Every organization has its own set of objectives and a project manager is a person who has the overall responsibility for achieving each objective as desired. Simply put, project managers are the spearheads of an organization.
They are the ones who juggle multiple projects and people. They are the ones who make big decisions. They control risk and remove uncertainty. They also encourage accountability among teams and have the responsibility to keep work fun, challenging, and interesting, and most importantly, they are the ones who drive everyone forward. But the fact of the matter is that many project managers do not have proper resources in place.
The dynamic and focus of the “project manager” role isn’t that simple. It’s arduous, overly complicated, excessively time-consuming, and it changes every day. For this reason, it is necessary that every project manager has tools to complement his management and organizational role in an organization. This is where project management software comes in.
If you’ve ever managed or worked on a project, you would know what is project management and how complicated it is. Project management software is one of the most useful tools that help managers and companies in becoming as productive and competitive as possible via effective management and collaboration.
In this article, you’re going to learn how simple software can be bliss for managers and teams. From how such software work to some of the most popular examples of project management software solutions, here’s your quick guide to give you a clear idea of what makes a project manager successful.
What Are Project Management Tools?
In simple words, project management-tools are the solutions that are designed to assist and support individuals or teams to successfully plan, organize, track, and deliver projects. Despite its name, project management tools are not specifically designed for “project managers”. These tools work for anyone who needs to effectively organize, work, manage projects/tasks. Most of these tools and software available today can be customized to fit the needs of teams of different sizes and with different goals.
How Useful Are Project Management Tools?
The primary purpose of a project management tool is to speed up and simplify the process of managing a project. But that’s not all. In addition to empowering businesses and teams with easy project management, here’s what else a project management tool can help you do:
Get real-time dashboards
Project dashboards in project management tools give managers and teams a quick sneak peek into whether or not they are not on the right track.
Create online project plans
Gantt charts in project management tools allow teams to create, monitor and collaborate on project plans online. Moreover, it allows them to track the progress as they work on the task.
Collaborate via chats and discussions
Built-in chat and discussion board are key features offered by almost every project management tool out there. It helps to ensure that everyone involved in a project (manager, team members, clients, and stakeholders) can communicate with each other easily, clearly.
Secure file sharing
Being able to share data as and when needed is a key demand for successful project management. A PM tool makes file sharing faster and easier than ever. It allows you to store, organize, share, and even proof files online without any hassle or threat.
Ease task management
With the right project management tool, it’s a lot easier for project managers to see every individual team member’s task list and progress percentage. The tool empowers managers and teams to efficiently check off every task/activity in their task list to ensure successful delivery of the project.
Manage team workload
It’s never easy for a project manager to manage each team member’s workflow and maintain a steady workflow across all the projects. However, project management tools have what it takes to drill down into workload balances. They provide project managers with a clear overview of how and where their resources (team and time) are being used.
Save time with timesheets
With an efficient PM tool, project managers get the power to track every minute being spent on each task via time sheets and time tracking. This feature proves quite useful in terms of improving time management, improving overall team productivity, measuring individual productivity levels, generating accurate invoices, and so on.
Generate instant reports
Another major advantage of having an intuitive project management tool is easy and accurate project reporting. The tool provides project managers with the ability to create professional-looking reports for teams and projects with the push of a button.
Synchronize projects with apps you use every day
Most project management tools and software out there integrate well with all the popular third-party tools and apps that you use every day. That means you don’t have to access multiple apps to manage your projects or teams – you can keep everything in sync from one single place.
Access work anytime, anywhere
Being able to stay connected to your projects, teams, and clients is a major advantage for any project manager. Thankfully, there are cloud-based tools and apps that let you access your projects from anywhere, anytime.
Top Project Management Tools And Software To Try In 2019
There are plenty of powerful project management tools out there that focuses on the features and functionalities you desire. But picking the best of all for your projects and teams is often tricky. To give you a head start, here are some of the leading project management software any project manager can try in 2019.
ProofHub
ProofHub is a versatile project management tool that makes project management less stressful for project managers. it gives them ultimate control over their projects, tasks, deadlines, teams, and everything else that is involved in the project management process.
Wrike
Wrike is a robust project management tool that focuses on boosting collaboration and efficiency across teams. Plus, it comes packed with file management and business productivity features that increase your chances at success in delivering a project.
Asana
Asana, a popular PM tool for project managers is used by a wide range of businesses, including non-profits and local ones. Asana replaces emails and other third-party apps from the picture to facilitate better communication and collaboration between teams.
Clarizen
Clarizen is a collaborative project management software. It’s an enterprise-grade solution that helps project managers to simplify task management and team collaboration to drive projects to success.
Your turn
What kind of project management tool would you prefer for your organizational needs? Is it one of the above examples? Have you been using a project management tool already? Share your experiences and suggestions in the comments section!
Guest Author Bio:
Vartika Kashyap is the Marketing Manager and has been one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2016, 2017 and 2018. She is also a contributor at Business.com, The Next Web, YourStory, and Huffington among others. Her articles mainly revolve around productivity, leadership, and common workplace events. She also loves to read and travel to new places.
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It was a great list of the best tools of project management. But I think its quite short list. Many other names are missing like Smartsheet, TaskQue, Basecamp, Jira, etc