[KatieR]

What is an efficient way to allow my boss to see his task list that I am keeping for him as well as my progess on those tasks? Is that Task List in Outlook the best way? Sometimes this will include projects but other times it is minute tasks that he may just need to know are completed. At times we do not have the ability to check in with one another on a daily or multi-daily basis. Let me know what you think!

[Chrissy Scivicque]

I've used the Outlook Task List in the past and it worked just fine. I don't think I was using it to its full capacity though. It seemed somewhat limited - basically, I just made note of "to do" items and he ticked them off when completed.

In terms of passing a task back and forth, we never figured out how to do that effectively through Outlook. We had a client database that let us do that for client specific work (it was called Junxure and specifically used in the Financial planning field).

If something was critical and had to be done on a specific day, I would create an "All Day" event in Outlook so that, on his calendar, it appeared at the very top. I'd make it red too, just to grab his attention.

I'd love to learn more about the task management features in Outlook. Please share anyone who knows how to use this well. Also, I'll talk to our writers about plunging into the topic in depth soon.

There are several online task management programs such as Basecamp, which I have been exploring recently. You can find a list of about 10 of these in this article: Cool Online Tools.