Project management is an agonizing leadership responsibility. It requires organization, efficiency, and proper time-management skills. Since it is a daunting task, project managers need a companion to help them keep on track to achieving goals.
Read through this article and find out software and tools that can help your project manager supervise a team successfully.
The project manager (PM) is in charge of handling an organization’s project. Projects are a sequence of temporary tasks that lead to a singular goal. Since a project has multiple temporary tasks, it is the project manager’s job to oversee that each task is delivered within a given timeline.
However, the sheer number of tasks can overwhelm anyone. Fortunately, a project manager is trained for this.
Effective project management requires excellent task management skills. Today, technology is paving a clear road for project managers through tools that can assist them in managing tasks. So, what is this software?
Required Features for Project Management Software
Business professionals are now relying on project management tools to aid in overseeing multiple projects. Using the technology identifies and eliminates the weaker points of the team, such as decreased productivity, ignored tasks, past due assignments, and over-budget.
The first tip for project management 101 is to be aware of the required tools and features to look out for.
Real-time Dashboards
Dashboards are essential for project managers. It gives a quick overview and reports on the project’s progress. PMs usually handle more than one project, meaning they have more stuff on their plates.
For effective project management, they need to quickly sort tasks, monitor progress, and keep the project moving all at the same time. Using real-time dashboards, PMs don’t need to view the task board for each member. They simply need to see the panel containing graphs and summarized data of the project.
The graphs and charts should have a filter feature to see specific boards, such as deliverables, tasks nearing due dates, and upcoming tasks. This feature increases the speed and efficiency of the project manager in delegating and managing the team.
Gnatt Charts
Keep in mind that PMs need to look over multiple tasks in a single project. The PM’s job is akin to juggling five balls at once. How do you think a manager could monitor all these and keep them in the air without failing?
The PM carries the most significant responsibility in controlling tasks within the project. They ensure that each job is completed in sequence but never miss the deadline. Gnatt charts help PMs achieve this. The table outlines the sequence flow of tasks and shows the duration for each.
Task management tools
The task management tool is more specific, meaning it’s used to manage individual tasks. These tools allow users to create to-do lists and leave important notes essential to the project. It must contain features where users can leave messages, attach documents and other files, and links.
Timesheets
Timesheets are essential for monitoring each member when working on a task closely. It can track and record the hours spent working on a particular job. This feature helps control the team’s productivity as well as useful data for future reference when doing your organization’s SWOT analysis.
What are the Different Project Management Software
Because project management software is a big help for small to large organizations, a lot of systems are launching from left to right. The number of choices can be overwhelming.
To help narrow down the selection, here is our list of project management software that we deem efficient, cost-effective, and worthy of recommendation.
LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is one of the sought-after software for project management. Its features are precisely fit for IT teams, project managers, professional services, and marketing teams.
Looking deeper into the software, LiquidPlanner’s distinctive features are integrated time tracking for each member of the team, client portals, and resource management tools. You can even share project information with internal and external audiences. However, these are features that most project management software already possesses.
What makes LiquidPlanner stand out is its strength in transparency. Most project management software gives high regard to the power of the project manager. The PMs alone can see everything going on in the project, which is a good thing. However, this can also be a problem.
Without the overall visibility of the team’s tasks, members can only see their progress but not the look or status of the whole project. This lack of clarity can lead to a lot of risks.
There may be problems encountered that will not be mitigated right away since the other members do not know the problem. With LiquidPlanner, members see the project progression for each flow. So they can monitor where the next task is headed and can foresee issues before they even occur.
Wrike
Wrike is an award-winning software when it comes to online project management. It aims to improve the acceleration and work efficiency of teams in different locations or departments. It is no wonder many Fortune 500 companies use Wrike, such as Google, Adobe, and HTC.
Wrike is the perfect software for a team of project managers. It has the flexibility to manage multiple projects and tasks at once. The software is built with powerful analytics making it easy for reporting. Through Wrike, you can generate accurate reports showing jobs from all your folders.
Monday.com
monday.com is similar to other project management software. But its greatest strength lies in its easy-to-use features, smooth collaboration, and accurate task monitoring capabilities.
The system is not exclusive to users with monday.com accounts. Instead, an external party can be invited to follow the project through exclusive alerts and notifications.
Let’s say your client is interested in following the progress of the project and gauging the skill of the team. Even without a monday.com account, the client can see the project’s progression. The primary user can simply invite the involved party so they are updated to the project’s status.
The software is famous for its easy collaboration and communication features. You can leave notes or comments that the team members can view. Furthermore, monday.com can also be automated.
This way, project managers don’t need to monitor each task closely. Notifications and alerts handle that. PMs can focus on more critical tasks other than individually tracking members.
Additionally, monday.com is a highly organized and aesthetic software. It is visually appealing with its bright color-coding feature to differentiate each task or board. This makes it easier to view and manage dozens of tasks.
Where Can You Find a Competitive Project Manager
Various choices indeed make it difficult to choose the best project management software for an organization. But what’s even harder is finding a skilled and competitive project manager to lead your team.
If you have an offshore team or are planning to build an affordable offshore team, then it is likely wise to hire an offshore project manager as well. For that perfect remote team and project manager, you can approach none other than Full Scale. The company helps startups in taking the first step in scaling their business.
Full Scale is a thriving offshore software development center that houses the best and most highly dedicated software developers in Cebu, Philippines. These teams are led by capable project managers who ensure that each project is right on track.
If you are looking for a capable project management leader, then you better talk to our representatives. Schedule an appointment now and be ready to scale your business.
