5 Tools to Improve Project Management

A study by Hive found that 77 percent of high-performing projects use project management (PM) software. Considering that fact, it’s a surprise that a survey by Wellingtone found only 22 percent of organizations have a PM software in place.

This means that, despite the benefits of leveraging a project management platform, the average business misses out on crucial success opportunities. A PM software solution gives you better visibility into and control over deployments, process changes and projects. Plus, it increases communication between your teams, improving productivity and removing implementation roadblocks.

But, how do you know which PM software solution is right for your business? Start with the pros and cons of the top five solutions:

Basecamp

Pros: Basecamp offers a separate dashboard to show clients, meaning you can collaborate with the team and discuss ideas while presenting polished plans of action to your clients. Plus, Basecamp is free to use for teachers and students.

Cons: While you can organize tasks into projects, you can’t link them to each other. This limits visibility between departments and team members unless you remember to tag team members into your task.

Asana

Pros: Asana is a simple-to-use platform that works best with small teams or simple projects. Each task is transparent and gives your entire department visibility into its progress and which team member is responsible for it.

Cons: It doesn’t accommodate complex projects and limits task assignees to one person. If too many tasks are created within the same project, the UI begins to slow down and hurts your productivity.

Trello

Pros: Trello provides a more visual approach to project management. When you create a task and assign it to a team member, that team member can drag and drop their notecard to change the status of the task.

Cons: If you have a lot of tasks under a single project, the dashboard becomes cluttered and overwhelming to look through. And, for a visual platform, it limits your visibility by not featuring an overview layout.

Jira

Pros: Jira lets you create epics, stories and tasks to keep your projects organized. You can prioritize your tasks and automate your workflow to make reassigning tasks a seamless experience. This platform also provides its own time-tracking feature.

Cons: While creating multiple tasks under a single project is helpful, it can quickly become cluttered, and its complex platform creates a sharper learning curve for your team.

Scoro

Pros: The only other time-tracking platform on this list, Scoro provides detailed reporting tools and safely stores all of your important information in one central place. It integrates your business calendar and meeting schedule to keep your team connected and provide visibility on availability.

Cons: The platform is a bit tricky to learn, and the number for their support team isn’t easy to find. Also, users are often overwhelmed with updates – from essential glitch fixes to unnecessary font changes.

While all of these project management software solutions provide a platform where you can create tasks, assign them to team members and monitor progress, some work for your business better than others.

For more information on project management solutions and how we can protect your PM software, contact us today.