monday reviews is our latest blog series where we provide the facts about different project management tools—no BS and no hyperbole needed. Keep scrolling for our analysis and to learn more about all the project management tools out there. Enjoy! 😊
In this day and age, even the humble calendar is subject to innovation.
Established players in the project management space are now positioning their task assignment products to the non-professional user.
Aimed at organizing your day-to-day tasks rather than coordinating huge work projects, these products allow users to bring structure to their lives and check off their daily responsibilities in brand new ways.
But is this type of advanced task management app overbuilt for this purpose? Or is it a valuable addition to the common checklist/post-it note style of task recall?
We’ll be exploring these questions and more as we analyze the hottest calendar to-do list tools available right now.
Read on to find out what features give these tools an edge and which ones you should consider adding to your life.
How to organize your life and projects in to-do list apps
Shopping list. Party planning. School work.
Any sequence of actions and responsibilities you need to perform, can and perhaps should be handled by a capable to-do list app.
I don’t know about you, but beyond ‘milk and eggs,’ my brain requires virtual assistance when it comes to taking care of what needs to be done. But these apps offer so much more than that.
You can assign items and sub-items with deadlines, share lists with other users, create workflows for dependent tasks, and integrate with existing tools like your email client to bring it all together.
With an electronic calendar app providing the basis of task list creation and completion, you and your friends can stay on the same page, tackling personal projects with professional speed and efficiency.
Not all calendar to-do list apps are created equal, though. Look out for the following features that will help convert ‘to-do’ into ‘done.’
Detailed and flexible task customization
No 2 projects are the same, and your to-do app should reflect this by letting you design lists with endless flexibility.Time-sensitive tasks need deadlines, dependent tasks need status updates, and everyone needs to know exactly what it is they need to-do to get the job done.
Accordingly, all of these options and more should be at your fingertips when designing a project.
Make sure to get a good idea of what form your project will take with the app you’re planning on using. Is it a simple list or a full dashboard? Can it be both? How much control do they give you in designing a workflow?
As we mentioned, to-do lists have evolved.
Don’t get stuck in the past.
Make sure that your chosen platform gives you the tools that put the needs of your project first, not the other way around.
monday.com: the top of the to-do list food chain
With monday.com, your dashboard is just that.
Yours.
You can design a fully customized all-in-one task management HQ with over 30 column types to match the needs of your project with drag-and-drop simplicity.
Integrations
If you’ll allow us to spill some business secrets, one of the key selling points for a Work OS like ours is the very real promise that by using it, you will complete your projects faster and more effectively.
One of the main drivers of this promise is the addition of third-party integrations.
Integrations are functionalities from external apps built into the software for various uses.
For example, a Zoom integration allows users to launch video calls from the platform. A Dropbox integration supports efficient file sharing from your cloud storage.
When multiple people are involved with the same to-do list, integrations enable all their existing apps and service providers to work together in harmony. This means no one has to leave the central task manager to get all of their responsibilities taken care of.
When selecting a calendar to-do list app, make sure it’s capable when it comes to integrations. It’s going to save you a lot of time down the line.
monday.com: a universe of useful integrations
When a platform is as easy on the eyes as monday.com, you’ll never want to leave. And you won’t have to, thanks to help from our countless third-party integrations.
Set up over 40 different integrations that work seamlessly on the platform, including your favorites like Google Drive, Gmail, and Adobe Creative Cloud.
Collaboration and communication
If your next project involves more than one person, listen up.
The collaborative abilities of these project management turned to-do list tools is one of the key benefits of upgrading from the post-it note.
Effective and fluid communication is a cornerstone of effective task management. You want to be able to update, adjust, and course correct in real-time so that everyone involved is on the same page.
Your to-do list app better be optimized for slick and synchronized collaboration. Tagging users, sending automatic notifications for changes, and synchronizing messages across different devices should be a priority.
monday.com: your new head of communications
No one gets left out of the loop on monday.com.
Tag teammates and external guests, add files, and notify your team the moment something’s ready. Intelligent software pings changes to the right person as they happen, on whichever device they prefer.
3 calendar to-do list tools
Ok, so we’ve covered what you should be looking out for in your perfect to-do list maker.
Now let’s move onto the tools themselves.
We’ve found 3 of the most talked about to-do list apps, and covered what it is you should know about each one to make the best possible decision.
1. Microsoft To Do
Microsoft To Do is the modern incarnation of what you may remember as Wunderlist.
Microsoft bought the app in 2015 for integration into its universe of office and personal software solutions.
It describes itself as a ‘smart daily planner,’ drawing upon various Microsoft applications to bring you a personalized list of your daily tasks. Users can create, manage, and share to-do lists online across desktop and mobile devices.
Unfortunately though, due to product exclusivity, To Do may be seriously lacking in a few key areas.
Firstly, Microsoft locks To Do to their product ecosystem, meaning you can only have it as part of an Office 365 subscription, which starts at $99.99 per year for home use.
Every member of your personal project would need a subscription to make use of the full product.
Additionally, it only draws upon Microsoft applications like Outlook and Calendar for its integrations. It won’t pick up an important task from your Apple calendar, for example.
2. ToDoist
ToDoist is a full-suite task management application aimed at personal and business use.
You can create and manage tasks under multiple projects with a broad range of task and sub-item customization features.
You can set tasks with ‘recurring task’ options, priorities, and assignees for other ToDoist users across all of your devices.
They also have a productivity tracking feature, which interprets your historical task progress and completion rates under various visualizations.
However, an important criticism of ToDoist is that you can only see tasks under the traditional list format or as Kanban boards, which some users may find limits them for longer-term projects.
(Psst, wanna know where you can get a calendar view along with a wealth of other views? Yup, monday.com!)
3. Trello
Trello is an online visual task organizer for all types of professional and personal projects.
It allows users to organize tasks flexibly in board, list, and calendar views.
Unlike Microsoft To Do, it features plenty of integrations from third-party apps to make in-project collaboration and communication easy to conduct.
Trello is free to use, but the free plan does come with some restrictions, such as a limit of one integration per board, and 10 boards per team.
Many users criticize the lack of sub-item customization on Trello, which is persistent across all of their pricing plans.
monday.com: the next item on your to-do list
Make your life easier with monday.com.
Whether you’re organizing a gigantic birthday vacation, finally itemizing the family’s weekly cleaning checklist, or managing a complex work project, monday.com gives you the solutions you need to get the job done quickly — and get it done right.
Collaborate with friends, family, clients, and colleagues seamlessly, get your list off to a running start with ready-made templates, or interpret your to-dos under 8 different data visualizations, including Calendar view.
See what we mean by giving us a try with an unlimited-feature 14-day free trial, no credit card needed.
Conclusion
We graciously thank the post-it note for its dedicated service over the years. But its time has come.
When it comes to managing your day-to-day life, there’s no better solution out there than monday.com. With total flexibility in arranging your daily tasks, you can put your responsibilities on automatic mode and let the software do the rest.
Make full use of intelligent automations for certain actions, involve your friends and family with advanced integrations, and see the whole picture with Calendar view.
To-dos finally don’t feel like a chore on our platform.
Head over to monday.com to find out more.
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