Our practicum teams are starting to get moving, and my team has decided to use a spreadsheet to help keep track of our tasks as they start building up. As one of the project management software evangelists at my last job, I couldn’t help rubbing my hands together with glee as I created a Google Sheet, tossing in some functionality to make it user-friendly and easily filtered. Here’s a screenshot!

Features:

Data validation creates drop-down menus for fields like Status, Priority, Deliverable, Area Lead, Assigned Yes/No
Conditional formatting calls attention to High priority tasks and missed deadlines
Due date field is set up to have a time due as well as a date, eliminating confusion
Filtering allows users to ignore completed tasks, and allows collaborators to see only what is assigned to them (columns H-M)
Deliverable and Area Lead drop-down menus populate from other sheets in the workbook, allowing for simple customization and updating

Another nifty feature is that I’m sharing this absolutely free.

If the idea of project management software makes you want to run screaming to your hills of post-it notes, be not afraid! This is essentially a to-do list on steroids. No Gantt charts, no dependencies, no attachments. Just what needs to get done, when, and by whom, with a few teensy extras to make it slap you in the face when you’re late.

Maybe you’re planning a vacation with your extended family. Maybe you’re leading a volunteer committee. Maybe you just want to plan your homework. I don’t know what it is that you do, just get yourselves organized! And when you do, let me know how it goes.