Comments on: How to Keep Track of Tasks That You Assign by Email [Best Practice]

By: Vlad

Vlad — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:52:14 +0000

Thank you Eyal Sela for this post,
Assigning and tracking tasks with a help of email is a way which is quite widely used, but it is not the best possible one (please let me note this as I had been using it for a while) and let me please suggest some more alternative solutions. It is very helpful and easy to use collaborative software for task management, like VIP Task Manager that we use in our company. If you wish to review it you may find it on its web-site http://www.taskmanagementsoft.com/ where you can find a lot of useful staff for tracking your tasks (I mean methodical tips and suggestions). Thank you !

By: Shane Pateras

Shane Pateras — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 09:33:46 +0000

Recently, we have decided to switch from Relenta to WorkForceTrack . Because it is cheaper than Relenta and has the same functions. As far as I know, they also offer some kind of discounts and localization from English to other languages. So, I am recommending you to try this

By: Shane Pateras

Shane Pateras — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 09:33:31 +0000

mall and mid-size organisations

By: Lesja Gonchar

Lesja Gonchar — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:20:05 +0000

You can do it in just several clinks in WFT (workforcetrack). You can even create lists of you customized letters. I am not speaking about appointing tasks to an employee or a group of employees.

By: Christoph Borer

Christoph Borer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:35:53 +0000

Hi there. I'm using Rememberthemilk for GTD. I'd both send an email with a task to the recipient and would then create a "waiting for" item in the respective todo list in Rememberthemilk. I'd like to have a task management application that would allow me to automatically create a waiting for item while sending an email to the project member. I believe in email and would not like to ask task recipients to register with some online service to check webpages with their todo, because they won't do that.

I've tried to work with the email interface of RTM but didn't find this so handy: you would send an email i.e. to John Doe, putting the task in the subject line, and putting the RTM inbox-Email in the bcc, then have to start the email body with variables that define the list the task should be put on, the tags to use and the due date. But this results in an email that would start with cryptic signs at the start that is not so funny.

Anybody understanding what i'm looking for? perhaps a simple online ticketing system will do it? some good solutions around (free, reliable online service)?

By: @Hagoleshet

@Hagoleshet — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:27:58 +0000

I’m going to try this: How to Keep Track of Tasks That You Assign by Email http://tinyurl.com/avfnen

By: eyalsela

eyalsela — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:05:22 +0000

test

By: Dmitri Eroshenko, Relenta

Dmitri Eroshenko, Relenta — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:33:58 +0000

Here’s how you do it in Relenta:

1. Click on “Create task” from email
2. Assign it to your colleague
3. Set a due date
4. Monitor its completion in the Agenda view

Benefits:

1. No email multiplication (don’t we all have enough emails floating around already?!!)
2. The person responsible automatically sees the task in her agenda
3. When completed, no need to send more emails
4. The whole process is as hands-free as is humanely possible

Relenta puts an end to endless email hacks. Life is too short for that.

Eyal, don’t get me wrong, this is a great hack for non-Relenta users. I really enjoy your blog. Thanks!

By: eyal sela

eyal sela — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:19:02 +0000

Thank Boaz,
actually, I used a similar method when I worked with outlook (nowadays I’m using Gmail).

By: Boaz Zemer

Boaz Zemer — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:26:31 +0000

This is a great suggestion indeed.
At work, I used a similar method myself.
I didn’t use the calendar for it thou. Here’s what I did:

In Outlook*, you can set a due date for the mail to expire.
With a rule, I made all sent mails where my E-mail appears in the BCC field, to go to certain tasks folders I made (combined with a rule to specify which task folder to use according to certain key words in the Subject field), and then i could see expired mails turn red and forward them onward.

*:
In Outlook 2003 this is done via ‘Options’ in the mail itself.
In Outlook 2007 this is done with the ‘Follow Up’ button (red flag).