Project managers are in demand across every industry irrespective of its type or size. Project managers typically use different project management tools to get their tasks done easily. There are a plethora of project management tools out there in the market that sometimes it becomes difficult to choose the one that best suits our requirements.
This is why most project management professionals go with project management training so as to understand these tools thoroughly and the different ways of choosing and using them.
Remember that you cannot randomly pick any tool and use it for project management. Every tool has its own uses and features that are to be kept in mind according to the requirements of your business.
We will discuss different project management tools in this article.
What are Project Management Tools?
Some of the key features of project management tools are:
- Project Estimation: it is always important to estimate the constraints of a project like EVM, budget forecasts, or baselines.
- Budgeting: Project Management tools enable you to manage your costs such that you stay within the budgets estimated for the project. You can track actual costs, track expenses, estimate budget, compare planned and actual costs, and also analyze the budget.
- Collaboration: the most important feature of these tools is that they enable you to keep all the stakeholders on a single page. Online project management tools provide effortless collaboration.
- Automation: as a project manager or someone managing their projects online, you will need to consider a tool that will also have the capability to automate repetitive tasks to help you save hours in the future.
Other features of project management tools include risk management, project administration, quality management, and proper resource allocation.
Let’s have a look at some of the most popular Project Management tools out there in the market.
Top Project Management Tools
- Gantt Charts
One of the most powerful and most preferred project management tools is Gantt Charts. It is a type of bar chart that specifies a schedule of a project. It was designed by Henry Gantt. They are capable of showing dependencies between different activities and the current schedule status.
These Gantt charts enable you to keep track of the project schedule, check if there are any deviations from the project plan, and identify delays if any. Gantt charts help businesses to stay on track of budget and schedule as planned. If it doesn’t happen, these charts enable you to identify crucial tasks that can bring you back on track.
The best part of this tool is that it provides you with an entire picture of the structure of the work breakdown and also enables you to allocate resources(human resources, money, etc) efficiently. This tool helps in setting priorities for critical tasks and reducing scope creep by mapping inter-dependencies between various work items.
- Trello
One of project managers’ favorite picks when it comes to using an efficient project management tool. It is visually amazing and is popular because of its interesting features such as lists, cards, and boards. Trello is free, flexible, easy to use, and provides you with a visual approach to organize almost everything and manage projects.
The working of Trello goes like this: first, you have to create a project board and name and invite others to join. Then to create steps in the workflow, you will make a list. Next comes setting up cards for creating tasks or sorting information. Then, you have to add comments, information, checklists, and due dates on different cards. Then, by moving task cards, you can track your progress.
- Zoho projects
Its tagline says, ‘best for small groups. It is another project management tool that enables you to plan, organize, and collaborate the main features of this tool are easy visualizations, options for integrations, options for storing documents.
Also, it provides you with options for tracking and fixing errors, timekeeping, as well as managing documents. A wide range of integrations is available for this tool that includes Google, Slack, Dropbox, and many other Zoho suites.
- Basecamp
One of the oldest project management solutions, Basecamp has been there for more than a decade. It is the most efficient tool for businesses that work on large-scale projects.
There is a wide range of helpful features in the latest version of Basecamp. It allows you to send direct messages to initiate rapid discussions, setting up such schedules that you get notified only between working hours. Also, it enables you to designate tasks, form to-do lists, and create due dates. Message boards make filtering millions of emails easy.
Status updates are automated with a check-in feature. The projects, with the help of the scheduler, allow every collaborator to join.
- Asana
If you wish to effectively organize your team, then this tool is best for you. It is a leading platform that allows businesses to manage works, organize teams for small projects and strategic initiatives.
Asana manages your project information with portfolios, sidebars, projects, teams, and tasks. It allows you to present your projects like calendars, lists, boards, or timelines. You can create a project with the help of a template or a blank slate. You can organize tasks together with sections or columns.
The best part of this tool is that creating a task with Asana is as easy as creating a task name, and allows you to add instructions, assignee, dates, comments, and also attach files.
There are plenty of resources like in-depth videos, guides, and community forums, with the help of which you can manage fully-fledged projects.
Besides the tools described above, numerous efficient tools for project management include:
- Wrike
- AceProject
- ClickUp
- ProofHub
- WorkZone
- Scoro
- com
- Clarizen
- Kissflow project
- Airtable
- Kanban tool
- Paymo
And many more.
Conclusion
Project management is adopted worldwide regardless of the type of organization, across every industry. For efficient project management, there are a plethora of project management tools out there in the market.
You need not master all of them, but some tools are crucial to master. To gain expertise in these tools, you can opt to enroll yourself in an online training course. Self-paced learning, top-class training, a unique blended learning approach, real-life projects, 24*7 teaching assistance are some of the great features of an online training course.