Time And Task Management

In the business industry, you will find that most people use Microsoft products to conduct their daily tasks (i.e. copyrighting, building spreadsheets and writing reports as well as for general time and task management). Microsoft Outlook is the most popular software tool for time and task management as it allows portability, ease of use and familiarity. The software tool is extremely important to all businesses (including small, medium and large enterprises). Microsoft outlook is also the most popular communication tool used to communicate with customers, clients and consumers. It is also used to arrange internal/external meetings as it allows the meeting organizers to view client availability. The software is an integrated solution to all office needs as it provides the following functionality:

• Email and communication management


• Contact management


• Calendar management
  
  
  
  • Keeping track of meetings and minutes from the meetings (easy copy and paste from word document)
  
  
  
  


• Task Management
  
  
  
  • Tasks can be given a start and due date as well as a status (e.g. not started, in progress, completed…)
  
  
  • They can be given a priority to help the user determine when to do it as well as the ability to keep a log of what percentage of the task is completed
  
  
  • If the task is a repetitive task then a reminder can be set to do that task every day, week or month at a particular time.
  
  
  • A relevant contact can be associated to the task (e.g. if you are waiting on someone else to complete a related task or if the same task is being completed in partnership with another person )
  
  
  • The task can be categorized (because the software can be used for personal and professional time management so it contains various categorization of tasks including ideas, holiday, gifts or business)
  
  
  
  


• The Notes management section can be used to write quick notes as well as ideas because some people find the task manger quite advanced for just recording ideas so the notes manager simulates a pen and paper.


• Finally, the software also allows Folder Management (i.e. folders for different clients, activities, news or even training events).

It is important that all businesses are aware of the vast functionality that this software provides in order for them to make effective and efficient use of it and to maximize their productivity. It is also most commonly used as a way of blocking out certain timeframes so that you are not disturbed and so that you can use that time to compete certain tasks that you have not had time to complete. The Outlook tool can be integrated with iPhones, PDAs and Blackberries to provide a portable form of time management for busy people who are constantly on the move.

Server issues

There is so much reliance on the tool that if there is a server crash and people are not able to gain access to their Outlook management tool then they start to panic. Therefore, the Outlook server should be backed up on a weekly basis at the bare minimum so that people have a record of the information offline. Also, if there was a server crash then the information could be recovered and restored quite easily.

As a researcher in Personal Productivity, I have completed a study that lasted 1 year. A number of participants took part in the study and used a new piece of time and task management software for 6 weeks. Every two weeks they tried out different strategies alongside using the software. At the end of the 6 weeks, around 60% of the participants reverted to using Outlook and some carried on using both. This gives an indication of how strong Outlook is even though there are different pieces of software tools available for this purpose.