Do I Use Planner, Project
Online, or Azure DevOps?
Christian Buckley
Microsoft GTM Director @AvePoint
Microsoft RD & MVP

Brought to you by:
Community for Azure, Microsoft 365 & SharePoint

Join the aMS Quiz to win Prizes !
Attend the aMS
sessions for 2 days
Answer as many
questions as you can
Highest scorers get
rewarded!
Throughout the 2 days aMS sessions, we will share this QR code with you
to participate on a quiz to win some prizes.
Answers can be found in every speaker’s session.
Submit your quiz latest by 11.59pm on the 16th Oct 2021.
◀ Scan for
Feedback & Quiz
Join as many session as you can to get
the hints on the correct answer of the quiz!

Christian Buckley
Microsoft GTM Director @AvePoint
Microsoft RD + MVP
christian.buckley@AvePoint.com
www.buckleyplanet.com
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft’s
Vision for Tasks
Microsoft’s vision for tasks in Microsoft 365
revolves around these core principles:
• Coherence: ​tasks experiences across Microsoft 365
will have a consistent and familiar experience
anywhere they occur, to enable action, navigation,
and discovery by users.
• Intelligence: tasks will leverage the intelligent services
underpinning Microsoft 365, such as the Microsoft
Graph or MyAnalytics, to proactively help users
manage and prioritize their workload.
• Integration: wherever a task experience exists in
Microsoft apps and services, it will connect to and
feed into one of two key task-management endpoints
– To Do for individual task management, or Planner
for team task management.
@buckleyplanet

Is this about reinventing
Project Management?
The project management and portfolio management
space has been crowded for decades, with no single
solution “owning” the space.
While MS Project could make an argument for the leader
position, the most common tool actually used for project
management schedule building and planning is Excel.
With the expansion of cloud-based solutions, however,
there seems to be a trend toward kanban list
management tools, which better fit the agile project
management needs employed by many organizations.
@buckleyplanet

@buckleyplanet

@buckleyplanet

Project
Management
should be part of
your Collaboration
Strategy
Modern project management is about capturing the information
necessary to track tasks, and provide data for managers to make
decisions. That’s it, in a nutshell.
You may or may not agree with this definition, but at its core, project
management is just another aspect of collaboration and knowledge
management, albeit at a much more tactical level.
@buckleyplanet

The primary problem with MS Project is that hardly anyone uses the deep, complex functionality it provides.
Project, historically, has not provided the “Casual PM” with the tools they need – more than a simple work
breakdown structure and Gantt chart, less than the detailed resource management tools and analytics.
Most people want something in-between; something that allows them to get more work done, check deadlines
across projects (the portfolio view), and NOT get hung up in advances features that burden rather than help.
Is this Planner?
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft’s
vision for
Modern
PM
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/project-support-blog/project-and-
sharepoint-how-does-project-know-where-its-tasks-are/ba-p/361725
@buckleyplanet

Which tool
should I
use?
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project remains as one of the leading
desktop PM tools on the market, but with the
Project Online and Planner integration, users can
manage the granular tasks in Planner while the
project owner maintains oversight and control of
the entire project plan.
@buckleyplanet

Project Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Project Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Planner
Ideal for team tasks, Planner is the easy, visual
task management app for Microsoft 365. It
offers a familiar experience for teams to create
new plans, organize and assign tasks, share task
details like files, chat about assignments, and
see updates on progress.
@buckleyplanet

Planner Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Planner Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Planner Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Planner Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Ideal for the individual, To Do helps keep track
of personal tasks – across both work and life –
organizing and prioritizing their day with
intelligent suggestions. For those who like to
create their own lists in addition to using
collaborative tasks from Planner/Teams for their
assignments, this is a great tool to give people
control and customization.
To-Do Tasks
@buckleyplanet

To-Do Tasks
@buckleyplanet

To-Do Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Planner and To-Do Integration
@buckleyplanet

Share To-Do Lists
@buckleyplanet

Share To-Do Lists
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-to-do-
blog/introducing-list-sharing-and-steps-in-microsoft-to-do/ba-p/200109
@buckleyplanet

Outlook Tasks
Tasks in the Outlook client app sync with To-Do,
and Tasks in Outlook on the web is powered by
To-Do. There is additional work is planned to
integrate To-Do even more deeply with Outlook
in the future.
@buckleyplanet

Outlook Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Outlook Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Outlook Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Teams
(Tasks by Planner and To Do)
Tasks in Teams integrates both To-Do and
Planner, so individuals who frequently divide
their attention across personal and team tasks
will have a view that includes both. For users of
To-Do and Planner, it is also a great way to access
tasks while communicating with a team, without
having to switch apps.
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Teams Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Teams Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Lists
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Lists
@buckleyplanet

OneNote Tasks
As you take notes in this popular tool, you
have the ability to convert line items into tasks
@buckleyplanet

OneNote Tasks
@buckleyplanet

OneNote Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Office App Tasks
Work is underway to allow comments and
@mentions in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to be
converted into and assigned as tasks.
@buckleyplanet

Office App Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Cortana Tasks
The Lists section in your Cortana notebook
syncs with To-Do. You can also tell Cortana to
add tasks to To-Do, which will then replicate to
the Tasks app.
@buckleyplanet

Cortana Tasks
@buckleyplanet

Cortana Tasks
https://www.guidingtech.com/microsoft-launcher-complete-guide/
@buckleyplanet

Other Task Integrations
There are many other workloads that are logical
starting points for tasks. Watch for future expansions
in apps such as:
• SharePoint
• Yammer
• Microsoft Launcher
@buckleyplanet

…and then there is Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps is NOT a project management or
collaboration solution, per se, but a software
configuration management / source code
management platform
…with some project management and collaboration capabilities
@buckleyplanet

@buckleyplanet
Some of my background in this space…

DEMO

So…

Which tool should I use?
@buckleyplanet

Project Online
Track projects, portfolios, and timesheets
Project Online is a web-based application that can work for small, medium, and large businesses.
Project managers can create schedules and assign tasks to resources who can then see their tasks
and report time. Portfolio managers can look across all projects to see what people are working on.
• How to get Project Online
• Project help center
• Join the conversation about Microsoft Project
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Project
Create a standalone project plan
Microsoft Project is a desktop application that can be great for creating a schedule where you want
to organize work into phases, have dependencies between tasks, and so on, either for oneself or for
publishing to a team.
• How to get Project Professional or Project Standard
• Project help center
• Join the conversation about Microsoft Project
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft Planner
Quickly create plans, assign tasks, and collaborate
Planner is a light weight, mobile and web-based application that comes with most Office 365 for
business subscriptions. With Planner you and your team can to create plans, assign tasks, chat about
tasks, and see charts of your team’s progress. You can also use Planner from within Microsoft Teams
and Microsoft SharePoint.
• How to get Microsoft Planner
• Planner help
• Join the conversation about Microsoft Planner
@buckleyplanet

Microsoft To-Do
Prioritize and complete the most important things every day
The To-Do app lets you list all your tasks and sort them so you can focus on what’s important. It
features a My Day list for your daily tasks and also allows you to create additional lists to organize
your work, projects, groceries, and so on.
• Download Microsoft To-Do
• Get help with Microsoft To-Do
• Join the conversation about Microsoft To-Do
@buckleyplanet

Azure DevOps
DevOps tools for every phase of the application lifecycle
Use end-to-end solutions on Azure to implement DevOps practices throughout application planning,
development, delivery, and operations. Apply the right combination of DevOps technologies, culture,
and processes to enable continual software delivery and better value for customers.
• Free demo of Azure DevOps
• Find out more about Azure DevOps
• Join the conversation about Azure DevOps
@buckleyplanet

Thank you very much!
Twitter @buckleyplanet
Blog www.buckleyplanet.com
YouTube youtube.com/c/collabtalk
Podcast soundcloud.com/collabtalk
(also on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, etc.)
@buckleyplanet

Join the aMS Quiz to win Prizes !
Attend the aMS
sessions for 2 days
Answer as many
questions as you can
Highest scorers get
rewarded!
Throughout the 2 days aMS sessions, we will share this QR code with you
to participate on a quiz to win some prizes.
Answers can be found in every speaker’s session.
Submit your quiz latest by 11.59pm on the 16th Oct 2021.
◀ Scan for
Feedback & Quiz
Join as many session as you can to get
the hints on the correct answer of the quiz!

Brought to you by:
Community for Azure, Microsoft 365 & SharePoint
Thank You
Do join us for other sessions in different tracks !