Prioritizing task and setting task statuses

One of the main principles of time management can be formulated like that: in order to use your time properly it is not enough to solve tasks in proper way but also you should choose proper tasks and set priorities, and then spend your time to solve prioritized tasks. The issue of getting tasks done properly and in time is the most significant question for the managers. In big projects with great number of tasks and difficult task hierarchy, some tasks require to be completed in the first place, and the number one issue for the managers is to mark out these urgent tasks. When the employee gets his task list, first of all he should pay his attention to the tasks with highest priorities and begin to execute those tasks. One of the important ways for the best time management is effective prioritization of tasks.

Important and urgent tasks

Important tasks do not necessary mean urgent tasks. This is the rule that should be considered by managers when setting task priorities. Important tasks may have deadlines in some future and possibly shouldn't't be done right now. So they are not urgent. The urgency of tasks can be determined by due dates, and the manager should check if the tasks are not procrastinated or overdue. In VIP Task Manager each task can have due date, and if it becomes overdue, the application marks it with orange color.

Checking task statuses

When task list is created and assigned to the employee, the manager needs to track how the tasks are being performed. He can use task statuses that demonstrate the progress of task performance. In case task is procrastinated the manager can increase priority to “Highest” or “Urgent”. In VIP Task Manager offers several default task statuses: “Draft”, “Created”, “In Progress”, and other. Besides those task statuses you can create your own tasks statuses and set customized workflow as well. For example, you can apply ABCD-method to prioritize tasks in your organization. The ABCD-method states the following task statuses:

• Status “A”. The most important and urgent tasks are marked with this status. It could be caused by deadlines and should be completed as soon as possible.
• Status “B”. This status is set to tasks with due dates in the nearest future and do not require the employee to perform them immediately and right now. However, status “B” is worth to be considered just after the tasks of the status “A”.
• Status “C”. Tasks with status “C” could be put off for some future because they you do not have to perform them now or even tomorrow. Usually deadlines of these tasks are put for some weeks or a month ahead.
• Status “D”. Status “D” means that tasks shouldn't't be completed by the employee. Usually the managers use this status to mark out projects and tasks that are not specified yet or in elaboration.

In VIP Task Manager you can create customized workflow “ABCD” and add four task statuses: “A”, “B”, “C”, and “D”.

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