author: Jonathan Stuckey
Good grief, managing personal tasks and actions in Microsoft tools is just soooo mentally challenging and fragmented. Today's frustration is from a return to To Do, because our external CRM solution (it's one that works ...not like Dynamics) does something relatively smart. It integrates directly to Outlook for email, contacts, calendar and can push your actions from the fully integrated project management experience back into Outlook tasks (or To Do - whatever).
I naively thought "Hey, maybe Microsoft's sorted out the rest of the tasks and actions around the place... that they helped create and proliferate". But nah.
In it's 35+ year history of building (and re-building) tools for task and time management, Microsoft has not covered itself in glory. Creating, collecting and re-labelling actions/activities/tasks functionality all over the place.
The following potted history of the Microsoft recurring (yet disjointed) investments gives you some idea of what I mean:
Product | Approach | Format | Year | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Project | Plan (schedule) | .mpp | 1984 | Stand-alone |
Schedule+ | Task management | <Exchange> | 1992 | Embedded data-field |
Outlook | My tasks | .pst | 1997 | Embedded data-field |
SharePoint | Task lists | <SQL> | 2001 | Structured data |
OneNote | Embedded tasks | .one | 2003 | Stand-alone |
Project + SharePoint | Project plan + List | .mpp, <SQL> | 2012 | Limited SP integration |
Project Online | SharePoint task list | .mpp, <SQL> | 2013 | Re-branded UI |
WunderList | Acquisition. Svc + app | <custom db> | 2015 | Structured data |
Planner | Cloud webapp | <Exchange> | 2016 | Structured data* |
To do | Stripped-down WunderList | <custom db> | 2017 | Structured data, Re-branded UI |
Outlook | To do linked to Outlook tasks | <Exchange> | 2018 | Integration |
Microsoft Project for the web | Re-write project server | Dataverse | 2019 | Structured data, new UI. Microsoft Dataverse |
Microsoft Loop | Atomic units of data including tasks. | .fluid, .loop | 2022 | Licensed, rebrand of Fluid tools |
Yes, I have missed out bits like Microsoft Mail, Exchange Mail, CRM/Dynamics etc.. but that's because its not really important, and I don't care.
When you look at tasks and tools for managing them, Microsoft has a bad habit of creating or buying really good task-management tools then letting them rot.
I think its because of the systemic lack of appreciation for user's need or desired outcomes. There's been no vision, strategy or architecture for this fundamental building block of productivity.
What about the future? Is there a roadmap?
Some years ago there were announcements that maybe Microsoft would finally resolve a lot of the task-creation, access and usability issues by unifying tools and resources across the different applications. They made a credible start during 2020 - 2022:
Product | Approach | Format | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
Tasks in Microsoft Teams | A UI embedded in Teams | - | Integrated view (UI) showing both: Planner, To do. |
Microsoft To Do | Linking | syncing | n/a | Linking data to Outlook and Planner; unified UI Teams |
Planner in Teams x New Planner x Planner Premium | Re-colour the logo. |
| A rebrand with a new license (more cost). |
...and then the legs fell off the process when Microsoft decided to monetise Fluid (as Loop), and charge more for Planner.
Roadmap on the product group blog, https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/planner-blog/the-new-microsoft-planner-a-unified-experience-bringing-together/ba-p/3977998, was an obvious bid to ease everyone into a big price-hike but it did promise unification and integration across tools. In fact it was almost the promise we've had from various MS representatives for decades. ...just not quite.
And the Planner - blog announcements have less credibility than a Yorkshire man proclaiming he'll be home before closing-time. When it comes to investment planning there's no strategy or vision, just the end of quarter targets and rebadged features.
What does this actually mean?
Well if I get off my horse and look at the landscape, To Do's future is not good. Have a look at the roadmap (Microsoft Roadmap:To Do) - 1 feature on the roadmap. 1 released.
Evidence also points to:
a good chance that Microsoft To Do becomes another "Outlook Tasks" - a legacy UI point of entry to orphaned content.
OR
Microsoft finally jettisons Microsoft To Do, Outlook Tasks and the To Do UI app in Microsoft Teams, in favour of the new (additional cost) of Planner Premium.
Personally I think we'll see a combination of both, because Microsoft doesn't throw anything out. It just rebadges it and re-sells it to you with a different name.
And for me?
I think if I want a useful, integrated seamless experience I'm going to need a developer to fix the integration experience from our CRM... i don't know, maybe using Zapier?
Summary:
What we have with To Do is Microsoft slowly backing away from core of a useful tool, in favour of smacking an internal competitor (Planner) with the Copilot AI magic-stick in the vain hopes that they can kick-the-can down the road again until the AI can fix their total lack of planning, design and foresight.
You can either put up with the mess Microsoft has left us with from years of miscellaneous acquisitions, bad-choices and under-investment - and wait, or look to use something that actually works. Hmmmm probably not going to be Microsoft though - and that will hurt.
Recommendation.
If you want a nice, seamless integrated - 1-place for all (personal) tasks, that you can use across mobile, desktop and web - Its not going to be in Microsoft To Do.
If you are heavily vested in Microsoft tools, software and training - you're just going to have to put up with things until Planner Premium the wonder-tool comes along - with a horrendous new price-tag. Or, more likely, pay double for Copilot + Loop as they usurp all the pre-existing embedded task-management tools across OneNote, Microsoft Teams, Copilot pages, Viva Engage...
If you are not inextricable tied to Microsoft tools you should shop-around. There are a lot of options which provide a unified tasks management experience across mobile, desktop and browser.
Unfortunately, to integrate with Outlook, SharePoint & Microsoft Teams - they're a bit lack-luster and you need stuff like Zapier to fix the gaps left by Microsoft.
Oh, well. Back to my planning what I should be doing next week.
About the author: Jonathan Stuckey
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