A system for tracking a distributed task at a facility, the system including a server and a plurality of network-connected acoustic devices communicating with the server via a network, the facility including two or more facility zones, each respective facility zone being associated with a respective acoustic device of the plurality of network-connected acoustic devices, the server comprising: a communication module; a processor coupled to the communication module; and memory coupled to the processor storing processor executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive, from one of the plurality of network-connected acoustic devices, a first signal representing first speech input data; determine that the first signal is received from a first acoustic device associated with a first facility zone; determine that the first speech input data is associated with a first user by conducting voice-printing or voice recognition operations based on stored voice samples associated with the first user; identify an open task record associated with the first user, the open task record including at least one open task associated with the first facility zone; update the open task record based on the first speech input data associated with the first facility zone; whereby the respective acoustic device includes a microphone device that receives acoustic input and characterized in that the respective acoustic device includes an output transducer for playback of acoustic signals, and the memory coupled to the processor stores processor executable instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to: receive a second signal representing a query for a previous status; determine that the second signal is received from the first acoustic device associated with the first facility zone; determine the previous status associated with the first facility zone based on an existing data record; and transmit, for playback by the first acoustic device, an acoustic signal representing the previous status associated with the first facility zone. a communication module; a processor coupled to the communication module; and memory coupled to the processor storing processor executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive, from one of the plurality of network-connected acoustic devices, a first signal representing first speech input data; determine that the first signal is received from a first acoustic device associated with a first facility zone; determine that the first speech input data is associated with a first user by conducting voice-printing or voice recognition operations based on stored voice samples associated with the first user; identify an open task record associated with the first user, the open task record including at least one open task associated with the first facility zone; update the open task record based on the first speech input data associated with the first facility zone; receive, from one of the plurality of network-connected acoustic devices, a first signal representing first speech input data; determine that the first signal is received from a first acoustic device associated with a first facility zone; determine that the first speech input data is associated with a first user by conducting voice-printing or voice recognition operations based on stored voice samples associated with the first user; identify an open task record associated with the first user, the open task record including at least one open task associated with the first facility zone; update the open task record based on the first speech input data associated with the first facility zone; whereby the respective acoustic device includes a microphone device that receives acoustic input and characterized in that the respective acoustic device includes an output transducer for playback of acoustic signals, and the memory coupled to the processor stores processor executable instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to: receive a second signal representing a query for a previous status; determine that the second signal is received from the first acoustic device associated with the first facility zone; determine the previous status associated with the first facility zone based on an existing data record; and transmit, for playback by the first acoustic device, an acoustic signal representing the previous status associated with the first facility zone. receive a second signal representing a query for a previous status; determine that the second signal is received from the first acoustic device associated with the first facility zone; determine the previous status associated with the first facility zone based on an existing data record; and transmit, for playback by the first acoustic device, an acoustic signal representing the previous status associated with the first facility zone.