Task management software for client work: owner, date and hours on every task

Task management software keeps a list of work items, each with an owner and a due date, and shows them the way a team needs them: by person, by day or by stage. Project management software adds the layer above the task: the project with its scope, budget, timeline and the client it belongs to. Most teams need both, and in many tools they are the same screen looked at two ways. The difference shows in the question you ask. “What is Nino doing on Thursday?” is a task question. “Will the website project finish inside its 120 hours?” is a project question.

For a service business a task is never free-standing: it belongs to a client’s project, and the hours spent on it are that project’s cost. A to-do app that holds tasks without that link answers the first question and not the second. The project management software page covers the project side: boards per company, the agreed scope next to the tasks, and a changed brief visible before more work is accepted. This page covers the task itself.

What a task management tool should hold

• One owner. A task with two owners has none. Split the work instead.
• A due date, and a start date when it matters. Without a date a task is a wish.
• The brief and the files. The person doing the work should not have to search email for the client’s instructions.
• Subtasks and dependencies. “Copy approved” before “design starts” is a dependency, and the tool should show it.
• Comments and decisions on the task. So the reason behind a change is kept where the next person will look.
• Time logged on the task. Otherwise the hours behind the work live in a second tool and never agree with the first.

In PLYNTUM every task sits inside a project, and every project belongs to a client, so a task carries its context without anyone copying it. Tasks, subtasks, assignees, deadlines and dependencies are on every plan, from Launch.

On a task

• Owner and due date. One responsible person; the task appears on their list and in their week.
• Subtasks. Break a deliverable into steps when the work needs splitting.
• The brief, files and comments. The client’s instructions, the working files and the discussion stay on the task. Comments and team chat on tasks are included on every plan; expanded chat and channels are in development. See collaboration software.
• Dependencies. Mark which task waits for which, so a late approval shows the tasks it holds up.
• Recurring task templates. Weekly reports and monthly deliverables come from a recurring task template instead of being typed again.
• Logged time. A timer or a manual entry on the task. The hours reach the project and the client at once; see employee time tracking.

Five views of the same tasks

Every plan shows the same tasks as a list, a kanban board, a calendar, a week view and a timeline. A change made in one view shows in the others, so the account manager can work from the board while the designer works from the week view.

Boards per company

Each company’s work is planned on its own boards, with the fields, stages and responsibilities set to match how the team works, so everyone sees what is due, by when and by whom.

Requests and changes

A client’s change request is not a separate object: once agreed, you add it to the project as a task, so its effect on the deadline and the workload shows where the work is. Team requests such as leave, remote work or equipment go through requests and approvals, each with a recorded decision.

There is no PLYNTUM app in the App Store or Google Play. The task management app is the workspace itself, opened in the phone’s browser: today’s list, the task with its brief and files, a comment, the timer. Nothing to install and nothing to keep in sync: the same tasks and views as on a laptop.

In practice that means a designer on site logs the hour on the task from a phone, an account manager answers a comment between meetings, and the owner checks what is due today. It is not an installed app: it opens in the phone’s browser like any other page.

A five-person design studio has two retainer clients and one website project. On Monday the account manager opens the week view and sees every task with its owner and date. The example below is illustrative, not a benchmark.

What the owner sees on Friday: the bakery retainer took 11 hours against the 10 that were planned, the homepage layout started a day late because the copy approval came in on Wednesday, and the dental clinic retainer stayed inside its hours. None of that needed a status meeting, because the hours were logged on the tasks as the week went on. From Core, the manager approves each person’s week and the week locks; timesheet approval explains the steps.

PLYNTUM is priced per workspace with members included, not per user. Plans differ by members, active clients, projects and boards; tasks, subtasks and the five views are on every plan, and there is no listed limit on the number of tasks.

A team of 10 needs Core, because Launch holds up to 5 members: $150 a month, or $120 a month billed annually, which is $1,440 a year and works out at $12 per person a month. Core also adds timesheet approval, the client portal, recurring invoices and project profitability. Annual billing is 20% off. Signing up starts a 7-day Launch trial with no card, and there is no free plan. Current limits are on the pricing page.

A few things to know before you move a team’s tasks.

• Task Composer is in development. The feature that turns a brief into a draft task plan is not in any plan today; tasks are created by hand.
• No native mobile app. PLYNTUM works in the phone’s browser; there is nothing to install from the App Store or Google Play.
• No automatic time capture. A person starts the timer or types the hours. Desktop and browser capture is in development.
• WIP limits are a team rule, not a feature. WIP limits on columns are not among PLYNTUM’s listed board features; agree a limit as a team, for example one card in progress per person.
• No Trello importer. Move one client at a time: rebuild the open cards as tasks in a PLYNTUM project and leave finished cards where they are.
• Clients do not see tasks. From Core, each client’s portal link shows their projects, invoices, payments and balance. Tasks, internal notes, tracked time and costs stay inside your team.

If your team needs only a task list, without clients, hours or invoices, a general tool is the better choice: the best project management software guide compares nine of them on price, and the Trello alternatives page covers board tools.

You do not need to move every task at once. Start with the clients you are working for this month and the tasks that are open, so the week view is complete from the first day. Everything below runs on the 7-day Launch trial with no card; day 5 mentions what Core adds.

• Day 1: clients and projects. Add the clients you work for now, from a CSV file if you have a list, and open one project per piece of work.
• Day 2: open tasks. Enter this month’s open tasks with an owner and a due date, and split anything that would take one person more than a week.
• Day 3: views. Each person picks the view they will work from: the week view, the board or the list. Put the brief and the files on the tasks that need them.
• Day 4: time on tasks. Everyone starts the timer or enters hours on the task they are working on. A short entry each day beats a Friday reconstruction.
• Day 5: recurring task templates and approval. Set up the monthly report and the weekly check-in as recurring task templates. From Core, submit the week and have the manager approve it.
• Friday: review. Open the week view and compare the hours logged on each client’s tasks with what was planned. Decide what moves to next week before anyone starts it.

• The work carries its context.
• Kanban board: what it is and how to use one for client work
• Understand the hours. Respect the person.
• Collaboration software for teams that deliver client work
• Best project management software in 2026: 9 tools compared