms based on OGTA run much more slower, which is mainly due to the extra time cost for building the tree to be searched and searching the tree during the OGTA procedure. In terms of assignment success rate, the accuracy of SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA is a bit higher than SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA and SIP+SDAE-OGTA, while OGTA still keeps almost constant as | S | grows, which is shown in Fig.  13 b. Similar to the previous results, the OGTA-related algorithms (i.e., SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA, SIP+SDAE-OGTA, OGTA) outperform the SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA method for all the values of | S | in the number of task assignments, which is depicted in Fig.  13 c.

Performance of group task assignment: effect of | W |

Effect of | W |. In our final set of experiments, we investigate how the number of workers affects the efficiency and effectiveness of group task assignment. As Fig.  14 a shows, the CPU time increases with a larger number of workers with the similar reason of the effect of | S |, i.e., the extra time cost for building the tree and searching the tree during the OGTA procedure with more workers. The optimal group task assignment algorithm considering both worker group’s preference and group members’ disagreement (SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA) performs best in assignment success rate, which is shown in Fig.  14 b. In Fig.  14 c, the number of task assignments increases with | W | getting larger due to the fact that more spatial tasks can be conducted by more workers. Although SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA and SIP+SDAE+DIS-GGTA show a similar performance in ASR, the SIP+SDAE+DIS-OGTA performs better in number of task assignments, which demonstrates the effectiveness of optimal task assignment method.

6 Related Work

Spatial crowdsourcing (SC) is a new concept of online crowdsourcing, which employs smart device carriers as workers to physically travel to specified locations and perform the requested spatial tasks with various constraints [ 10 , 27 , 29 , 33 , 34 ]. Most existing research focuses on the task assignment [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Kazemi et al. [ 15 ] classify SC into two categories, namely server assigned tasks (SAT) and worker selected tasks (WST) based on the task publishing modes. In particular, for the SAT mode which is popular in existing researches, SC server is responsible for directly assigning proper tasks to nearby workers, which aims to maximize the number of assigned tasks after collecting all the locations of workers/tasks on the server side [ 8 , 15 , 16 , 21 ] or maximize the reliability-and-diversity score of assignments [ 9 ], or maximize the number of accomplished tasks for a worker with an optimal schedule on the client side [ 12 ], or maximize the coverage of required skills of workers [ 7 ]. For the WST mode, spatial tasks are published online and then broadcast to all workers, such that workers can choose any task according to their personal preferences by themselves [ 11 ].

Meanwhile, quality assurance is an intractable problem needing to be solved during the process of spatial task assignment. Workers are more likely to honestly and promptly complete the assigned tasks if the quality control strategy is considered, e.g., giving higher priority to workers who are more interested in tasks. Although a few existing approaches consider workers’ preferences for tasks in crowdsourcing [ 1 , 5 ], they just infer workers’ preferences from historical task-performing records or explicit feedbacks without taking workers’ social impact into consideration.

Most of the previous studies in spatial crowdsourcing mainly focus on assigning tasks to the individual worker, which unfortunately cannot be effectively applied for group task assignment. In recent years, a few researches [ 6 , 13 ] are studied for group task assignment (also called collaborative task assignment), i.e., assigning tasks to a group of multiple workers. The groups are formed by workers in an ad hoc way, also called occasional groups, who have a shared purpose only in a certain time. Cheng et al. [ 6 ] propose a framework called cooperation-aware spatial crowdsourcing (CA-SC), in which they design both task-priority greedy approach and game-theoretic approach to solve the CA-SC problem, aiming to achieve high cooperation quality scores. Different from the algorithm proposed by Cheng et al. [ 6 ], our proposed algorithm aims to maximize the total number of task assignments and gives higher priorities to worker groups with higher consensus scores (including groups’ preference based on social impact and group members’ disagreement) on tasks.

7 Conclusion

In this paper, we propose a novel task assignment problem, called group task assignment (GTA), in spatial crowdsourcing. In order to achieve effective task assignment, we address a few challenges by proposing different strategies to obtain the social impact-based preferences of different worker groups for each task category and adopting an optimal algorithm to assign tasks. Moreover, we further optimize the original solution by proposing several strategies to improve the effectiveness of group task assignment, wherein a deep learning method is adopted to better learn workers’ social impact-based preferences and the group consensus is taken into consideration. Extensive empirical study demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed solution.

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Acknowledgements

This work is partially supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61972069, 61532018, 61836007 and 61832017).

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School of Computer Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Xiaofang Zhou

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Li, X., Zhao, Y., Zhou, X. et al. Consensus-Based Group Task Assignment with Social Impact in Spatial Crowdsourcing. Data Sci. Eng. 5 , 375–390 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41019-020-00142-0

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Received : 18 May 2020

Revised : 05 August 2020

Accepted : 31 August 2020

Published : 15 September 2020

Issue Date : December 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s41019-020-00142-0

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