I'm the only IT person at a 50-person company, so my work ranges from vendor management and software research to systems administration, helpdesk tasks, and even occasional physical jobs like mounting TVs. The workload itself is manageable, but I have ADHD and often lose track of longer-term projects or tasks that I didn't finish immediately.
I'm looking for something much simpler than a full enterprise service desk. The key requirement is an automated "task treadmill": I want to add a task to a master list, have it appear on a daily or scheduled to-do list, and have it automatically return to a future date if I don't complete it. Notes would be useful, but I don't need time tracking or extensive ticketing features.
My current idea is to connect Microsoft Planner, Power Automate, and Outlook. Planner would store the tasks and notes, Power Automate would move unfinished tasks forward automatically, and Outlook would put the selected tasks on my calendar. I could divide each day into time blocks or buckets and let the workflow continuously resurface unfinished work.
I'm willing to build this, but I'd rather avoid creating another system that I'll have to maintain. Are there any tools that support this kind of automated resurfacing and prioritization for a one-person IT department, or is a custom Power Automate workflow the most practical option?
5 Answers
If you already have Microsoft 365 and Power Automate, your Planner-and-Outlook idea is completely workable. Planner can hold the task details, Power Automate can detect overdue incomplete items and assign them a new date, and Outlook can expose the resulting schedule. The downside is that you’ll become responsible for maintaining a small custom ticketing system, so keep the workflow simple and document it well.
Monday can support a similar setup if you have access to its automations, and Wrike is another project-management option. For a small environment, though, the main challenge may not be software. A solo administrator has no one reviewing the queue, so an automated daily view, recurring review, or outside accountability may be just as important as the tool itself.
Fibery is worth exploring if you want to build a more customized workflow. It can handle a master task database, views, automation, and calendar-style scheduling. Miro is another possibility, although it seems less focused on this kind of automated task management. Fibery may provide more flexibility than you need, but it could be easier to expand later than a collection of custom flows.
YouTrack could be a good fit for a solo administrator. Its free tier supports a small number of technicians and unlimited end users, with features such as email-to-ticket, custom fields, and even self-hosting. It’s broader than you strictly need, but the cloud version would avoid adding another system to maintain. GLPI, Zammad, and open-source options such as LibreDesk are alternatives if self-hosting matters.
Before building everything from scratch, check the smallest plans for tools such as Freshservice or Halo. They can turn email into tickets, create saved views for neglected work, and send reminders or SLA notifications. That said, most service desks are designed around incoming requests, so they may not automatically solve the problem of resurfacing self-assigned projects and long-term improvements.
That’s the distinction I keep running into. Capturing user requests and tracking tickets isn’t really my problem. I need something that creates a daily list from a larger pool of self-assigned projects, research, and lower-priority improvements, then brings unfinished items back later. Even traditional ticketing systems I’ve used didn’t really do that out of the box.