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Why Is Task Management Important?
Team leads, project leads, or managers are usually the ones entrusted with the duty of managing tasks. Their job is not only to ensure the team completes a certain project but also to keep the project’s cost within a specified budget and timeframe.
Task management is important because it allows managers, team leads, or project leads a detailed look into how budgets and resources (both human and material) are being spent. This insight further allows for better team organization, prioritizing more important tasks (the Eisenhower matrix helps here), and finalizing certain tasks within the shortest possible time while expending the least amount of available resources.
The Difference Between Time Management and Task Management
Time management is about ensuring efficiency and productivity while tackling various job or life-related tasks. Task management, on the other hand, focuses more on finishing the tasks rather than focusing on the time required to complete them.
Strictly speaking, time management is much more rigorous, as it requires tasks to be completed within a pre-specified time frame. Task management allows for more leniency, as its main goal is the successful completion of tasks rather than strictly following the allocated amount of time needed for task realization.
Although they differ in essence, both task and time management are equally important when it comes to project management and ensuring project profitability.
Benefits of Task Management
Task management allows managers and team or project leads to better organize their teams, allocation of resources, and budget expenditures. The most common benefits of task management are:
Better Workflow
Good implementation of task management practices or tools will allow managers and team or project leads to devise a strategy on how team members should approach specific tasks. By doing this, managers can ensure that the individual team members are given tasks they are best suited for and that they can complete in the least amount of time. This systematization creates a better workflow and improves the overall performance of the entire team.
Budget Allocation
With task management, managers can keep track of where the resources are going, how well they are being spent, and whether the spending is in proportion to the project’s progress or not. For example, if a paid employee is spending too much time on non-billable work, managers can rearrange the work schedule of said employee and switch their focus to doing work that is billable and related to the project at hand.
Better Billing
Task management will allow managers to track the exact number of billable hours they and their team members have spent working on a specific project for a specific client. With that information, companies or managers can ensure that every billable hour is included in the final invoice to be sent to the client.
