Many different approaches have been taken to the problem of (partially) automating the software process. Researchers have attempted to define process models that are then represented in some formalism, such as Petri nets, that can then be enacted in a process centred software engineering environment (PSEE). Practitioners have built workflow systems that enable an artifact, typically a document, to be routed automatically from one person to another during the execution of a task. The paper introduces a new approach that we have called a Software Process Task Management Environment (SPTME). This approach has the advantages of workflow systems in being grounded in day to day activities that software developers are familiar with, but has a strong standards based and theory framework guiding its structure.