Activities vs Tasks — which one?

Meet Sneha

Sneha Wadhwa is the West-zone Relationship Manager at Pragati Capital Advisors, Rajiv Sinha’s debt-syndication advisory firm in Pune. Sneha’s job is to hunt new borrower clients in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad — and to manage existing mandates through to disbursement. She’s been at Pragati for two years, came in from Yes Bank.

On Sneha’s desk right now: Bharati Steel Rolling Mills. They’re a nine-year Pragati client. Pragati is currently executing the fourth mandate for them — a ₹40 Crore top-up working capital line after a new auto-OEM contract win. The mandate started four months ago. It’s now in the structuring phase — Pragati has shortlisted three lenders (HDFC, Yes Bank, and BOM), and Sneha is running negotiations on the term sheets in parallel.

Over those four months, the Bharati Steel Deal record in Sneha’s TatvaCRM has accumulated 32 Activities and 14 Tasks still pending. Understanding the difference between the two is the only reason this multi-banker, multi-month execution stays on track.

The difference, in one table

Why this distinction matters

The cleanest way to see it: ask one question of any entry in the CRM —

Most teams get this wrong by creating Tasks called things like “Called HDFC RM” after the call. That’s actually an Activity — you’re recording a past action. Putting it in the Task list pretends the work is still to-do, then immediately ticking it off as “done” mucks up reports. (Try answering “how many tasks did Sneha complete this week?” when half the “tasks” were already-completed past actions logged as tasks. The number lies.)

A Monday morning in Sneha’s CRM

It’s a Monday in August. The Bharati Steel mandate is in month four. Sneha opens TatvaCRM at 9:15 from her Mumbai office. Two distinct things show up.

Today’s Tasks (what she has to do)

• Call Ms Deshpande (Bharati Steel CFO) — share HDFC’s revised term sheet, walk through the changes from last week’s draft. Due today, 11am.
• Email Mr Khanna at HDFC — push for the collateral clarification he promised last Wednesday. Due today.
• Block 28 August for structuring session at Pragati Pune office — confirm with Kothari, Karthik, Deshpande, and the BOM RM. Due today.
• Send revised covenant matrix to Yes Bank RM — they asked for it on Friday. Due Tuesday EOD.
• Check in with Karthik Kothari on the EV-line capex schedule that affects covenant compliance. Due Wednesday.

Recent Activities on the Bharati Steel Deal (what has happened)

• Last Friday — Call with Ms Deshpande, 28 minutes. She pushed back hard on three covenants in the HDFC draft term sheet — minimum DSCR, negative pledge on the auto-OEM receivables, and the cash flow sweep mechanism. Sneha agreed to take these back to HDFC. Tone was firm but constructive.
• Last Wednesday — Structuring session at Pragati Pune office, 2 hours. Attendees: Mr Kothari, Karthik, Ms Deshpande, Mr Patil. Outcome: shortlist now firmly HDFC + BOM (Yes Bank fell out on rate). Two-bank deal at 70:30 split. Karthik specifically asked for the new line to NOT be cross-defaulted with the 2022 project finance.
• Last Tuesday — Email exchange with HDFC’s Mr Khanna on collateral structure. He flagged a concern about the auto-OEM receivables being assigned to multiple lenders. Promised written clarification by Friday — still pending as of this morning. Hence the chase Task above.
• Last Monday — Phone call with BOM RM Mr Joshi (the new one — previous RM moved out in June). Friendly conversation. Confirmed BOM is interested in the 30% piece but wants their own due diligence before drafting their term sheet. Pragati’s associate Aakash to handle BOM due diligence.

Sneha clicks the Bharati Steel Deal record. The full history of the four-month mandate is right there — every Activity she or Aakash or Rajiv has logged, in chronological order. She can scroll back to April and read the notes from the very first scoping meeting with Mr Kothari.

When she calls Ms Deshpande at 11am, Sneha opens the conversation with: “Ms Deshpande, I’ve raised the three covenants you flagged with HDFC. Mr Khanna is willing to soften the DSCR and rework the cash flow sweep, but he’s holding firm on the negative pledge unless we drop ₹5 Cr from the ask. Where does Bharati want to land?”

Ms Deshpande is impressed. The Activity log from Friday made sure Sneha led with the three specific covenant pushbacks, not a generic re-introduction. The Task list made sure Sneha actually called Monday morning instead of letting it slip to Tuesday or Wednesday.

Every meeting creates both

A useful rule: every meaningful interaction creates both — an Activity (the record of what happened) and at least one Task (the follow-up that was promised).

Example. Last Wednesday’s structuring session:

One meeting. One Activity record (the past — what happened). Five Tasks (the future — what Sneha now needs to do because of it). That ratio is normal. Some meetings generate one Task. Some generate ten.

Common confusions, cleared up

“Should I make a Task called ‘Call Mr Khanna at HDFC’ or an Activity?”

Both, in sequence. Before the call, create a Task — “Call Mr Khanna about collateral clarification Tuesday.” It sits on your to-do list with a due date. After the call, mark the Task done and create an Activity — “Called Mr Khanna — confirmed clarification coming Friday, covenant softening on DSCR but not negative pledge.” The Task captured the intention; the Activity captures the outcome. Two records, two purposes.

“Mr Khanna’s junior called unexpectedly to confirm Friday’s draft delivery. No Task. Do I just log an Activity?”

Yes. Activities don’t need a corresponding Task. Some things happen spontaneously — drop-in calls, surprise WhatsApp messages, an unexpected meeting request from the CFO. Log the Activity with what happened, attach any documents, and if the conversation produced future work, create Tasks for those follow-ups. Spontaneous interactions often produce more Tasks because they trigger conversations you weren’t prepared for.

“I send a weekly mandate-status update to Rajiv every Friday. Do I create a new Task every week?”

Use a recurring Task. TatvaCRM lets you set Tasks to repeat — weekly, monthly, every Friday at 4pm. Each occurrence shows up on your list when its due date arrives. When you complete it, that occurrence logs as an Activity (“Sent Friday status update — Bharati at HDFC term sheet stage, Sundaram at scoping”) and the next occurrence appears next week.

“Can I have a Task without a due date — just a vague ‘someday’ thing?”

Technically yes, but resist the urge. Tasks without due dates are how to-do lists become graveyards — items sit there for months, get scrolled past every morning, and quietly become noise. If something genuinely doesn’t have a date, put it in a “Someday” list (use a tag), and review the Someday list once a month.

“What about meetings I have scheduled in the future — Task or Activity?”

Both, in turn. A scheduled future meeting starts as a Task with the meeting time as the due date (“Structuring session at Pragati with Bharati team — Wednesday 2pm”). After the meeting happens, mark the Task done and create an Activity logging what was discussed. TatvaCRM’s calendar view shows scheduled Tasks like a regular calendar; the Activity log captures the meeting’s actual outcomes afterwards.

“If Aakash logs an Activity on the Bharati Steel deal, can I see it?”

Yes, depending on visibility settings — but for a typical team, Activities on a Contact or Deal are visible to anyone who can see that Contact or Deal. This is the whole point: if Aakash finishes a banker due-diligence call and logs what happened, Sneha can catch up on her phone in the auto on the way back from a client meeting.

What to read next

• What is a Lead? — leads have their own Activity history too.
• What is a Deal? — every Deal carries Tasks and Activities through its stages.
• The sales funnel — see Activities and Tasks in the context of the wider funnel.