The project manager's answer to project management is project management tools. Simple projects only require a checklist, however more complex projects necessitate adequate planning, task assignment, deadline setting, ensuring that everyone adheres to them, and time tracking.
Quantifying, objectifying, segregating, and delegating work appropriately and proportionately is critical, and this is where current tools come in. There are a lot of project management software solutions out there, and if you're new to project management, it can be difficult to figure out what's important, what's useful, and what's not.
The process of initiating, planning, executing, and closing tasks to meet the project's goal is known as project management. The term "project management" refers to the process of overseeing project activities such as the use of advanced tools and new approaches, a wide range of talents, and the involvement of specialists with application knowledge. All of these activities result in meeting the project's requirements.
Employing Project Management Applications or Software to be able to manage the Project Management System smoothly, effectively, and efficiently is the biggest task. Such tools can be used to maintain track of project activities such as which task is assigned to which resource/team member, which phase of the project is completed and when it is completed, and so on.
One must examine the following criteria when choosing Project Management Software for a project.
- The project's duration
- the number of persons involved in the project
- The amount of money that will be spent on the tool
- Storage The software tool's capacity
- PM Email communication, file sharing, tracking, and more features are offered.
- Usability
10 Best Project Management Tools to Manage Projects
1. Asana
Asana is a collaborative project management software as a service (SaaS). Workflows can be used to automate repeating tasks. It's user-friendly, with a variety of task displays and the ability to add custom fields and forms. You can also invite an unlimited number of guests. It's also possible to create custom rules and approval workflows.
While Asana has a lot to offer in terms of efficiency and collaboration, many of the fundamental project management features are handled through integrations, which may not be optimal for many users. It's suitable for all types of enterprises, but not for freelancers. Although some users believe Asana's design is extremely simplistic and the system is too strict, it does offer powerful task management and communication tools.
Costs Involved: A free plan for up to 15 users is available. You can view tasks as lists, on a calendar, or on a Kanban board to manage them. Timelines, reports, custom fields, automation rules, and more are included in their Premium plan, which costs $10.99 per month per user. Approvals, portfolios, rule builders, workload, and advanced integrations are all available in the Business plan, which is not available in the other plans. When paid annually, it costs $24.99 per user per month.
2. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a popular project management software from Zoho product that allows businesses to keep track of tasks, collaborate, track bugs, and generate easy reports. Gantt charts and the ability to billable hours on numerous projects at the same time are among the tools available.
Zoho Projects also has a robust set of communication capabilities, including real-time chat and discussion forums. Zoho Projects, which is part of a larger suite of productivity tools from the same firm, includes nearly all of the basic features you'd expect from a project management app at an especially low price.
However, many users complain that the Gantt charts are difficult to use and that the reporting breakdown is insufficient for large teams. From within the tool, you can share documents. Every project's worth is determined by its planning. Project planning with Zoho Projects software takes less time, allowing you to focus on real-time work the rest of the time. The Zoho Projects software has an online forum where team members can communicate even if they are geographically apart.
Costs Involved: When it comes to subscription plans, Zoho offers numerous options (All monthly plans are per user.):
- There is a perpetually free version with limited features and users.
- Custom statuses and problem tracking are included in the $3 Standard plan. It can accommodate up to ten users.
- The Express plan costs $4 per month and allows for up to 50 users. Recurring tasks, Gantt charts, and timesheet approvals are all included.
- The Premium plan costs $5 per month and allows for up to 100 members. Task automation, business rules, resource use, and budgeting are all included.
3. Wrike
Wrike is a cloud-based project management programme that makes project planning simple, allows you to track your team's progress, keep track of deadlines, and engage with all stakeholders with ease. Task management, Gantt Charts, a real-time newsfeed, and more advanced capabilities are available. You can prioritise jobs to ensure that the most important tasks are completed first and that deadlines are met. There are numerous integration options, making it a versatile project management tool.
For most novice users, the sheer quantity of features can be intimidating, and the unintuitive UI doesn't help matters. It's perfect for a variety of internal teams, including marketing, software development, and professional services.
Wrike is a good option. Standard project management tools such as Gantt charts, informative dashboards, and a robust reporting suite are built-in, and getting up and running on a small to medium-sized project can be done quickly without having to learn all the ins and outs of a new, complicated system.
Costs Involved: A freemium version with restricted features and up to five users is available. Paid plans begin at $9.80 per user per month. A Business plan is available for $24.80 per user per month. Subtasks, Gantt charts, time tracking, and workflows are all supported.
4. Monday.com
Monday.com is an intuitive, easy project management software that combines a visually appealing UI with essential project visualisation tools. It's adaptable and clear in how it organises your work. On top of that, there are project templates from which you can create your own boards. There are several display possibilities, including a map view and a calendar view.
It is used by over 100,000 companies to handle everything from marketing campaigns to product development to complicated building projects.
- Transform information into action: Increase transparency across your organisation by making your data accessible to anyone.
- Integrations that are seamless: More than 40 of your favourite services can be integrated.
- Automation of processes: Allow your team to focus on the vital things instead of wasting time on tedious operations.
- Collaboration in a small group: There are no email chains, group texts, or approvals to wait for.
- Dashboards: Get critical insights and metrics for many boards in one location, and visualise the data that matters most to you.
The lack of recurring activities is a typical source of consumer frustration. For certain people, navigating the mobile app is difficult. They also provide excellent security, a wide range of functions, and simple customization.
Costs Involved: The pricing structure is excessively complex. There is no freemium plan, so you'll have to spend time every month figuring out how many users, automation, and integration activities you'll need. Paid plans for five users start at $39 per month.
5. ProofHub
If you want to make project management and team collaboration easier for small business marketing and creative teams, Proofhub is the way to go. It features everything you'll need to efficiently manage your marketing initiatives, including everything you'll need to keep track of every detail and see what your team is working on in real-time. Leading companies such as Netflix, TripAdvisor, Nike, and others use Proofhub.
Task lists, processes, Gantt charts, discussions, calendars, and documents are all consolidated in ProofHub. It allows you to plan, manage, and track the tasks of your team. It also facilitates collaboration between teams and with external clients. There are other reports available, such as workload and resource reports.
One of the most appealing aspects of adopting ProofHub as a project management system is its user-friendly interface, which requires little to no training. It means you can navigate ProofHub and make the best use of all of its features without needing any specialised knowledge. ProofHub features a small number of integrations and task management options due to its focus on simplicity. It's suitable for both freelancers and small and medium-sized organisations.
Costs Involved: ProofHub has no limit on the number of users and charges a flat rate regardless of that number. There are two plans available: the Essential plan is $50 per month, and the Ultimate Control plan is $99 per month.
6. Clarizen
Clarizen is a well-reviewed online project management tool for mid-to-large-sized enterprises. Because the system is only for web-based project management, the lack of a mobile app may limit the system's utility for some teams. The sophisticated reporting capabilities and ability to track resource utilisation are popular among users, although it lacks a to-do list and time tracking.
Clarizen One's ability to custom build or change OOTB functionality has considerably benefited in producing a system that is tailored to your specific needs while still operating inside a complete framework.
Because it has specialised ways of organising workflows, the learning curve is a little steep. Clarizen is best for enterprise-level project managers, IT organisations, and professional services teams who need strong, versatile, and intuitive web-based project management software.
Costs Involved: Pricing is not published but can be obtained upon request.
7. Airtable
Airtable combines the greatest capabilities of spreadsheets and databases in one application. It's adaptable and simple to use, and it's suitable for businesses of all sizes. It lacks extensive reporting capabilities, which may be an issue for some users.
You can utilise the database to store information for task management and project planning. Many customers appreciate the flexibility of data arrangement that Airtable's spreadsheets provide. There are several views available, including Kanban, list, grid, and calendar.
Airtable is a flexible and dynamic Work Management Solution that can be used for a variety of tasks. Airtable will feel like a natural fit if you're used to spreadsheet-based applications like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Airtable may help you and your team with the following tasks, as this Airtable review demonstrates:
- Project Plans: Organize and Manage
- Execute Task Management That Is Repetitive
- Assign Resources to Tasks
- Using Templates to Create Projects
- Budgeting for Projects
- With powerful integrations, you can make file sharing and workflow management easier.
Costs Involved: Airtable offers a free plan with basic capabilities like rich field types, multiple views, and collaboration. Paid options start at $10 per user per month for businesses with more data storage needs. Advanced features like custom branded forms, customizable views, and domain limited sharing are available in their Pro plan.
8. Kanban Tool
The Kanban Tool is a good place to start if you're new to agile development. It provides a visual representation of your process as well as time-tracking capabilities. Notifications, reporting, and team management capabilities make communication and task tracking simple.
Reporting, document sharing, a native mobile app, and other capabilities make it excellent for medium and big businesses. The Kanban application also allows enterprise users to host the software on their own servers.
Costs Involved: It isn't intended for freelancers, although there is a free plan that supports two project boards and allows up to two users. Paid subscriptions begin at $5 per user per month and include unlimited boards. Enterprises can get sophisticated capabilities like time monitoring, reporting, user management, and process automation for $9 per user each month.
9. Workzone
Your project dashboard gives you access to all of your projects and allows you to conveniently check their status. When you open a project, you'll see subtasks, due dates, and assignees right away. To remain on top of things, you'll also receive handy notifications when deadlines approach. Workzone focuses on functionality rather than frills.
Workzone makes it simple for members of your project team to contribute by including a remark section under each assignment. All of your interactions will be carefully organised and placed where they are most relevant as a result of this.
Users, on the other hand, have complained that mobile applications are in need of improvement, that they lack features such as assigned comments and numerous views, and that the user interface is outdated.
Costs Involved: Workzone provides you with Two options. Team ($24/month per user): Includes a plethora of features as well as 100GB of cloud storage for uploads. Professional ($34/month per user) includes all "Team" features as well as 150GB of cloud storage for uploads.
10. ServiceNow ITBM
According to the Forrester Wave research, ServiceNow IT Business Management (ITBM) is a prominent strategic portfolio management product with significant project management features. It includes tools for planning and scheduling development efforts, resource management based on project priorities, and job tracking. In addition, ServiceNow ITBM allows you to track project expenditures and provides statistics for a high-level project and portfolio management.
A firm can increase the performance of project management, demand management, and programmes while balancing resource availability with ServiceNow (ITBM). ServiceNow's ITBM combines features ranging from cost transparency to project portfolio management. Businesses can use ServiceNow ITBM solutions to increase the visibility of business services and create cost savings by leveraging data and analytic metrics. When a company is attempting to handle demands or projects such as Agile, Waterfall, or Scrum, these functions are required.
Costs Involved: ServiceNow ITBM aids in the reduction of project costs, the acceleration of development processes, and the better alignment of IT with business goals.
These were the 10 best tools to manage projects without any hurdles.
Conclusion
Each of these programmes has its own set of benefits and will be able to help you fill in the gaps in your career. Because not every business is best served by a standard project management system, industry-specific project management systems have been developed to lessen the amount of customisation required after adoption. Construction, software development, financial services, healthcare, and law all have features and adaptations that make them more industry-friendly.
Collaboration tools, expenditure monitoring, portfolio management, contractor management, resource management, and other industry-specific solutions are available. These tools might also come in handy if you're managing a creative team, a remote team, or a specific project inside your bigger portfolio.
Large teams managing a number of concurrent, complex projects may need to track each one separately while still being able to report and assess their progress. Companies can use project portfolio management software to handle several projects within one or more portfolios. With each project, project managers and stakeholders can get a high-level perspective of progress, immediately identify bottlenecks, and dive down into trouble areas. These tools are also useful for allocating team resources and tracking expenses across many project deadlines, as they can demonstrate where slack can be filled by others.
It cannot be stressed that ease of use is not an optional feature when it comes to project management software – it is a need! Team members will become upset and struggle if project tools are not straightforward and intuitive to use. They may even explore ways to avoid utilising some project tools entirely, not because they want to breach the rules, but because they need to stay productive and fulfil deadlines. Ease of use is critical regardless of the context or application – IT project management tools, marketing project management tools, engineering project management tools, and so on.
The company conducts both Instructor-led Classroom training workshops and Instructor-led Live Online Training sessions for learners from across the United States and around the world.
We also provide Corporate Training for enterprise workforce development.
Professional Certification Training:
Quality Management Training:
- Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt (LSSYB) Certification Training Courses
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB) Certification Training Courses
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB) Certification Training Courses
Scrum Training:
- CSM (Certified ScrumMaster) Certification Training Courses
Agile Training:
- PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Professional) Certification Training Courses
DevOps Training:
- DevOps Certification Training Courses
Business Analysis Training by iCert Global:
- ECBA (Entry Certificate in Business Analysis) Certification Training Courses
- CCBA (Certificate of Capability in Business Analysis) Certification Training Courses
- CBAP (Certified Business Analysis Professional) Certification Training Courses
Connect with us:
- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com/ for more information about our professional certification training courses or Call Now! on +1-713-287-1187 / +1-713-287-1214 or e-mail us at info {at} icertglobal {dot} com.
Please Contact Us for more information about our professional certification training courses to accelerate your career. Let us know your thoughts in the 'Comments' section below.
Comments (0)
Write a Comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked (*)