A To-Do List in Excel? Think Again!

A to-do list in Excel may be one of the most widely used tools for task management, but is it really the right tool for managing tasks and projects?

Reality Check

Let’s do a reality check! The project manager starts by creating a plan. If the plan is too detailed, it becomes outdated within a few days. If the plan is too high-level, it offers little insight. To stay in control, the project manager needs a timely and detailed picture of the actual project status. To achieve this, they can either periodically query their tasks and activities themselves, or they can delegate the responsibility for maintaining a detailed view of tasks and activities to their team members. On larger projects, periodic querying by the project manager is practically impossible.

The Result

• Lack of transparency in the project workflow
• Lengthy, unsatisfying meetings
• Misunderstandings about who needs to do what and by when
• Project managers and line managers feel helpless
• Important tasks are forgotten
• You start maintaining a to-do list in Excel
• After a few months, x versions of the spreadsheet are circulating
• Planning and control processes are managed only reactively

Requirements for Effective Task & Project Management

• Transparency in the project workflow
  – Even medium-sized projects have several thousand activities
  – Tracking without a proper tool is barely possible
  – Excel spreadsheets fail above all because of decentralized data storage
• Know your own tasks at any time
  – The project manager’s own tasks
  – Tasks assigned to team members
• Stay informed about the status of work at any time
  – Not through vague statements in meetings, but through the clearly defined status of an entry
• Every task has an owner
  – A task should have one person responsible for its completion and for adhering to the cost budget

Excel

A sober assessment of task management with Excel reveals:

• No permission mechanisms
• Changes are not traceable
• Only works for small teams of fewer than 5 people
• No hierarchical structuring
• Sooner or later, version chaos
• Time sink: a lot of the same things get “programmed” over and over

The Solution: Task Management Beyond Excel

A task management software such as Allegra offers the following solutions, which comply with the German DIN ISO 21500:2016-02 as a best practice guide for project management:

• Centralized storage of project data
  – Everyone must be able to see the same current state
• Decentralized maintenance by every team member
  – Example: 30 employees, activity resolution of 5 days, project duration of 400 days: 2,400 activities!
  – That can no longer be maintained centrally
• Clear responsibilities
• Clear deadlines
  – Must be easy to reschedule; rescheduling must be recorded
• Clear time and cost budgets
  – Must be easy to change; changes must be recorded
• Clear representation of the current state
  – Must be the responsibility of the respective assignee
• Ensure all stakeholders are informed

Read more here about how you can boost your productivity with professional task management.