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Google Tasks has long been neglected - but recently made a comeback, although few people know. Tasks are slowly, but steadily becoming an important voice in the Google Workspace orchestra.
Not long ago, this blog was fretting about whether to use Tasks or Reminders and what the differences where. Or if you should use something different altogether for managing tasks.
Let's look at what's new and what is coming - and I'd also like to hear your state of embracing Tasks.
Tasks, if used right, are the control panel of your (work) life. Google Tasks is on its way to become that dashboard.
Room tasks
Room tasks
New Chat brought a significant innovation: Tasks can now be inserted into rooms which makes Chat even more of a powerhouse for focussing team work. Here is how it works.
Creating tasks
Creating tasks
To add room tasks, you open a chat room and navigate to its "Tasks" tab. Click "Add room task".
Working with tasks
Working with tasks
Room tasks have two brilliant use cases:
You can assign them to people, that's what the Assignee field is for. Everybody can change the field freely. Assignees will see their tasks in their Google Tasks side panel - opening Chat is not required!
Every task gets a thread when created, organizing the discussion for you. Your team can reply and discuss without impacting the task. Most changes to the task, such as marking them as completed, will send an update to the task's thread. Everybody stays on the same page.
Managing tasks
Managing tasks
You can manage a chat room's tasks via the "Tasks" tab. That view makes it easy to hunt for old tasks, make changes, correct assignments or get an overview of what is going on.
Tip: Reordering tasks helps the longer the lists get.
Nerdy tip: Tasks have shortcuts!
A new tasks editor
A new tasks editor
Tasks has just received a brand new editor. It looks very similar to the old editor, because it is still just a side panel - but it is a very functional side panel. Besides Calendar, it's probably the most well-designed side panel from a Material Design point of view (if Tasks would only get a new Tasks icon).
New: Inline editing
New: Inline editing
You can now click on anything you see in the side panel, and just edit it. Any title becomes a text box or a menu that you can change. Before, you had to open the task, make your changes, save it. Inline editing is lightning fast, both for dipping in and out and for serial editing sessions.
Pro Tip: Pressing Enter will let you insert another task. And another.
New: Denser display
New: Denser display
One of my biggest gripes was how generous Tasks was with whitespace. That is fine if you are focussing on crafting an email, but nobody crafts a task. You want to see a list of your tasks (there is only the side panel to see them in, after all) - so better show me a lot of them! The new editor delivers that without looking cramped.
Coming soon: Team tasks on the Smart Canvas
Coming soon: Team tasks on the Smart Canvas
The boss said it, so I can repeat it: Tasks are coming to Google Docs (and possibly beyond).
You will be able to create checklists in Google Docs first, which is cool by itself. In a second step, you can assign those individual items to other people, and those assignments will become Google Tasks.
That will be brilliant for "Next steps", action items, simple project plans... Everything to keep your team moving. A team that will have a flying start if it is already used to assigning tasks instead of sending emails.
The question has been decided - the future belongs to Google Tasks. It is high time your team starts using them, because they will start popping up in a lot of other places all over Google Workspace. Chat is the best place to start - a place where assigning tasks feels not like delegating, but like team work. Thank you for reading!
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