Doesn’t it feel like there are never enough hours in the day? This is never more true than for those involved in project management. The seemingly endless sea of moving parts, the post-it notes, the spreadsheets, and the relentless files can feel overwhelming at the best of times. For many, though the new hybrid-work style has wrought considerable benefits in terms of individual freedom, it has only exasperated the stress of working efficiently as a team.
Even if you are in the office, it can be a serious challenge to coordinate across divisions, divide workload evenly, track progress, and share resources, all while coming in on budget and on time. Efficient management is one of the most critical factors that can ultimately lead to the success - or failure - of a project. Ineffective management can result in:
Project management software is everything you need in a single place. The industry’s leading software will take all those separate elements that are so important to a project's success (but so easy to lose track of) and integrate them all into a single, user-friendly interface. Task allocation, progress and resource tracking, budget, reporting, collaboration, and essential files, are all just a click away for anybody who needs them.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the ways project management software can help you:
HubSpot's platform consists of six main products: marketing, sales, customer service, content management, operations, and commerce. Within this software is Projects, a straightforward project management tool that cuts out unnecessary features, focusing solely on what's essential to get your work done. You have the ability to establish multiple projects, oversee team members, create numerous tasks, and delegate them to anyone within your team.
As your needs grow, this is where Hubspot really shines. Since it’s integrated into a comprehensive marketing tool, you'll gain access to more than just basic project management functionalities. You'll have the ability to collect contact information using forms, maintain lead engagement through email marketing, deliver targeted messages via landing pages, and enhance interaction with website visitors through live chat. If you find a particular feature missing, like a Gantt chart, you can conveniently find it in HubSpot's App Marketplace, which boasts over 1,500 apps.
It's also quite simple to get started with HubSpot Projects, which is unlike many other complicated project management tools. Even if you're not tech-savvy, you can easily grasp its basic list feature. Team members can quickly adapt, especially with the drag-and-drop feature that makes organizing tasks and projects a breeze. Though there are many different plans and choices, you can start with the free plan to see how HubSpot helps you. Then, as you need more, it's easy to upgrade and get extra features.
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If your team needs a versatile project management tool, whether you use Agile methods or not, ClickUp is a great choice. It has lots of tools you can adjust to fit your project's needs and keep track of progress, so you can allocate resources accurately.
One standout feature that sets ClickUp apart is its Chat view feature. Similar to popular messaging platforms like Microsoft Teams or Slack, it enables you and your team to communicate in real-time, discuss project updates, share files, and address issues seamlessly, all without having to leave the project management environment. By centralizing communication within ClickUp, you can stay focused and organized, minimizing distractions and boosting overall efficiency.
Although ClickUp might seem overwhelming at first glance, you'll quickly discover that it becomes much more user-friendly once you input your basic task data. The platform takes the initiative to fill in various project views for you, significantly reducing the setup process. Task management also becomes a breeze with the help of AI assistance, which generates task descriptions and sub-tasks, resulting in smoother workflows. Moreover, ClickUp University offers tailored learning paths designed for different skill levels, providing personalized support to help you navigate the learning curve and master the platform with confidence.
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Monday.com has everything you need and more in a project management tool. You can use this cloud-based project management tool to create and customize workflows, collaborate with team members in real-time, assign tasks, set due dates, track progress, and more. In addition, the platform provides visual reports and analytics to assist you in gaining insights into project performance and identifying areas for improvement. Monday.com also has a plethora of integrations, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Drive, Dropbox, Asana, Trello, QuickBooks, Shopify, and many others. They also work with popular time-tracking apps such as Clockify, Timely, Toggl, and Harvest so teams can keep track of how much time they’re spending on different tasks and projects. Monday.com has over 50 integrations, so you can pretty much turn your Monday.com dashboard into your personal work hub.
Monday.com is an excellent project management tool that offers both manual flexibility and automation. You can customize and automate everything with ease, whether you're using it to track weekly to-dos or manage more complex, ongoing projects. Monday.com's approach is anything but "one size fits all," as its boards are entirely customizable to meet your team's specific needs. By setting routines and letting the app handle the rest, you can streamline project management without using spreadsheets or manual tracking. You can even color-code and label tasks according to priority (red for urgent tasks, yellow for those in progress, you get the drift.). Tired eyes? Go ahead and switch to dark or night mode. Additionally, Monday.com provides tutorials to help users navigate intricate features such as integrations, plugins, and workflow automation, making it an excellent choice even for those new to project management tools.
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Whether you're a team of 15, 30, or 500, using the right project management tool can make work life easier for everyone involved. But where do you even begin with so many project management apps in the market? As a team who regularly juggles people and projects, we're definitely not new to using these tools. Here's what we looked at when shortlisting brands for this year's Top 10 list:
Many project management systems offer comprehensive integration with 3rd party software. One of the biggest selling points of these systems is that they allow complete project management from a single interface. As such, emails and other communication platforms such as Slack, accounting software, CRMs, and more can typically be integrated into a project management system.
As many of the top project management systems are regularly adopted by Fortune100 companies, the need for advanced data protection is high. That’s why a trusted industry name is so important. Many companies are ISO certified, as well as holding the EU-US privacy shield for exchanges of personal data, amongst other certifications. As always, it is important all employees practice sound data-privacy measures informed by comprehensive training.
As with any new software, a teething period of some degree is likely to occur. The basic features of project management software are often pretty simple to get the hang of. For more advanced features, it may take a little longer for the whole team to get their head around. However, the huge benefit is that this may be the only software you need ever use. Having everything all in one place eliminates the need to understand all manner of different programs, increasing efficiency both in terms of project management and ongoing training.
Cost can vary greatly between project management systems. The largest variables are typically the size of your team and the advanced features you wish to include. As a project manager, it is important to factor in the cost of any new system and ensure the budget is sensible. Fortunately - provided the system is suitable for the size and requirements of your team - the price is likely to be entirely offset by the increase in productivity and project success rate. Remember, 12% of a budget is wasted on management inefficiency on average, a number set to be greatly reduced by the right project management software.