Task Tracking, User Stories, and Issue Tracking
December 11, 2014They’re glorified, and often complicated, to-do lists.
There are a few features I think are the best features for any task management software:
Ability to assign tasks to an individual. Not everything should need to be assigned, but you need to be able to assign them. I don’t like when you can assign or associate many teammates. Even though many tasks need the cooperation among more than one person, there should either be a hand-off process where the assigned user changes. For example, when a design is finished and needs to be coded or development is complete and needs to be qa’ed. For larger items, I like breaking out subtasks so there’s a sense of headway and it’s easier to know when a task is in progress.
A trail of what’s happened to the task. Who is it assigned to? What did they do with it and when? This includes commenting as feedback on the task as it goes through its lifecycle.
Notifications when assigning someone. This can be push notifications, but I prefer email. That way I can check it at my leisure, but I won’t miss getting assigned something.
Timelines or milestones. This should be some overarching goal. It doesn’t have to be a release cycle per se. Just progress towards some goal. This is probably most important for management. They need to know when to promise things, when there’s too much work, or when things are going fast or slow.
Categories. These can also be tags. There needs to be some way to divvy up the tasks into sections. Those could be web, iOS, android, or also marketing, copy, design, or customer support.
And what every team needs to do to make whatever solution selected work:
Relentless adhering to the system. Any task manager will only work if the whole team uses it in every case it’s applicable. I once worked at an organization where someone assigned a ticket to me to pay them for Fantasy Football dues. While that may be extreme, having one true source of data is priceless compared to having it spread out in more than one place.
Watching what works and what doesn’t. Make sure you’re periodically evaluating whatever system you’re using. Trying something new just for the sake of it or sticking with something old because you’ve always done it that way is a bad idea. they lead to getting nowhere or moving slower than you could, respectively.
