Managing tasks through Slack is challenging because there are no built-in features in Slack for task management. In cataloging the challenges customer service professionals faced when servicing customers over Slack - we found the inability to save and track actionable items as one of the biggest gaps in Slack. While Slack reminders is a great tool for individuals - it does not scale to teams who must collaborate on tasks.
Slack has awesome third-party apps though and you can find and integrate your favorite task management apps into your slack workspace from the Slack marketplace. So which task management tools might be useful for customer service professionals using Slack? While there are scores of apps that may fit the bill, we looked for ones that satisfied the following criteria:
- Slack native - most or all of the task management interfaces were available within Slack.
- Easy to use - we are not looking for a complicated project management app - but a simple way to file and share tasks across the team.
- Availability of a free tier - so users can try out the app for free.
- Popular in the Slack marketplace - so we know a lot of other users are using it already.
Based on this criteria - we have curated a list of the best task management apps available in the Slack app marketplace. We also cover how apps like ClearFeed are especially built to solve the problem of task management in the context of customer support over Slack.
But before we go into all this, a quick detour into how to install Slack apps to your workspace. This process is the same for all the apps covered in this post.
How to install or add apps to the workspace?
Step 1: In your Slack client - open the workspace in which you want to install the app.
Step 2: On the left sidebar, You will see three sections by default:
- Channels
- Direct messages
- Apps
Under the app sections, click on the + button (showing Browse Apps on hover).
Step 3: You will see the App Directory once you click. On the top right side, you will see the App Directory button. Click on it. (or click on the green `Browse the App Directory`).
Step 4: It will take you to the below URL (where <your-workspace> will be replaced by your workspace name automatically - for example clearfeed.slack.com for our own team):
https://<your-workspace>.slack.com/apps
Scroll down a little bit you will see a search bar. On the search bar, type the name of the app you want to install.
Click on the app icon to open an app details page. Then, right below the app icon, click the "Add To Slack" green button to add it to your workspace.
That's it! You can repeat this procedure for most of the apps listed in this post. Note: many organizations restrict Slack app installs to admins and owners and you may have to contact your workspace admin in such cases.
Todoist
Todoist is a task management app, and project managers and individuals widely use it. Its easy-to-use interface and multiple operating system support make todoist successful among its competitors. Todoist supports Slack integration so that project managers, founders, or any team workspace can directly create and assign tasks from Slack. You can also categorize the tasks with priorities and custom tags.
If you want to align your daily tasks with the time and get things done, then Todoist is the best choice. You can use Todoist for personal and work, and more than 3 million users have rated it five stars across different app marketplaces. It supports more than 70+ integrations, but I will show you how to use it in Slack to manage your work by creating and assigning tasks.
How to add Todoist to the workspace:
Installing Todoist in your workspace is different from the other apps.
- Step 1: First, visit the link: https://todoist.com/slack/begin
- Step 2: It will open a page asking for permission to install.
- Step 3: Click the green button with the text "Allow."
That's it. Now let me show you how to convert messages of team members into tasks.
- Step 1: Open your workspace on your Slack client.
- Step 2: Hover over any message.
- Step 3: On the right of the message you will see a menu show up above the message. Click on the three vertical dots.
- Step 4: Now select the option to add a task.
- Step 5: It will open the popup.
- Step 6: Fill in the details as per your need once satisfied with the entered details. Click on okay.
- Step 7: To check the added task, open the Todoist App.
Depending on the due date, the task will show on the dashboard under the "Today" or under the "Upcoming" section. Todoist also shows the completed tasks in the todoist app dashboard.
You can also create tasks using slash commands. Tasks created from Slack using todoist integration will show under the todoist app dashboard like the below image.
Two Ways to create Tasks:
Note: Creating tasks is similar for all the below apps.
- Converting any message into tasks by clicking on the three-dot menu, Or
- Using slash command
Pricing:
- Free (5 Projects, five collaborators/project, 5MB file upload, three filters, 1 - week activity history)
- Pro Individual ($4/month billed annually, 300 active projects, 25 collaborators/project, 100MB file upload, 150 filters, reminders, complete activity history, custom theme, and backup)
- Pro Team ($6/month billed annually, 500 active projects, 50 collaborators/project, Team inbox, team admin, and custom member roles)
Link: Visit Todoist
Streamly By Happybara
Streamly is a complete suite for task management. Using this app, you can create, assign and manage tasks directly from Slack, and you don't have to switch tools.
Creating tasks on streamly is different than other tools. First, install the app on your workspace, following the standard directions posted in the beginning of this post.
Once installed, You will see the onboarding page. If you follow the steps shown on the onboarding page, you can set up a stream. A stream is a channel where you and team members can create tasks.
Streamly will show created tasks right on the channel and under the messages tab of the Streamly plugin. It supports custom fields so you can set up a custom request form. For example, you can set up a bug report submission form if you have an engineering team. You can change the streams according to the section.
Pricing:
- Free - 1st Stream
- $5/stream for the following 5 Streams
- $4/stream for the following ten streams
- $3/stream for the following 15 streams
- $2.5/stream for the following infinite streams
Note: Free 30 days trial available for all team sizes.
Link: Visit Streamly
Kyber
Kyber is a task and project management tool. Using Kyber, you can schedule messages, standup meetings, host polls, and conduct surveys. You can assign tasks to your teammates and hold them accountable for a task. They will get a reminder for the task.
You can convert any message into a task by hovering over the message and clicking on the dot menu, and selecting an option to create a task.
You don't have to switch tools like todoist to see pending and completed tasks. Kyber will show pending and completed tasks on its dashboard, which will be available inside Slack after the installation into your workspace.
Pricing:
Startup - $0/user/month:
- All features
- Free for companies with five people
Team - $3/user/month:
- All features, including task and project management
- This plan is best suited for companies with more than five people
Enterprise -$9/user/month:
- Everything is a team plan
- Enterprise grid support
- You can share task lists cross-workplace channel
- Designated account and customer success team
- Preferred customer support
Note: Team and Enterprise pans come with 14 days free trial. Feel free to try it before upgrading to premium features.
Link: Visit Kyber
Sidequest (Recommended)
Sidequest is one of the best apps for team task management, and has many built-in features. Using this app, you can assign tasks to team members and collaborate over public and private channels.
Once you install the Sidequest (using the standard installation directions), you will see a message from Sidequest with the onboarding page. On the boarding page, you can follow the instructions to create and manage your tasks.
Creating and assigning tasks using Sidequest is very easy. Visit any channel, type "/sidequest" and hit enter.
It will open a popup, and it will ask for inputs like task name, description, due date, a personal reminder, participants, and priority of tasks,
All the tasks created will be shown on the Sidequest dashboard inside Slack.
Pricing:
Sidequest To Go - $1.5/user/month:
- Unlimited tasks and ticketing inbox
- Email support
- GDPR-compliant
- 14 days free trial - No credit card required.
It also has a custom plan for customized needs.
Link: Visit Sidequest
Team Gantt
Team Gantt is a project management tool used in more than 120 countries. Using this tool, you can create a task using the slash command or turn any message into a task.
To start using this app, you must have an account with Team Gantt. Else you won't be able to create and manage tasks.
Once you create the account, you can create and assign and set reminders for the tasks. You can see all the completed tasks on the app dashboard.
Pricing:
Free Plan:
- One manager and two collaborators
- One project, 60 tasks
- Best suited for small teams and students
Lite plan - $19/month/manager
- Five projects/manager
- 150 tasks/project
- Five collaborators
- Core Gantt features
Pro plan - $49/month/manager
- 20 projects/manager
- Unlimited tasks
- Unlimited collaborators
- Everything in a lite plan + priority support
- Time tracker and hourly estimation
- Best for freelancers and agencies
Enterprise plan - $99/month/manager
- Unlimited project
- Unlimited tasks
- Unlimited collaborators
- Dedicated account manager
- Everything in a Pro plan + uptime SLA
Note: Lite and Pro plans come with a free 30-day trial
Link: Visit Team Gantt
Task Management for Customer Support on Slack
While the apps above, and many more like it, are great Swiss knives for task management in Slack (and a great improvement over Slack reminders) - they are not purpose built for Customer Support. Apps like ClearFeed go much further in helping Customer Support teams keep track of key deliverables created in the context of Slack based Support. Clearfeed:
- Understands and differentiates messages from customers (versus agents) on Slack channels.
- Can auto-create tasks for actionable messages by customers (using AI models).
- Allows creation of tickets and cases in external systems like SalesForce (Service Cloud), Zendesk, FreshDesk, Jira Service Management, Hubspot and Intercom.
- Uses AI to detect pending responses and urgent requests and generates alert queues for the responder teams.
- Generates sophisticated service metrics for Slack based customer requests - including SLA breaches.
and many more features specifically tailored for this use case. You can visit our Solution page for Customer Support on Slack for more details.
Conclusion
Billions of users and thousands of teams use Slack to manage tasks. To stay ahead of your competitors, you must be more productive and manage your time efficiently. Teams use the apps mentioned above, which are trendy among task management categories. Try them and manage your personal and team tasks efficiently to ship your product fast to the market. For customer support teams - we strongly recommend using an app like ClearFeed that is purpose built for managing and measuring Support activities on Slack.
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