Meistertask Task Management Software Review

Meistertask: Task Management Software Done Right

Meistertask is an easy-to-use software for general task management in teams. With Meistertask, you can structure, assign, and track tasks. Meistertask offers basic functionality for project management but is not a full-fledged project management tool in terms of features.

Pros and Cons

General Functionality

Operations

Meistertask is offered exclusively as Software as a Service (SaaS) in the manufacturer’s cloud. The manufacturer guarantees compliance with European data protection standards. Data is stored exclusively in the EU.

Projects and Project Types

In Meistertask, items are managed in projects or workspaces. Workspaces do not have a type, so settings cannot be centrally applied to all workspaces of a particular type.

Templates for projects or workspaces cannot be created.

Items and Item Types

In task and project management, almost everything revolves around “items”. In Meistertask, items have an item type that can influence the behavior of corresponding items. There are, for example, “Tasks”, “Action Items”, and “Bug Reports”.

Custom item types can also be created.

Item types can have their own workflows and different attributes. For example, an action item optionally has a deadline, while a task requires both a start and end date.

Item Hierarchies

Meistertask does not offer the ability to represent item hierarchies.

The type of subordinate items cannot be restricted depending on the type of the parent item. This means, for example, that it cannot be prevented that an item of type “Car” is subordinated to an item of type “Engine”.

Notifications

Meistertask has a simple, configurable notification system.

Access Permissions

Access rights in Meistertask are kept fairly simple. Custom roles with corresponding permissions cannot be defined.

Attributes

In Meistertask, custom attributes can be configured without programming via the web interface.

A few simple attribute types are available, such as labels and date fields. The behavior of standard attributes is predefined and not configurable.

Different default settings can be configured for attributes across different projects.

Input Forms

In Meistertask, custom input forms cannot be defined.

Dependencies

In project management and task management, items are often related to each other. For example, a task cannot be started before another one is completed. Or an item cannot be closed before a dependent item has been completed.

Meistertask offers basic support for defining dependencies or links.

Dashboards

The system offers its users an overview page (cockpit, dashboard).

Each user has the option to use preconfigured dashboards or to assemble their own dashboard from an extensive list of dashboard tiles. However, there are no dashboard templates, and dashboards cannot be centrally assigned to users by system administrators. The following dashboard elements are available, among others:

• My items
• Number of items in state X over time
• Activity stream
• Predefined filters

Reporting

In Meistertask, there are no report templates.

Reports can be created in Meistertask in Excel and PDF formats.

User Management

Synchronization of Meistertask with a directory server is not available.

Meistertask can be integrated with CAS and Shibboleth for true single sign-on.

The system supports two-factor authentication.

User Interface and Usability

The software offers a clean, organized, and modern-looking user interface. Regular users can get started relatively quickly without training. Context-sensitive help supports you when something is not immediately obvious.

For configuration, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic concepts of Meistertask. There is material available in the form of tutorials, videos, slide sets, and user manuals. Training sessions are also offered.

The user interface can be customized to meet user requirements. The available menu items can be individually configured for each user or user group.

Interfaces and Extensibility

Through a comprehensive REST API, nearly all functions available in the user interface are also accessible in Meistertask. For example, users can be managed, projects can be created, modified, and deleted, or queries can be executed.

Task Management

Delegation

The software supports the delegation of items including follow-up. The delegator maintains the relationship to the item, and the follow-up date is personal to them. The delegator has an overview of the items they have delegated.

Deputy Function

In Meistertask, it is not possible to assign deputies to users.

Recurring Tasks

Some tasks and deadlines repeat cyclically, e.g., every first Monday of the month. Handling such task series can be very helpful and time-saving in task management.

Meistertask allows the creation of recurring tasks just as you would expect from good calendar applications.

Time Tracking

Meistertask allows tracking efforts (time and money) for each item and assigning them to accounts. Accounts can be grouped into cost centers and released for projects.

There is the option to use timers in the application to automatically log the time spent. Reports provide an overview of who was working on which activities during any past time period.

Getting Things Done Method Support

The Getting Things Done method is a proven approach to personal work organization. It allows personal categorization of items such as personal follow-up dates or personal marking of items as favorites.

Meistertask fully supports the GTD method.

RACI Matrix Support

For task management and project management, the RACI method defines four item-specific roles through which project participants can be related to a task. Normally, roles are assigned for a project, not for an individual item. For example, there is a project manager or a Scrum Master for the entire project. RACI, on the other hand, allows roles to be assigned on a per-item basis.

Meistertask unfortunately does not offer the ability to model a RACI matrix.

Workflows

Workflows in task management systems are typically represented in two forms. The first method always relates to the workflow of an item that passes through various stages. The second method involves defining task sets and then processing them.

Meistertask supports the first variant with a somewhat difficult-to-use table editor. There is no easy way to copy task sets and then customize them.

Project Management

Programs and Portfolios

In many organizations, projects run within the framework of programs, portfolios, or product areas. Here, groups of projects must be able to be consolidated to maintain an overview.

A basic prerequisite for program or portfolio management is the ability to group and hierarchically arrange projects.

Meistertask allows workspaces to be hierarchically arranged to any depth, thus supporting simple, pragmatic program and portfolio management.

Sub-Projects

Larger project initiatives with many items cannot be adequately structured solely through the hierarchization of items but must be split into sub-projects. The sub-projects may require different processes, e.g., for hardware and software development.

Multi-Project Reports

All queries and reports can span multiple projects and sub-projects, which can be freely defined through corresponding filters.

Work Breakdown Structure

Before a project plan can be created, the activities to be performed or the work products to be created must be structured. To represent such a product structure or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), items must be able to be arranged hierarchically to any depth.

Meistertask only supports one hierarchy level with sub-tasks. This means WBS or project plans cannot be created.

Interactive Gantt Chart

Gantt charts can be used to define and display the timeline of project activities as well as predecessor-successor relationships. Meistertask does not offer support in this regard.

Meistertask offers a simple interactive bar timeline chart without a display of dependencies.

Resource Planning

Resources of different types can be managed and assigned to items. There is a view where resource utilization over time is displayed, and overallocation or underallocation becomes immediately visible. Resources can be organized by project or department affiliation.

Employee Availability

There is no way to represent employee availability in the system and take it into account during resource planning.

Project Progress

A display of project progress is not provided in Meistertask.

Agile Project Management

The software partially supports agile project management with a taskboard view, epics, and backlogs. Important agile process elements such as burn charts are not available or only insufficiently available.

For software developers, there are integrations with the source code management systems Git and Subversion.

Further Information

If you are interested in reading more about Stackfield, you can do so here. In this article, you can find an overview of ticket systems.