Azure DevOps Tasks are units of work that can be defined and executed within the Azure DevOps platform. Azure DevOps is a set of development tools and services provided by Microsoft for teams to plan, develop, test, deliver, and monitor software projects. Within Azure DevOps, tasks play a crucial role in defining the steps and actions that need to be performed as part of various stages in your software development and deployment pipelines.

Tasks in Azure DevOps can encompass a wide range of actions, including:

1. Build Tasks: These tasks are used to compile, build, and package your source code into deployable artifacts. Examples include building code, running unit tests, creating binaries, and packaging applications.

2. Release Tasks: Release tasks are used to deploy and release your applications to various environments (e.g., development, staging, production). They can involve activities like deploying code, configuring infrastructure, and setting up environment variables.

3. Test Tasks: These tasks are focused on running tests against your code to ensure its quality and functionality. They might involve running unit tests, integration tests, and even automated UI tests.

4. Automation Tasks: Azure DevOps allows you to automate various processes, such as database migrations, environment provisioning, and configuration changes, using tasks.

5. Approval Tasks: In release pipelines, you can include approval tasks to ensure that the deployment proceeds only after getting necessary approvals from stakeholders.

6. Notification Tasks: These tasks can send notifications, such as emails or messages, to inform team members about the progress of a pipeline or specific events.

7. Utility Tasks: Utility tasks are versatile and can include actions like copying files, manipulating data, and executing scripts.

8. Custom Tasks: Azure DevOps allows you to create your own custom tasks to meet specific needs. These tasks can be developed using various technologies and languages.

Tasks are organized into jobs, and jobs are part of stages within a pipeline. Pipelines define the end-to-end workflow, from source code to deployment, and they consist of various tasks and their dependencies.

To create and configure tasks within Azure DevOps, you typically use a visual interface or a YAML-based pipeline definition. The YAML approach provides more flexibility and version control capabilities. Azure DevOps provides a wide range of built-in tasks, and you can also integrate with third-party tools and services to extend the functionality of your tasks.