Microsoft Planner 4+

Using it every day now

Still solo in my business so I can't speak to the collaborative functions but for me this is awesome. Planner has a level of simplicity which makes it better than other tools like Trello to manage activities. I've used the buckets to capture specific projects and within each to capture tasks needed to be completed. I've also used buckets to list my actions for today and 1 or 2 days out so I've always got a clear picture of what's coming up. In addition it's super easy to assign colour coded labels. For projects I can highlight priority projects. And for my daily actions I can assign colour codes to say if it's a 15 min, 30 min, 60 min presentation, 90 min deep work etc. So at a glance I know what's happening. I used to try to manage all of this in my calendar or paper to do lists but this way is far better! Great work Planner team.

Great app for team collaboration - needs further development

I have just started using this app with my team. It has been effortless to get started with, and is very easy to pick up. We work on a rotational pattern of 21 days on and 10 days off, all on staggered shifts, so having all the visibility of task list makes for effective crossover notes. Through that improved visibility, things get done even when you’re not there.

It does need to have an export feature, like an export to Excel and definitely some form of printing would make it even better - this would make team review meetings easier if you don’t have the luxury of a projector in your office. Also, if the checklists within a task could be assigned specifically to people that would be great

Great app. Definitely a winner

Developer Response ,

Hi there - We're really happy to hear that you're enjoying the Planner app! It's great to hear about the different ways that people use our app.

Thank you for your feedback as well. We'll review exporting to Excel and assigning individual checklist items with our product team. In the meantime, you can go to our UserVoice site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=847163) to vote for your favorite features or to add your own suggestions. Thank you for making Planner better!

Love it - BUT

Make no mistake this is a useful Microsoft app. It is free on the phone but you have to pay for a 365 account to use it. If you have used Microsoft project or other planners that follow waterfall methodology this probably will not work for you since you can not programme milestones or critical paths.

You can

Group things into logical groups “buckets”
Assign tasks among your 365 team
Start date
Due date
Progress not started in progress completed
Add labels that are colour coded

You can get limited charts.

Email alerts to your 365 email.

The integration with the 365 website is very slick too.

One addition I would love to see is if on the charts where a late task is in red, or a in progress task is in blue

Make it so when you take the chart colour task it takes you to the tasks.

Other than that very fine work Microsoft. I’m using lists and SharePoint as well.

We are moving home at the moment and Microsoft lists, SharePoint and planner are being used.

It’s both fun and useful.