Working for a church is incredible. I get to work on things that matter for eternity. I also get to work on many things at once. I have the privilege of overseeing all the media for the North Valley Baptist Church. This includes the graphic design, web, and video for the ministry. I have 56 items on my to-do list now, ranging from book cover designs to website redesigns. Thankfully, I have 3 incredibly talented guys that work for me. Long ago, I tried to manage all my tasks on a running Word document. That didn’t work out to well. I needed something that I could access anywhere, and something that makes it easy to assign tasks to workers and/or volunteers.
I have found some great tools that have helped to keep all my tasks organized. I’m sure there are many other great tools, but here are 2 that I’ve used and have really helped. I think they could be a help to you as well. If you use something else, please share it in the comments.
I used the free version for a couple years. The free version was enough for me. With it, you can only have one project, but you can have multiple to-do lists which I used as multiple projects. I liked the fact that everyone in my office could see all the tasks on the to-do list and see what’s assigned to them. You can also assign due dates with the tasks. When I assigned a task to someone, they received an email notification. It was very easy to see all that needed to be done, and who was assigned to what task. Because it is web based, you can check your tasks or add a task anywhere with internet access. There are also quite a few iPhone applications made for Basecamp.
Basecamp's to-do list (The tasks on here are old since I stopped using Basecamp)
I switched a few months ago to Action Method. Although it costs $99 a year (I got it for around $60/year because we are a non-profit). I think it was well worth the money. There are many things I like about Action Method. Here are a couple of reasons I like it better.
First of all, great intuitive design – The design for the iPhone application and the online application is very simple, yet robust and powerful. You can color code your tasks (action items). I usually use the color orange for web tasks, gray for video, and blue for design and miscellaneous action items. The layout of the application is very easy to navigate. You can sort your action items by date, person or by project.
Second, I like the fact it is available online, on my iPhone, and also available as an Adobe Air Application. The Air app acts just like a normal application. I keep it open most of the time, and I always have it handy.
Some other great features include the ability to send send “appreciation” or a “nag” to team members. It also warns you when you have a task overdue. I don’t like the fact that it is not easy for everyone in office to see all the action items. (I like it if they get done with a project and have time, they can start on another project that is yet assigned to anyone.) Another downside, everyone on the team must use Action Method often. Someone may miss a task assigned to them, if they don’t check Action Method often. Overall, it’s a great tool and I would highly recommend it.
Here is a screen shot of my Action Method
Action Method for iPhone
There are many other features to both of these tools including discussion boards, uploading images or files, chat, etc. This post is just a quick overview of these powerful tools. Check out their website for more information. So, what program do you use for your to-do list? What do you like about it? I would love to hear about it in the comments.
