Whether you’re two people working together or a team of 50, shared to-do lists allow everyone to be on the same page. And when everyone is on the same page, each person knows exactly what their task is as well as the status of the project as a whole. Accountability is increased, operations are streamlined, and productivity is boosted — there’s really no downside.
What Exactly Is a Collaborative To-Do List?
A collaborative, interactive, or shared to-do list (all the same thing) is essentially project management software that allows team members to keep abreast of their own tasks and the tasks of others. To-do lists help users prioritize which tasks are most important, report on their status (in-progress, completed), follow the progress of others on their team, and move quickly on to the next task once the previous one is completed.
The Top 5 Interactive To-Do Lists
There are many shared to-do lists out there, but not all of them offer a high level of interactive tools. We’ve rounded up the top 5 to-do lists that excel in collaboration. Read on to find out which one is best for your company.
1. Monday.com
- Excellent collaboration tools
- Visually appealing boards that make data available at a glance
- 24/7 customer support
Monday.com has been revolutionizing project management software since its inception, which is probably why it managed to raise over $230 million in investment funding. The innovative software uses a series of boards to help team members stay on the same page and manage their workflow. Users can comment or “like” things that are posted on the boards of other users, and all interaction takes place in realtime. Team members can also add guests and unlimited users to each task.
Additional features include an easy-to-use drag and drop interface, workflow automation, customizable templates, timelines, calendars, and 24/7 customer support. Monday.com is available on Windows and Mac and it comes with great mobile apps that are available on Android and iOS.
2. Proggio
- Multiple real-time collaboration features
- No download necessary
- Intuitive and easy-to-use
Proggio is known for being a visual to-do list, as it’s designed to help companies map out every step of their project timelines in a very visual way. Mapping options include Whiteboard Sketch, Project Map, and various color-coded charts and timelines. Proggio makes it easy for users to zoom in on specific tasks or zoom out and get a bird’s eye view of the entire project. It’s based on GANTT charts and built on a SaaS platform.
As a shared to-do list, Proggio assists collaboration via live chat, shared project views, resource loading, and realtime syncing. All users can access the same view of a project, and when someone makes a change to a timeline, it’s immediately updated for all users.
3. Zoho Projects
- Large variety of collaborative tools
- Lots of integration options
- Very detailed task management
Zoho Projects facilitates high-level collaboration by allowing users to post comments, share documents and media files, and @mention people by name. Zoho also has a Forum where users can discuss topics at length, with different folders for different topics. Other interactive features include chatrooms, an Activity Stream that allows users to see a project’s development, and an information archive for each project, where team members can add specs, style guides, or other relevant data.
Zoho Projects allows users to break each project down into milestones, create task lists, tasks, and subtasks. They can add start and end dates to each unit, along with descriptions and relevant media or documents. Zoho gets really detailed and allows users to update tasks in terms of percentage completed. Tasks appear in one place and users can view them in list form or Kanban view.
4. ProjectManager
- Multiple collaboration features
- Excellent reporting tools
- Offers different views of to-do lists
ProjectManager has strong collaboration tools, making it an effective to-do list for multiple team members. It allows users to update their progress so everyone can see, share files and media, and chat with other team members. The chat feature can be used to create groups for specific projects or departments, and it can also be used by team members to chat one-on-one. All collaboration tools are accessible by mobile device, and since ProjectManager operates on the cloud, there’s unlimited file storage, so users can share as much as they like.
ProjectManager also excels at reporting. Users (especially bosses and team managers) can create reports about costs, assignments, and team members with just one click. Reports can easily be shared and customized.
In addition to collaborative and reporting tools, ProjectManager offers solid planning features like task assignment, schedule coordination, time tracking, and resource allocation. In fact, it’s often chosen as a time management to-do list.
5. RingCentral Glip
- Live video chat
- Many integration options
- Free version available
Glip is collaboration software created by RingCentral. True to its purpose, it allows users to chat in realtime, share files, schedule events in a shared calendar, send instant messages, and more. It really stands out from the crowd since it allows live video chat, which isn’t offered by many apps.
Other advantages of Glip include unlimited posts, unlimited storage, unlimited guest emails, and more. There’s a free version and a standard version, the latter of which comes with additional features like advanced admin controls, compliance exports, 24/7 support, and more.
Choosing the Best To-Do List For Your Business
With so many great interactive to-do lists available, it can be hard to decide which is the best to-do list for your company. When it comes down to the wire, the most important thing to consider is the collaboration features that each offers. And what about price, you ask? Of course, price is important — however, when you find a shared to-do list that offers everything you ever dreamed of, it can even be worthwhile if it has a higher price tag. Because a team that’s productive, happy, and sees consistent results is usually worth the investment.