Microsoft hopes to give workers a productivity boost with the rollout of its new Tasks app in Microsoft Teams which combines Microsoft Planner and Microsoft To Do to form a cohesive task management experience.
Back in April, the software giant revealed in an entry to its Microsoft 365 roadmap that Tasks in Teams was in development to provide users with a new “unified view of their personal and team tasks, powered by Planner and To Do”. In the new app, Microsoft To Do handles individual tasks while Microsoft Planner handles team tasks.
The addition of tasks in Teams is part of a wider effort by Microsoft called Tasks in Microsoft 365 that is designed to consolidate and unify task scheduling across Teams, Outlook, Planner, Microsoft To Do and Office. While Outlook already syncs all tasks to Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Office will soon allow managers and project heads to assign tasks to workers using '@' mentions in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
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Tasks in Teams
Microsoft is currently in the process of rolling out Tasks on desktop to a small group of users and this rollout will continue through September. However, the Tasks mobile app won't be available until the desktop rollout is complete, according to the company. In a support document, Microsoft warned users that Tasks in Teams will arrive under several different names during the rollout, saying:
“As we roll out the Tasks experience on Teams desktop clients, the app name will initially appear as Planner to users. The name will then temporarily change to Tasks by Planner and To Do, and later on, it will be renamed to Tasks. On Teams mobile clients, users will always see the app name as Tasks. There may be a short delay in the availability of the mobile experience after the desktop experience is available.”
Since announcing the Tasks app back in April of last year, Microsoft has made a number of additions to the app including task publishing which allows leadership teams at an organization to create task lists and assign them to teams at different locations. Tasks can also be assigned to Firstline Workers who have a simple mobile experience to see their tasks as well as the ability to attach photos to show their work when appropriate.
Having a to do list that shows your tasks and syncs across all of Microsoft's software could also be quite beneficial for employees working from home that may be having a hard time staying productive.
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Via ZDNet
