Project management collaboration tools or just collaborative project management (CPM) is the use of various online tools to improve the ability of geographically dispersed team members to successfully work together on multi-project, multi-product, multi-lingual, multinational projects.
Project management collaboration tools help teams use their existing project management applications better. There is a specific set of product features that most project collaboration tools share, and they are typically used to increase the transparency of project status through the various levels of a business. Some products also integrate with other non-project management tools, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or enterprise planning software.
Trello — A Kanban-Based Project Tracking and Management Tool
Image Source: trello.com
Description
Trello is a project management software based on the kanban view, a card-like overview of tasks and projects. Its structure is a double-edged sword: while the kanban view is clean and excellent for small projects, it cannot support complex project management. Trello doesn’t have views like table, list, forms, or calendar, which are sometimes better fitting for your workflow.
There are no folders or subfolders and no way to split subtasks within a checklist into smaller steps. If you’re handling tasks with lots of documents or branching, you’ll soon have a messy board.
Still, with Trello, the accent is on collaboration, and it can be an excellent choice for small teams and straightforward task management.
Trello combines a range of project management, planning and organizational features, such as:
- API
- Third-Party Integrations
- Access/Permission Control
- Data Import/Export
- Search Functionality
- Categorization/Structuring
- Team Collaboration
- Kanban (Board)
- File/Docs Management
- Customizable Fields
- Task Management
- Drag & Drop Interface
- Customizable fields
- Task Management
- Drag & Drop Interface
- Data Filtering
- Reporting & Statistics
- Activity Tracking
- Public/Shared Workspace
Just like any other project management software, Trello has its own pros and cons as well. Here is a brief summary of what you can expect from it:
Pros:
- Smooth, attractive and intuitive interface
- Clear understanding of workflow, features and techniques used in the app
- Easy to adapt to
- Flexible concept and structure gives a lot of control to the user
- Excellent service from the mobile app (all features and the interface work perfectly on all devices)
Cons:
- Lack of more complex features such as progress and time tracking
- Lack of additional views e.g. Gantt chart
- No chat/inbox feature
- Impossible to manage templates (you can just change the background screen)
- Could use more integrations (without the need of a third-party)
Pricing
Useful Links and Review Websites
A free plan with 10 boards per team and 10 MB per attachment, paid plans starting at $9.99 per user per month when billed annually.
Jira — A Software Development Project Management Tool
Image Source: atlassian.com/software/jira
Description
Since Jira was primarily designed for software development, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it is mostly used for IT project management. Its interface is made to accommodate the agile development approach, providing a Kanban-style overview of tasks.
Jira is an agile project management software great for Scrum, Kanban, and hybrid agile models. It enables teams to assign tasks, track individual and team progress, as well as identify and solve issues and blockers within the workflow. One of the greatest downsides of this software is the lack of an in-app Gantt chart, but there are several Gannt plugins you can download in the Atlassian Marketplace.
Features
Jira merges a few very important project management and organizational features, such as:
- API
- Third Party Integrations
- Access/Permission Control
- Data Import/Export
- Search Functionality
- Categorization/Structuring
- Team Collaboration
- Chat & Messaging
- Timeline & Gantt Chart
- Kanban
- Spreadsheets/Tables
- File/Docs Management
- Customizable Fields
- Filtered views (But no data filtering)
- Reporting & Statistics
- Activity Tracking
- Progress Tracking
- Public/Shared Workspace
Pros and Cons
We’ve prepared a summary of Jira’s pros and cons so you can evaluate this project management software and decide whether Jira is the right solution for you:
Pros:
- Wide variety of features and possibilities that will make your job much easier
- Constant supervision from an administrator (probably your team lead or manager)
- Easy single sign-on integrations
- Extremely customizable
- Pretty good reporting feature
Cons:
- Really complex and it might take you some time to figure it out
- UX/UI could be difficult at times. Hard to follow the workflow and quickly reach everything you need
- Creating a work structure almost certainly requires DevOps skills, with good knowledge of agile practices
- Team collaboration could be strenuous at times (especially with a lot of members, a lot of tasks and a rich structure)
- Lack of calendar management
Pricing
A free limited plan for up to 10 users, paid plans starting at $7 monthly per user.
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
Try Scoro for free for 14 days
Asana
Asana combines elements of project management, file storage, and collaboration and helps to manage projects across a team without email.
Top features:
- Tasks and team assignment
- Projects roadmaps and timelines
- Milestones and team progress
- File and track bug reports and sprints.
- Project dashboards to get a quick overview
What’s special about this tool: Asana is a really easy-to-use tool with a simplistic layout ideal for small teams with simple projects.
Pricing: Free for up to 15 members, paid plans from $13 user/month
Notion
Notion will give you a completely different take on project management. It helps plan and discuss projects, share everything with the team, and keep track of all the ideas.
Top features:
- Keep a personal weekly checklist and take notes
- Build a task board with a flexible drag-and-drop editor
- Nest pages inside each other – like an infinite knowledge base
What’s special about this tool: Notion is like the LEGO set for collaboration software – it lets you assemble workflows that work best for your team.
Pricing: $8 user/month
Redmine
Redmine is an open-source project management tool, made highly flexible by its volunteer community.
Top features:
- Gantt charts and calendar for planning
- Newsfeed + document & file management
- Features for planning product roadmaps
- Email notifications
- Simple time tracking
What’s special about this tool: Redmine is an open-source tool and has multilanguage support, which might become handy.
Pricing: Free
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.
Basecamp
Basecamp is a cloud-based tool with lots of features for individuals, project managers or even marketing teams that enables collaboration on tasks. Some of the features include to-do lists for tasks, which can be assigned to different users, and tasks that the system will automatically follow up on when the due date lapses.
It also has a real-time group chat feature and a tool that enables the client to view the progress of the project. As with the majority of services on this list, Basecamp can also be integrated with other products for reporting, analysis, and time tracking, among other features. Aside from its cloud-based solution, Basecamp can be integrated with iOS, Android, Mac, and PC.
Cost: Basecamp’s personal package is free for personal use. Business plans start at $99 monthly for unlimited users and projects.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a project management software that is based on a table view, which looks similar to an Excel spreadsheet. This tool is cloud-based, and also allows users to switch between a few other data visualization views.
Smartsheet also has work automation flows that help you reduce manual tasks and automate recurring actions, which helps take over some of the more mundane day-to-day work.
Cost: Contact sales for pricing information on both their enterprise and premier plans.
Comparison: Learn about Hive as a Smartsheet alternative
Conclusion
Project management software has evolved into collaboration tools that enable project team members to access, edit, update and exchange work documents anywhere, anytime.