FocusMe for Outlook vs. Microsoft Planner

Microsoft Planner is a user-friendly visual tool for organizing tasks and workflows. It’s great for team collaboration, integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 tools like Teams and Outlook, and offers flexibility for projects of all sizes. Additionally, it provides mobile and web access for seamless productivity on the go. That’s a big plus right there.

Incentivized

• I love the ability to tag and untag others as needed
• I love the ability to customize the tag labels and that there are so many options
• I love the ability to add comments and it notifies the others tagged in the task
• I love that the task description can be changed as needed without notification to others assigned to the task

Incentivized

• Does not allow you to view all tasks and sub-tasks (checklist) in a nested view.
• Comments have character limits that can make it harder for teams to communicate exactly what they want to share.
• There is no way to mention a teammate in a comment and share files and documents in the conversation (collaborative tool???).

It is a very useful tool that brings teams in sync with one another. The integration with other Microsoft products makes it an obvious choice because you don't have to purchase a license for a completely different tool that doesn't have cross-functional capabilities with the software you already use on a daily basis.

Incentivized

The tool is easy to use, but it is just as easy to set up. No specific skills are required, but its usefulness in our work is immediately apparent. Colors are very helpful in creating a clear interface and providing a very precise overview of the tasks to be performed.

Incentivized

Our organization chose MS Planner because it is an included tool in the MS Suite, and since we are unfortunately replacing our current and much better project management tool due to a consolidation of the tech stack. However, it doesn't appear that any of the teams using the current program intend to use MS Planner due to its poor functionality. We will likely be pivoting to Jira instead.

Incentivized

• Saved over $1000 each year by not having to purchase a third party tool for our content planning
• Not sure that I can provide a hard number to this, but having the oversight to see when something is coming due and making sure everything gets executed in time

Incentivized