| This week, my goal is to get you to consider implementing a project manager software (PMS). Once you have a PMS in place to manage projects, teams, and tasks, you will wonder how you got anything done without it. As a bonus, PMS will help you take the first steps towards templating your processes and let you zoom out to capture the bigger picture of your business.
Let’s begin with talking about the advantages of implementing a project manager. PMS can be used to organize and track your projects, centralize communication and collaboration, and provide an overview of the entire process. Additionally, most project managers support templating stages, tasks, timelines, fields, and various other items. This helps create repeatable systems that can be improved over time. Perhaps most importantly, project managers help prevent to-do items from falling through the cracks by allowing task assignment and due date setting. Good project managers also offer smartphone apps for convenience. Other benefits include having the ability to track progress easily across many projects, collaborate with clients, and keep a log of user activity.
So which project manager app is the best? To choose the best project manager for your team, you’ll need to evaluate your needs. It’s a good idea to work with your team to identify your must-have features and functionality. Also pay attention to what not to have: some project managers are very flexible, which can be compromising to consistency. Finally, don’t just evaluate based on the feature list posted online. Some project managers function better than others, so get a trial and test it yourself.
How do you setup your project manager to succeed? A successful project manager is one that both works well and is used well, and good use means having every team member onboard. Involving your teams in the set-up process helps ensure that they will be excited & willing to use this new tool. After all, there is nothing worse than a project manager that is out of date with information and therefore out of sync with reality.
Which project managers should you consider? Here is a list of 20 popular options with a quick summary on each. The best way to start is by picking a few likely candidates and testing them out. Deciding on a tool that will be used daily is a big investment, so it’s worth the time and effort to pick the best choice that suits your needs.
For a more organized, and better managed days ahead,
– Burak Sarac, Team Lead
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