Project management is a practise that is unique to each individual. Some people prefer to use their email inbox to keep track of upcoming events. A Kanban board or calendar view may be preferred by some, while others still cling to the antiquated pen and paper method.
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Benefits of Using Project Management Software
Budgetary Control
Advantage of a flexible and multipurpose software system, particularly for project managers, is the ability to keep track of the project’s costs and make sure they don’t spiral out of control. Those in charge of the budget can see costs in real time and spot areas where too much money is being spent by having quantifiable evidence of what employees have done and for how many hours.
Managers can then use this information to make adjustments in the future, such as rescheduling or rescheduling hours. Being fiscally responsible is often overlooked when the project is the focus, and this is one benefit of using a reliable project management tool that is often overlooked.
It’s easy for users to manage all of their available resources. It’s not uncommon for a project to deviate from its intended path over time. This can be avoided by using a project management software, which helps managers keep track of everything in real time, preventing the project cost from spiralling out of control.
Meetings That Take Place Despite the Distance
There are many features in project management software that have met and exceeded expectations. Having fewer physical meetings means a project can be completed faster.
Modern projects are not bound by their physical location or department. Managing a dispersed workforce can be a real headache these days. The use of project management software makes it possible for managers to effectively lead their teams from a distance. These days, many of the world’s most prestigious corporations allow their employees the freedom to work from home or from any other location as long as they use collaborative software.
That’s because it’s easier for project managers to be sure that tasks are being completed without having to physically check on them, whereas home users have all the resources they need at their fingertips; all that is required is an internet connection. It’s only a matter of time before this way of working becomes more commonplace in a workplace that is more progressive and open to change.
Openness
The activities and progress of a project can be seen by anyone who needs to have access to them when using a project management tool. This encourages openness. Monitoring team members’ reports and actions can also hold them more frequently accountable. Because of this, they’re more likely to meet their deadlines.
Transferring Data Among Multiple Users
A project’s file distribution can be made much simpler with the help of a project management tool. File sharing and download capabilities are built into many project management software packages. It’s critical to be able to securely access and share important documents. Project management software is a better option than shared drives for professionals. Annotations, changes, and feedback can all be stored in the cloud using project management software. Keeping a change log ensures that the project team is always aware of what has been done and what has not.
Reduced Uncertainty
The process of identifying, analysing, and responding to any risks that may arise during the course of a project’s life cycle in order to keep the project on track and on target is known as “project risk management.” Risk management isn’t just reactive; it should be a part of the project’s planning process in order to identify potential risks and devise a plan for dealing with them if they arise. A project management software, on the other hand, can help alleviate some of your project risks.
Enhanced Efficiency
In addition, project management software helps you make better decisions and boost productivity at work. You can always make an informed decision in the shortest amount of time because all of the relevant information is available in one place.
A great manager is able to identify potential bottlenecks and implement effective solutions. Managers can take advantage of all the available resources and improve their risk mitigation strategies with project management software. As a result, not only does the team as a whole perform better, but managers can also better allocate their limited resources.
There are a variety of ways to simplify your life. And project management is no exception to this rule, as well. You’ll be getting new features and tools that you didn’t even know you needed when you upgrade your subscription. Everything on this list is designed to help you work more effectively with your coworkers and improve team communication.
Project planning
The use of project management tools like Gantt charts and other diagrams has made it much easier to plan projects. An easy-to-use project management tool is provided by this software, allowing you to achieve your project’s objectives.
Enterprises have learned over the years that the majority of their time spent planning projects goes to waste. However, this isn’t the only option. AI-powered project completion predictions, taking into account factors such as budget, scope, and timeline restrictions, are now available in project management software.
Communication with Clients
There are so many advantages to using management tools that they keep improving. Clients can monitor the project’s progress with the help of these application software. Project Management software creates a communication channel between your team and your clients and other stakeholders, both internally and externally. It is possible for people to find comprehensive information that facilitates transparency and communication by sharing documents within the tool or in an integrated 3rd party system.
Internal communication should be supplemented by the ability to communicate directly with customers as well as partners. They can give their customers the option to log in and see only the project data that pertains to them, thanks to the use of project management software. Having the ability to provide feedback, make edits, and track the progress of a project in one convenient location is a huge benefit to clients. This saga can be avoided entirely by using online cloud-based software. Using a username and password, clients can log in and easily track the progress of their assignments. They can then provide feedback and make edits where necessary. In the long run, this saves both you and the client a great deal of time.
Keeping check on timeline
Projects and individual project tasks have due dates. It would be much easier for project managers to determine whether or not a project is moving along at the proper pace with the aid of management software.
Resource Allocation
With the help of technology, resource allocation can be made simple in Project Management. With a project management tool, you’ll be able to better allocate your time and resources.
Best free project management tools
Trello
Trello is a Kanban-based project management tool that helps you keep track of your projects. Free plans allow for unlimited boards and users so this is a tool that anyone can utilise. Trello can be used by freelancers to keep track of their projects on a personal board, and by teams to create a transparent project workflow.
Begin by creating a new board or selecting a template from one of the many available across a wide range of industries. Set up a few lists for your tasks (each list is a column), and then organise them according to the stages of your workflow (such as “to do,” “doing,” “done,” and “finished”). As a final step, add your tasks to each column in the form of visual cards that include the task’s labels, due dates, members, checklists, images, attachments, and comments to keep everything organised.
The cards can be dragged to the appropriate list as you complete each task. All comments and tasks mentioning or involving you can be found in the activity menu.
Power-Up options, which are now unlimited even on the free plan, allow you to view tasks on a calendar, add voting options to the tasks, fade out old tasks, and much more. Trello boards can be used for both personal and professional tasks, so you can organise your work in a way that works best for you.
Asana
Asana allows you to break down projects into sections and sub-lists, and provides a dashboard to see how much of the project has been completed. This is a task management app, but it has the features you need to collaborate and organise your work as part of a team.
You can create private lists in Asana for tasks that are only visible to a select group of people, whether they are for personal use or are part of a specific project. You’ll also be able to see your own assigned tasks in the My Tasks section, so you’ll know exactly what needs your attention.
Teamwork
The ability to scale your project portfolio is made possible through the collaborative efforts of your team. There are more than 20,000 businesses that use Teamwork’s Gantt charts, portfolio management and dashboards to manage large projects. Simply by providing hundreds of simple integrations, teams can easily connect to the tools they are already familiar with.
Working together is ideal for remote product and marketing teams that require assistance with project management and task organisation.
ClickUp
Using ClickUp’s powerful features, you can manage and complete all of your team’s projects from a single location. Project management, task scheduling, task dependencies management, and resource allocation can all be done in one place for both small businesses and large organisations. Additionally, you can collaborate with team members and guests in a centralised workspace.
This includes task list management, recurring tasks, task templates, and the ability to sort, search for, easily reorder, and view tasks in the way that is most convenient for your team. Gantt charts, calendars, and timelines can also be created on this project management app to help users visualise tasks.
For Wikis and documents, ClickUp also has features for creating, sharing, and collaborating on the content. It is possible for users to comment on documents, assign comments, and chat with other team members in order to improve communication and teamwork. For team reporting, there are six built-in report types and the ability to create custom dashboards.
Paymo
There is a free version of Paymo that helps freelancers plan, prioritise, and keep track of their work across multiple clients and projects.
Clients, projects, and tasks all fall under the umbrella of “work.” You can add descriptions and attachments, set due dates, and prioritise tasks. You can view your tasks in two ways: as a list or as a Kanban board, or you can use Paymo’s filter to sort them all by status, due dates, priorities, and more for each client and project.
Click the play button in Paymo’s time tracker to begin tracking your time as soon as you’re ready to begin working on a specific task. Each time you stop the timer, the time you’ve spent on a particular task, client, or project is automatically added to your timesheet.
Using Paymo’s time reports, you can get the exact information you need to bill your clients. Even if you don’t have a full-time staff, you can set a set of working hours and hourly rates for your employees. Print or share the report with your clients in a detailed list view or as pie graphs and bar charts; take the data and use it to create a custom invoice directly in Paymo.
Wrike
For teams of five to an infinite number of users, Wrike is an award-winning project management software. An advanced reporting system and resource management are just a few of the features available to users of this application.
It’s easy to switch between Kanban boards, drag-and-and-drop Gantt charts, and traditional workload views with Wrike’s user-friendly interface. Task lists, subtasks, schedules, shared workflows, file sharing, and real-time communication and collaboration are all included in Wrike’s feature set.
Wrike’s interface is simple to use because it has separate folders and tasks. Timesheets, dashboards, calendars, reports, and streams can all be accessed from the home screen (for notifications and messages). Getting started is easy with Wrike’s ‘Getting Started’ guide and community.
Other solutions are available for specific types of teams or organisations, such as those in marketing and professional services. Wrike also provides a variety of templates for common organisational processes.
Among the 400+ pre-built native integrations offered by Wrike are the most popular file management solutions from Microsoft, Google and Dropbox as well as sales and marketing applications from Salesforce and Marketo
This is the best free work management software plan available. It’s possible to have unlimited users on your account with real-time edits and updates, app and cloud storage integrations, as well as new subtask management.
Airtable
With Airtable, if you can’t find the right project management software, you can build it. A spreadsheet-like default view comes pre-installed in the app, and it suggests several pre-built projects based on your company’s team. It’s up to you whether or not you want to use one of the pre-made templates, browse the rest, or start from scratch.
Customization, on the other hand, gives Airtable its full potential. Getting the most out of Airtable will require some work up front, but the rewards are endless if you put in the effort. With a wide range of options available, you can customise everything from the methodology to the view type.
Jira
While Jira has a Kanban view, it is primarily designed for Scrum and Agile processes. First-time users are greeted by an onboarding flow that asks a few questions about their team’s projects and their level of experience with different methodologies—then it makes recommendations for you.
You’ll add epics to the Roadmap page for Scrum projects. Fill out the details of each issue and assign it a sprint when you add it to your backlog. You can customise the column headers and edit task details and status on the Scrum board, which is the homepage for each project.
Developers and engineering teams aren’t the only ones who can benefit from using Jira; the app also integrates with other development tools like GitHub and GitLab to make updating and tracking backlogs even easier. While the free plan doesn’t allow you to control user access, it does include up to 10 users, making it ideal for self-contained or small dev teams.
Kissflow Project
Project management tool Kissflow Project is a free collaborative solution for project management that focuses on the importance of transparency, coordination, and productivity. In addition, the tool has streamlined tracking features that make it easier to see what’s going on.
Kissflow Project can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of your team. It provides a variety of project views, such as Kanban boards, list views, and swimlanes. Working on a project with the project states function means that team members can mark tasks as done, in progress, or on hold to save time and effort.
Users can collaborate on projects by exchanging project plans and documents, as well as other files, all within the software itself. When deadlines are approaching, members of the team are alerted via email. Priority setting and assigning team members is another fantastic feature.