Friday, 4.40pm. A client asks Ola: "Where are we with the website?". In the "Website project" task, a long conversation is waiting, while the project steps still sit in a separate spreadsheet. The to-do list in Task Manager lets you keep them with the same matter and check progress without piecing together the answer from several places.
Why does asking about a project stage take so much digging?
Asking about a project stage takes a lot of digging when the plan, the conversation and the information about who's responsible for what live in different places. To give a reliable answer, you need to work out not just what someone promised to do, but also what's already been done.
Ola remembers Magda's message about the texts, but isn't sure whether it referred to the finished material or just a first draft. In the spreadsheet she sees an entry "photos", with no note on who's waiting for the client's decision. The list on its own won't fix this gap if nobody updates it after things get settled in conversation. It has to sit close enough to the work for the team to keep coming back to it.
When a project consists of several steps, the task's overall status isn't enough to answer the question "what exactly is left?". That's why, within a single task, you can keep a conversation and a separate to-do list: the conversation preserves the context of decisions, and the list shows the state of each piece of work. These are two views of the same matter, not two documents to keep in sync.
A to-do list for teams starts with stages, people and progress
A to-do list for teams splits the work into stages and shows who's handling each step. Progress comes from the number of items ticked off, so alongside the plan you also see the state of the work.
On Monday, Ola breaks down the "Website project" into "Content" and "Technical". Under the first heading she notes the texts, photos and "Check the texts for SEO", and under the second - redirects and a site check. If an item needs joint work, she can assign several people. If she needs just one person to start a conversation about progress with, she assigns one.
Don't confuse the person assigned to an item with the person assigned to the whole task, though. The first keeps small steps organised; the second concerns the task itself. When the question "who's doing this?" keeps coming up in your team, the rules for assigning tasks in a team can also help. The list works best when its items describe actions that can be clearly ticked off - "Prepare team photos" says more than "Photos".
The plan sits right inside the conversation
In Task Manager you open the To-do list with the list icon in the task or chat bar, before the paperclip. The conversation and the message field are hidden, replaced by the list; clicking the same icon again brings the conversation back.
Ola opens "Website project" and adds the headings "Content" and "Technical". At the end of the second section she chooses "Add item" and types "Set up redirects from the old site". Under the name she adds a description so Magda knows which addresses the work covers, and uses the "People" button to assign her to this item. Enter saves the entry and leaves the field open for the next one. If Ola wants to tell technical work apart from the other points, she chooses "Colour" - from the same palette as in the Calendar.
Clicking the circle next to an item marks it as done. The item is struck through, and the bar at the top shows how many items are completed, for example "3 of 7 completed". Progress for each section is shown next to its heading. Even without opening the list, the number on its icon shows how many points remain; it disappears once everything is done or the list is empty. Description of the To-do list in Task Manager shows this layout in the context of a task.
After switching to a different task, Task Manager shows the conversation, and you reach that task's To-do list via the icon. This makes sense: you see the current thread first, and reach for the plan when you check what's been done.
As stages increase, headings become columns
If you want to view stages side by side, switch the To-do list from the "List" view to the "Board" view. Each heading becomes a column, and items become cards you can move between columns.
On Tuesday, Ola moves the card "Check texts for SEO" on the board from the "Content" column to "Technical", because the texts are already on the site and get checked during deployment. In the "List" view, she can drag a single item to another section or grab a heading to move the whole section. On her phone, she holds down an item and drags it with her finger. In the "Board" view, she can also reposition an entire column by grabbing its heading. Items placed before the first heading appear in the "No heading" column.
You don't have to look at finished work all day. Turning off "Show completed" hides completed items, and below the section you can see how many are hidden. "Completed last" moves them after the remaining points in a given section. Task Manager remembers the view and both settings for you. If you're wondering when a list works better and when a column layout does, see this comparison of board and list views for tasks. Here you're changing the view of items within a single task or chat, not the view of all the company's tasks.
To-do list or a checklist written into a message?
The To-do list is a separate place for a plan attached to a task or chat; a checklist written into a message or a task description stays part of that content. Both let you tick off work, but only the separate To-do list from the Pro plan gives you the headings, assigned people, colours and dedicated "Board" view described here.
| When you need… | To-do list attached to a task or chat | Checklist within content |
|---|---|---|
| A place for the stages of the whole matter | A separate list with headings | A list within a specific message or description |
| Assigning people to steps | "People" button next to an item | Name of the person who ticked off the point |
| Switching the layout to columns | "List" view / "Board" view | Stays within the content |
| Choosing a plan | Pro | Standard and Pro |
On Wednesday, Ola sends a short message with three points to check - a checklist in its content is enough. Separately, she runs the plan for "Website project", because it covers work by several people and stages that go beyond a single message. A checklist in a task description also has ticking off and its own progress bar, so it isn't a "worse list" - it simply solves a different problem. Details are covered in the article about a checklist in a task.
A shared list doesn't mean an automatic notification
Assigning a person to a To-do list item doesn't send them a notification. The list shows who's handling a step; if you want to pass on a new arrangement, message that person in the conversation with an @ mention.
The list can be seen and changed by anyone with access to the task or chat, except a task observer, who can only view it. Changes made by collaborators appear on an open list by themselves, after a few seconds.
On Thursday, Magda ticks off her point, and Ola sees the updated progress without having to gather updates in a separate meeting. If an observer has access to the task, they can check the state of the work, but can't add, edit or tick off items. This distinction matters when someone is meant to follow a project, not carry out its steps.
The "People" button lets you assign one or more people to a task or chat. The list holds the plan; the conversation is used for passing on messages.
The AI Assistant will read the list, but won't tick it off
The AI Assistant can answer a question about the To-do list of the task or chat you're asking about. It reads the items, assigned people and the number of completed points, but it doesn't add, change or tick off entries itself.
On Friday, Ola ticks off "Prepare team photos" and asks: "What's left to do on this task?". Then she follows up: "Who's assigned to the items in the Content section?". This is handy when she wants to word a reply for a client, but before sending it she still checks whether the team has ticked off the finished work. The Assistant describes the state of the saved list, not confirmation of work done outside it. You can read more about questions asked within a thread on the AI Assistant page.
To use the AI Assistant, an administrator needs to set up AI. The company chooses a provider from OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude and xAI Grok, and uses its own API key; the query, along with its context, is sent to the chosen provider. Without AI, the To-do list on its own still works for running the team's tasks.
Tomorrow, start with the task people ask about most often
Tomorrow, pick one task that most often prompts questions about progress, and break its To-do list down into two or three stages. Assign people to specific steps and check whether the completed items match the team's actual work.
If you run a company that wants to keep its application data on its own server, Task Manager combines that kind of plan with a conversation in a single task. The Pro plan gives you the To-do list described here, and the licence is perpetual, with no per-person subscription required; after 12 months you can optionally renew updates. See the task and list layout in the Demo.
Frequently asked questions
Is the to-do list available in the Standard variant?
No, the separate to-do list for tasks and chats is available in the Pro variant. In Standard, you can still use checkbox lists within the message content and task description.
Does the person assigned to an item get a notification?
No, assigning a person to an item doesn't send a notification. If you want to let them know, write it in the conversation using an @ mention; for the item itself, you can assign the person already assigned to the task or chat.
Can a task observer tick off an item?
No, a task observer only has view access to the to-do list. They can't add, edit or tick off its items.
Can you reorder the to-do list on your phone?
Yes, on your phone you hold an item for a moment, then drag it with your finger. This lets you change the order of items or move one to a different section.
Can the AI Assistant tick off an item on the to-do list itself?
No, the AI Assistant only reads the to-do list of the task or chat you ask about. It can tell you what's left to do and who the items are assigned to, but it won't change their status.
Sources
The Task Manager Team - we write about teamwork, AI in business and keeping tasks organised, using examples from Task Manager, software installed on your own server. Task Manager has been developed by Blue Creation Group (Piotr Łącz) since 2013 and is used by organisations including Neonet, the Military University of Technology and Polpharma - read customer reviews. We check our articles against the user guide and the latest version of the software.
