More than ever before, teams need digital tools to help them stay on point with tasks and targets and keep channels of communication — and collaboration — wide open.
That is because today’s teams face hurdles that simply did not exist, even as recently as one year ago. With COVID-19 still causing mass disruption of the business world, employers are keeping staff safer and more productive by allowing some — or all — of their employees to work remotely.
In fact, over half of the global business world allows working from home in some capacity. While remote work can be a plus for companies and staff alike, it definitely requires some well thought out adjustments to keep projects running on schedule.
Need some ideas to keep your team moving forward through the “new normal” working conditions shaped by COVID? Creating clear structures is one way to keep team members connected and productive.
Predictability, accountability, and communication are also important aspects to the success of shared projects. Aligning all three of these elements assures that milestones have accepted deadlines, tasks are not lagging behind, and team members can communicate any roadblocks to progress clearly.
For all those reasons, smart managers are turning to technological tools that empower team members to take control of their tasks, share task management progress, and stay collaborative without slowing down progress with a huge learning curve.
One of the premier tools of this nature — and perhaps the most often used — is the Microsoft Office Planner
Microsoft Office Planner — Your Tool for Effective Task Management
The Microsoft Office Planner is an intuitive software that helps teams manage any collaborative task virtually — without any previous experience with the program.
In fact, the basic system is so simple: Sign in, create a plan, create buckets to sort tasks, add team members, and go.
To dive deeper, you can add specific tasks to each plan, including starting and ending dates, and then assign people to those tasks. Each task has a priority, so everyone understands what needs attention first.
If your assigned team need guidance, you can create a checklist within each task to further direct attention to prioritized actions.
Mobile and Web-Based Application for Task Management
Because your team may be scattered — some working from home, some from the office, and others while on the go — Microsoft Planner works across a number of operating systems including iOS and Android so all plans can be accessed through desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones.
Chart Progress on All Tasks and Projects
As you work with your plans, the Microsoft Planner gives you clear, graphic reports on the status of progress on all plans and tasks — including sending emails when status’ update.
Kanban boards give managers and team members fast, visual status of ongoing projects and workflows and complement collaboration with content-rich cards that can be augmented with checklists, files, labels, and more.
Integrate with Teams and SharePoint
Planner makes it exceptionally easy for teams to share where they work by integrated with popular applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, To Do, Teams, SharePoint, and more. Tasks are synced across applications so you can keep up to speed no matter where you are working.
Teams has a specific Tasks app that brings together all tasks from Planner and To Do to keep priorities straight and you can create and publish a full-featured plan directly on your SharePoint site.
Trust CDS to Help You Get the Most from Your Microsoft Products
At CDS, we understand the need for teams to have clear, open lines of communication — whether they are working from home, from the office, or from the nearest Starbucks.
With Microsoft Office Planner, your team has access to an intuitive, easy-to-learn application that dovetails with all their other Microsoft tools. This seamless integration means nothing gets lost in translation and team members can make changes from any application that will instantly update all versions for error-free tracking and progress planning.
Since you can use Planner on desktop or mobile devices, there is no barrier to usage and nothing to keep your teams from communicating and collaborating for higher productivity and better project outcomes.
Our team of Microsoft experts will be glad to assess your needs and goals and help you understand how Planner can assist your company in managing tasks and projects better and more efficiently.
Ready to give your team access to a new, better world of communication and planning? Contact a CDS representative now and discover how Microsoft Office Planner can transform your business processes for the better!
