Wrike
Wrike header logoWrike header logo
    • For teams

      • Marketing

        Streamline proofing and reporting for seamless campaigns.

      • Creative & Design

        Create high-quality assets and get them approved in record time.

      • Product

        Accelerate your product process, from idea to delivery.

      • Client Services

        Exceed clients’ expectations with expert resources.

      • PMO

        Align strategy with execution and deliver results.

      • IT

        Execute initiatives, optimize workflows, and automate requests.

      • Operations

        Make work flow seamlessly with intuitive management tools.

      • HR

        Manage teams effortlessly with customizable HR features.

      • Legal

        Organize every file, case, and due date in one secure space.

      • Finance

        Centralize all financial tasks, from budgeting to invoicing.

      • See all teams

    • For industries

      • Technology

        Build solutions that matter, and deliver faster.

      • Consumer Goods

        Move fast with unified planning, delivery, and reporting.

      • Manufacturing

        Enhance operations, accelerate production, and empower teams.

      • Professional Services

        Organize clients, streamline projects, and automate workflows.

      • Finance

        Deliver better, faster financials with automations.

      • Healthcare

        Collaborate cross-functionally in a secure setting.

      • Education

        Unite multiple disparate teams, departments, and colleges.

      • Construction

        Streamline building projects, from scoping to invoicing.

      • Media & Entertainment

        Choose one powerful platform for fast-paced work.

      • Agencies

        Centralize client work, boost creativity, and increase profitability.

      • See all industries

    • Workflows

      • Campaign Management

        Make marketing magic with end-to-end campaign management.

      • Product Lifecycle

        Watch your product lifecycle flow, from concept to customer.

      • Client Service Delivery

        Get ahead of the competition with faster client services.

      • Project Management

        Plan Agile projects, track deadlines, and deliver results.

      • Project Portfolio Management

        Manage your complete portfolio, from strategy to results.

      • Creative Production & Content

        Create, collaborate, proof, and approve all in one place.

      • Resource Management

        View team workloads and reallocate tasks to avoid burnout.

      • Workflow Management

        Use custom statuses and automate your team workflows.

      • Event Management

        Design, execute, and monitor flawless events.

      • Task Management

        Organize incoming requests and eliminate repetitive tasks.

      • See all workflows

    • Explore Wrike

      • Take a Product Tour

      • Book a Demo

      • ROI Calculator

      • Customer Stories

      • Start with Templates

    • Features

      • Dashboards

        Fuel better, faster, data-driven decisions with powerful analytics.

      • AI

        Learn about powerful AI and automations with Work Intelligence®.

      • Automation

        Define and trigger automated workflows to eliminate manual efforts.

      • Gantt Charts

        Interactive project scheduling across teams.

      • Proofing

        Streamlined proofing and collaboration in one place.

      • Custom Item Types

        Tailor work items to fit your specific workplace.

      • Project Resource Planning

        Plan and allocate resources for timely delivery.

      • Project Views

        Get the full picture with customizable, intuitive project views.

      • Kanban Boards

        Instantly view project progress and create customized workflows.

      • Dynamic Request Forms

        Custom forms powered by conditional logic.

      • Approvals

        Keep approvers in the loop from start to finish.

      • Cross-Tagging

        Unparalleled visibility across multiple work streams.

      • See all features

    • Platform

      • New! Visual collaboration

      • Book a Demo

      • Start with Templates

      • Wrike AI

      • Integrations

      • Security

      • Mobile & Desktop Apps

    • Workflow-Powered Collaboration

      Sync with multiple teams to keep work flowing across your organization.

    • Industry-Leading Security

      We're dedicated to safeguarding data beyond industry standards and ensuring secure collaboration.

    • Pioneering AI and Innovation

      Put the power of data and AI to work for your organization.

    • Invested in Customer Success

      We support customers at every step of their journey from pre-sales to onboarding with 24/7 support.

    • Boundless Configuration

      Customize your workspace to suit the unique needs of every team in your organization.

    • Effortless Scalability

      Add new teams or adjust to rapid growth seamlessly with Wrike’s scalable platform.

    Why Wrike beats the competition

    Find out why 20,000+ of the world’s top companies choose Wrike to manage their workflows

    View comparison
    • Go deeper

      • Resource Hub

        Top assets on productivity, collaboration, and more.

      • Wrike Blog

        Latest news and best practices on project management.

      • Educational Guides

        Guides and tools to unlock better work management.

      • Webinars

        Join our live or on-demand sessions to do your best work.

      • Customer Stories

        Explore Wrike’s case studies for key insights on customer success.

      • Developers

        Connect and build integrations with easy-to-use APIs.

    • Upskill and Connect

      • Training & Certifications

      • Help Center

      • Wrike's Community

      • Premium Support Packages

      • Wrike Professional Services

      • Partners

    Introducing Wrike + Klaxoon

    You can now add Klaxoon’s infinite whiteboard to your Wrike subscription and work management toolkit

    Request a demo
  • Enterprise
  • Pricing
Contact Sales
    language-selector
    English
    Dansk
    Deutsch
    Español
    Français
    Bahasa Indonesia
    Italiano
    Bahasa Melayu
    Nederlands
    Norsk
    Polski
    Português (BR)
    Svenska
    Русский
    日本語
    한국어
    中文 (简体)
    中文 (繁體)
Log in
Wrike header logoWrike header logo
Wrike header logoWrike header logo
Menu
Guide overview
  • 1. Project Management Basics
  • 2. Project Management Methodologies
  • 3. Project Management Life Cycle
  • 4. Best Project Management Software
  • 5. Team Collaboration Tips
  • 6. Agile Methodology Basics
  • 7. Agile Project Management Tools
  • 8. Project Management Frameworks
  • 9. Resources
  • 10. Glossary
  • 11. FAQ
    • Advanced Terminology
    • Methodologies
    • PM Software Features
    • Basic Terminology
    • PMI
    • Professional Development
    • Tools
    • Agile Project Management
Guide overview
  • 1. Project Management Basics
  • 2. Project Management Methodologies
  • 3. Project Management Life Cycle
  • 4. Best Project Management Software
  • 5. Team Collaboration Tips
  • 6. Agile Methodology Basics
  • 7. Agile Project Management Tools
  • 8. Project Management Frameworks
  • 9. Resources
  • 10. Glossary
  • 11. FAQ
    • Advanced Terminology
    • Methodologies
    • PM Software Features
    • Basic Terminology
    • PMI
    • Professional Development
    • Tools
    • Agile Project Management
  1. Project Management Guide
  2. FAQ
  3. PM Software Features

Why Should I Use To-Do Lists in Project Management Software?

9 min read
Artem Gurnov
Artem Gurnov Director of Account Development, Wrike
See Wrike for PMO

Why Should I Use To-Do Lists in Project Management Software?

A to-do list is simply a list of all of the tasks you need to complete during a particular period of time. For instance, at the beginning of the day, you might jot down on a sticky note all of the tasks you want to complete before the end of the day. That becomes your to-do list. 

With to-do list functionality built into your project management software, you can easily create, manage, edit, and share your lists. Plus, you don’t have to worry about losing sticky notes or pieces of paper. If your chosen software has a mobile application, you can keep the list with you wherever you go.

Why to-do lists in project management software are useful

Many people find to-do lists helpful for prioritizing and completing tasks. According to psychologist Dr. David Cohen, there are three reasons for this:

  • By laying out everything that you have to do in order, it’s easier to focus on one activity at a time. This reduces “noise” and can lower anxiety about having too much to do. 
  • A to-do list provides an easy-to-follow structure for your day. You don’t have to worry about interdependencies. You simply go down the list in order. This helps people avoid multitasking and being sidetracked. 
  • To-do lists allow you to see what you’ve accomplished. Every time you complete a task, you get to check it off, which can help you feel more productive and successful. It can even boost your mood. 

The problem with to-do lists

The biggest drawback of to-do lists is their inability to account for all of the projects' dependencies. These lists don’t allow you to see how tasks connect. 

Without functionality such as the ability to create predecessors and successors, you can’t view and manage the critical path. That means that when one task slips, it can be very difficult to understand the impact on the other tasks and the overall project.

It can also be challenging to coordinate resources and tasks that are interdependent and to make sure resource loading occurs properly. 

Many free project management software solutions only offer to-do list task management. This means they don’t support other project functions such as risk and change management, project analysis and reporting, and decision making. 

The bottom line is that to-do lists are great for task management but not project management. As the project manager, you need more advanced tools such as Gantt charts to manage the project as a whole. But each team member may find the use of to-do lists beneficial for managing their short-term workload. 

The solution

For this reason, your ideal project management software should be capable of supporting multiple views so that you can see either the project as a whole or a list of tasks to be completed. This allows the software to support different team members’ needs and enables to-do lists to automatically update and adjust as dependencies change. 

For example, imagine your designer has a list of 10 tasks to complete for this week. But suddenly you’ve got a rush order for a new project, and you’ve been told the publishing date on another one has been delayed by two weeks. 

In your view of the overall, interrelated schedule, you can easily move around work and schedule dates to accommodate these new changes. But if your designer is still working off a paper or static task list, they might not be aware of the changes and will keep working on the wrong activities. 

By having both project views integrated within your software, as you change timelines, the designer task list will automatically update. Your team will always be working on the correct tasks at the correct time. 

To make to-do lists even more useful, you can set your software to automatically email a to-do list to your team members. For instance, every morning, each team member can receive an email from your project software that outlines:

  • Tasks planned for that day
  • Any overdue tasks in your project management software 

This way, they never have to worry about creating or maintaining their own lists. The software will automatically do it for them.  

Prioritizing to-dos

Your project software should automatically prioritize tasks for you based on deadlines and due dates. But what if you have multiple tasks that all need to happen during the same period? If there are no clear requirements for which needs to be done first, it can be challenging to properly prioritize them. 

Here are five tips from entrepreneur Lauren Perkins, NY Times bestselling author Greg McKeown, and productivity coach Errette Dunn on how you can determine what order tasks should be completed in: 

  1. Redefine your deadlines: You can't work on multiple tasks simultaneously so whenever you have the same due date for multiple tasks, the experts suggest creating new, earlier deadlines for some of them. For instance, if you have five deliverables due on Friday and each takes one day, you can change your deadlines. Make one due at the end of each weekday. 
  2. Get some space: Sometimes when you get too close to the details, you lose sight of the big picture, which can make it hard to understand where your priorities should lie. To avoid this, take a step back from your task work regularly to consider the project as a whole. 
  3. Pretend you have half the time you actually do: When planning out your workday, it’s important to recognize that you won’t actually be doing project work every minute of your day due to lunch, meetings, etc. A good way to prioritize your work is to assume you only have half a workday. This forces you to not only prioritize what’s important but also reduce distractions and interruptions. 
  4. Keep priority singular: When the word “priority” first appeared in the English language, it was singular, as in the one most important thing. Take back the word’s original meaning and choose only one priority each day. If you don’t have one single priority at the top, you may feel pressure to multitask or jump back and forth between priorities. 
  5. Learn to let go: Sometimes tasks end up on our to-do list that don’t need to be there. It’s important to assess the activities on your list to determine if they need to be done and, if so, whether they need to be done by you. In some cases, there may be tasks that you can remove from the project. In other cases, the work may need to be done but not by you.

Further reading

blog post

4 Signs Your Project Intake Process Is Outdated

blog post

Embracing Chaos: Future-Proofing Your Processes for Resiliency & Growth

blog post

What Game of Thrones House Is Your Project Management Style?

PM Software Features 5 questions
What Are Critical Success Factors in Project Management? Why Should I Use Filters & Search in Project Management Software? Why Should I Use Live Support in Project Management Software? Why Should I Use Free Trials in Project Management Software? Why Should I Use Training Resources in Project Management Software?
Artem Gurnov

Artem is a Director of Account Development at Wrike. He previously held the role of Project Manager, overseeing a team of customer success managers (CSMs). Over the years of building teams and scaling business processes, he has successfully deployed multiple projects, from automating client outreach to setting up work prioritization tools for sales reps and CSMs.

Basic Project Management
  • Project Charter
  • Project Management Stakeholders
  • What is a Project?
  • Work Breakdown Structure
  • Project Objectives
  • Project Baseline
  • Project Management Scheduling
  • Project Management Work Packages
  • Project Management Scope
  • Scope Creep
Advanced Project Management
  • What is PERT?
  • S-Curve
  • Network Diagram
  • SMART
  • Risk Management
  • Cost Estimation
  • Feasibility Study
  • Monte Carlo Analysis
  • Project Integration
  • Cost Management
PMI
  • Milestones
  • PDU
  • PMI Project Management
  • What To Do With Certification
  • Certification
  • Become Certified
  • PMP Certification
  • Best Certification
Software Features
  • Critical Success Factors
  • Capacity Planning
  • User Role Access Permissions
  • Time Tracking
  • Budget Tracking
  • Request Forms
  • Work Assignments
  • Version Control
  • Dependency Managements
  • Project management Milestones
Tools
  • Project Management Software
  • Project Management Tools
  • Project Management System
  • Gantt Charts
  • Product
    • Product tour
    • Pricing
    • Templates
    • Apps & Integrations
    • Task Management
    • Gantt Charts
    • Wrike Status
    • Security
    • Wrike API
    • Compare
    • Features
  • Solutions
    • Enterprise
    • Marketing
    • Creative
    • Project Management
    • Product Development
    • Business Operations
    • Professional Services
    • IT Management
    • Students
    • All Teams
    • All Use Cases
  • Resources
    • Help Center
    • Community
    • Blog
    • Webinars
    • Interactive Training
    • Support Packages
    • Find a Reseller
    • Google Project Management Tools
    • CA Notice at Collection
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Leadership
    • Careers
    • Our Customers
    • Events
    • Newsroom
    • Partner Program
    • Collaborate - User Conference
    • Wrike Engineering
    • Contact Us
  • Guides
    • Project Management Guide
    • Professional Services Guide
    • Kanban Guide
    • Agile Guide
    • Remote Work Guide
    • Scrum Guide
    • Marketing Project Management Guide
    • Collaborative Work Management Guide
    • Digital Marketing Guide
    • Return to Work Guide
    • Product Management Guide
    • Go-to-Market Guide
    • Goal Setting Guide
  • Latest in Wrike Blog
    • Free Google Sheets budget template (Excel included)
    • How to create and manage a project calendar to deliver projects on time
    • Work breakdown structure template (WBS) for project management
    • Project organization: Your ultimate guide
    • How to write a business requirements document (Plus template)
    • Stay productive anywhere: A deep dive into the Wrike mobile app
    • From good to game changing: The power play of human instinct + AI speed in 2025

Subscribe to Wrike news and updates

Stay informed with the latest news and updates by subscribing to our marketing emails.

  • App Store
  • Google Play
©2006-2025 Wrike, Inc. All rights reserved. Patented. Privacy Policy. Terms of Service. Cookie Preferences