Software is essential when managing projects. There are plenty of good project management software programs out there. All project managers use some sort of software to help them in their daily work. As project managers, we know that this software is not just something that is added but offers a great help in improving our work.
Developing software projects can be a challenge. As you are probably aware, managing all of the requirements can feel like playing a very complicated game of chess. This is especially true if your project is big and has a lot of moving parts. Coming up with successful strategies toward attaining your goals can be tricky for even the most skilled project managers. However, there are some tried and true methods that can help you ensure that your project is headed in the right direction at all times. Let’s take a look at what software do project managers use to manage their projects.
MeisterTask
MeisterTask’s simple, yet powerful Kanban structure facilitates the smooth management of projects. With its wide range of collaborative capabilities, this smart, intuitive online task management tool is a popular choice for teams that value clean visual design and user experience.
Features such as watching, mentioning, tags and task scheduling make it simple and enjoyable to collaborate with colleagues both in-house and in home office. MeisterTask also includes the first-of-its-kind agenda: a personal board to which tasks from any project can be pinned and organized. Despite this extensive functionality, MeisterTask remains swift and logical thanks to a range of intelligent automations and robust native integrations with software including G Suite, Slack and GitHub.
Pricing: MeisterTask offers a free Basic version with selected core functionality. Pro ($8.25/per user/per month), offers a more comprehensive feature set for single users, while teams are best served by the Business ($20.75/per user/per month) and Enterprise (upon request) packages.
Website: www.meistertask.com
Nifty
Nifty is a new-wave project management tool that reduces project development cycles and improves team productivity by combining all of the important features of project management into one software. The end result is milestone-driven progress that keep teams inspired, insuring organizational goals remain on schedule. Nifty’s software allows you to manage tasks through both kanban or list view, has a built in calendar that can be integrated with Google, as well as file and document sharing. Collaborating on Nifty is natural because each project has an individual discussion thread encouraging project specific communication. Nifty also has an integration with Github that truly makes Nifty unique by encouraging cross departmental collaboration like no other.
Pricing: Nifty’s pricing ranges from $39 for 10 team members, $79 a month for 25 team members and $124 a month for 50 team members. In each plan teams can invite as many guests or clients as they would like for no extra charge.
Website: www.niftypm.com
Trello
Trello is unlike these other project management softwares in that it is an online kanban tool. This means that it visualises an entire project in just one single view. Trello makes it possible to make cards and move them around on the ‘board’. These cards can display – for example, conversations or to-do lists, which can be placed on a board, making them accessible for any of the designated tool users.
Pricing: Trello offers a free package (with unlimited boards, lists, cards and members). It also has a business class package that costs $9.99/month, which includes unlimited ‘power-ups’, which are different features and integrations, and an enterprise package that costs $20.83/month.
Website: www.trello.com
Scoro
Scoro is a comprehensive solution that combines all the features you might need in project management software: projects & tasks, contact management, quotes, team collaboration, billing, and reporting.
Top features:
- Projects with sub-tasks and deadlines
- Real-time KPI dashboard
- Shared team calendar & meeting scheduling
- Contact management
- Time tracking and billing for work
- Detailed reports on project progress and finances
- Quoting and invoicing with pre-set templates
What’s special about this tool: Scoro helps to streamline your entire work progress, so you don’t need to use a lot of different tools for every task. All your important information is stored in one central place.
Pricing: From $26 user/month
Basecamp
Basecamp is the preferred tool for thousands of project management teams, who enjoy its modern social media-like interface and carefree team collaboration features.
Top features:
- Projects to manage multiple users’ work
- Message boards for discussing new projects or ideas
- In-app collaboration with the team
- Reporting on project performance
- Separate dashboard for showing to clients
- Email and desktop notifications
What’s special about this tool: Compared to some other project management alternatives, Basecamp doesn’t charge you per person, and it’s free for teachers and students!
Price: Free plans available, paid plans from $99/month
Read on: Basecam
Citrix Podio
Podio is a flexible and highly customizable online hub for work and team communication.
Top features:
- Assign tasks, attach files, and discuss details within the solution
- Share encrypted & large files
- Automate the sales pipelines and project budget tracking
- Get an overview of the company with a visual dashboard
What’s special about this tool: Podio’s workflows feature enables you to add if-this-then-that logic to Podio apps. For example, instruct your app to create a task or comment.
Pricing: From 19.20$ month/user for a full suite of features
Hive
Hive is a comprehensive, all-in-one project and campaign management tool — the only tool you need to open in the morning to get your work done. Hive takes project management to the next level with native chat, native email, over 1,000 integrations and flexible project views, which include Gantt, Kanban, calendar, portfolio and table view.
The building blocks of Hive are action cards, which exist inside of larger projects. Inside these action cards, teams can upload files, provide feedback with proofing and approvals, tag each other, or provide general commentary. Teams at all-star companies like Starbucks, Comcast, and Google work in Hive, which is why it’s on the list of best project management softwares. Learn more about all of Hive’s features here.
Cost: Free 14-day trial with plans starting at $12 per user, per month. Sign up for a free trial here.
Asana
Asana is a user-friendly project management tool that can easily manage small and larger projects, which is why it’s part of our list of best project management softwares. The software is designed around tasks and subtasks arranged into different sections that can be assigned to either an individual or teams.
For each task, the project manager and the rest of the team can communicate in the same place, keeping collaboration for each project at a central, easy to access location.
Cost: Free for basic, premium for $13.49 per user per month, $30.49 per user for the business plan
Comparison: Learn about Hive as an Asana alternative
Workfront
Workfront is a highly customizable tool that helps users to manage their projects, which is why it’s one of our picks for best project management software. Features include setting up priorities for tasks, assigning them to specific team members, managing an entire project, and reviewing its progress. Besides automating the whole workflow, this top project management software also provides a centralized platform for digital collaboration and integration with various other services.
Workfront also delivers powerful tool integrations to help your team take their tech stack to the next level.
Cost: Workfront has four pricing plans — you must request a quote for each plan.
Wrike
Wrike is a powerful project management tool best for creating custom team workflows. From there, you can easily set a timeline, create interactive charts like Gantt view, and easily visualize tasks and next steps. Wrike also allows you to analyze performance with their real-time report building feature.
Cost: Wrike offers a free pricing plan for unlimited users, without no time restrictions. To access all of Wrike’s features, paid professional plans start at $9.80 per user per month.
Monday
Monday is a simple project management tool that helps teams visually organize tasks and projects. Projects are managed via one central board, which serves as the hub for each project and reflects changes made on a task-by-task basis. Boards are also customizable — you can add new columns to see data on hours spent, status, and location.
This project management software also has views including workload view, where you can see pending tasks by individual, timeline, where you can plan work out by due date, and charts, where you can review team efforts and outcomes.
Cost: Pricing starts at $39/month for the first five users billed annually.
Conclusion
Project Managers are tasked with organizing tasks for their team. They schedule meetings, delegate tasks, discuss goals and objectives for work completion, create assignments, collect data, and monitor the progress of project work. This role requires individual that can think strategically and can effectively communicate their thoughts to others which makes software an important part of the job. Here’s a breakdown of what project managers use in regards to software…