Understanding Tasks
End-to-End
Christian Buckley
Microsoft RD & MVP
CollabTalk LLC
@buckleyplanet

Christian Buckley
Microsoft RD & MVP
CollabTalk LLC
@buckleyplanet
Blog www.buckleyplanet.com
YouTube youtube.com/c/collabtalk
Podcast soundcloud.com/collabtalk
(also on Apple & Stitcher)

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.

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.

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.

Project
Management
should be part of
your Collaboration
Strategy
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.

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

Which tool
should I use?

Microsoft Project Tasks
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.

Project Tasks

Project Tasks

Planner Tasks
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.

Planner Tasks

Planner Tasks

Planner Tasks

Planner Tasks

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

To-Do Tasks

To-Do Tasks

Planner and To-Do Integration

Share To-Do Lists

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

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.

Outlook Tasks

Outlook Tasks

Outlook Tasks

Microsoft Teams Tasks
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.

Microsoft Teams Tasks

Microsoft Teams Tasks

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

OneNote Tasks

OneNote Tasks

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

Office App Tasks

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.

Cortana Tasks

Cortana Tasks

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

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

Which tool should I use?

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

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

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

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

Resources
• Microsoft’s Vision for Task Management
https://www.buckleyplanet.com/2020/03/microsofts-vision-for-task-
management.html
• Should I use Project, Planner, To Do, or Tasks in Teams?
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/should-i-use-project-planner-to-do-
or-tasks-in-teams-8f950d32-d5f4-40db-a8b7-4d1b82b55e17
• Project and SharePoint: How does Project know where its tasks
are? https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/project-support-blog/project-
and-sharepoint-how-does-project-know-where-its-tasks-are/ba-p/361725
• Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Planner–what to expect
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/planner-blog/microsoft-teams-and-
microsoft-planner-8211-what-to-expect/ba-p/362217
• To-Do help center
https://support.office.com/en-us/todo
• Flagged emails come to Microsoft To-Do
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-to-do-blog/flagged-
emails-come-to-microsoft-to-do/ba-p/366684
• Introducing List Sharing and Steps in Microsoft To-Do
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-to-do-blog/introducing-
list-sharing-and-steps-in-microsoft-to-do/ba-p/200109

Thank you very much!
The Twitters @buckleyplanet
Blog www.buckleyplanet.com
YouTube youtube.com/c/collabtalk
Podcast soundcloud.com/collabtalk
(also on Apple & Stitcher)