The best project management software by categories
As we've seen, choosing the best project management software largely depends on your goals and needs. To find out more, read our article: How to choose the best project management software for your team?
Furthermore, once you have chosen the best project management software for your team, you need to know how to use it to get the most out of it. We explain it to you here in detail.
The best project management tools
Below is a ranking of the best platforms and tools, based on business priorities.
| Project software | Perfect for… | Strong points | Weak points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teamgantt | project planning via Gantt charts | Great ease of use which facilitates adoption of the tool. | The mobile version is more limited and offers less usability than the desktop version, according to some user reviews on GetApp. |
| Microsoft Project | projects that require high, fluid and agile communication. | Charts and data | Dependency on the Windows operating system, which limits its use on other platforms. |
| Jira | projects based on development tickets | Versatility | High learning curve |
| Stafiz | ensure optimal accounting and resource planning | Reliable, real-time data to ensure profitability | Integration with banking applications is not possible |
| Airtable | secure project documentation | Suitable for any size business | Some features may be complex to activate at first contact. |
| Notion | organize, document and collaborate on projects | Models available, tool versatility with many types of views | Lack of a BI type analysis tool to effectively monitor the project |
| Pipefy, Process street | describe and develop automated workflows with validation circuit | Better efficiency and quality of processes across entities | Rigidity and cumbersome processes |
How to get the most out of a project management tool?
Have you chosen the tool you need? Now let's see how to get the most out of it.
1. Set SMART goals
The first rule of thumb is to set SMART goals. These are 'Specific', 'Measurable', 'Achievable', 'Realistic' and 'Time Bound'. It translates as “Specific”, “Measurable”, “Achievable”, “Realistic” and “Time-limited”.
Set SMART goals
Our article: how to choose the best project management software? has detailed the key performance indicators that can be monitored according to your objectives in order to move the project forward quickly and cost-effectively. The SMART methodology states that key performance indicator figures must be concrete, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
2. Communicate effectively
Sending clear messages is a task that falls to the project manager or project manager. The project manager can provide a communication channel. But the message and communication style are provided by the project manager.
In addition to being clear and concise, it is important to base communication on two other values: setting an example and motivating.
To follow a leader, he must set an example. It is difficult to obtain maximum involvement and effort from employees if the manager or manager accumulates several unjustified absences, to give an example.
On the other hand, it is important that this person is able to motivate and provide useful information and incentives. This is the only way to obtain committed teams, capable of giving the best of themselves, which will increase the profitability of the project and the achievement of objectives.
3. Ensure good follow-up
The project management tool will provide us with key data and alerts that will help us do this. But there are a series of specific parameters to which we must pay particular attention, because they are the ones that provide us with the clearest information to know if something is not progressing in the right way:
- The costs.
- Margins.
- Estimated labor hours for the entire project.
- Hours of work actually invested.
- Estimated execution time for each task.
- Time actually invested in each of them.
Follow our guide for effective project monitoring .
4. Respect the steps of project management
In order to have a solid foundation, it is necessary to carry out a series of preliminary work and planning. There are five phases of project management that must be considered:
- Preparation . We need to establish what the company vision is and what the goals are. It is also necessary to determine the risks and expected results. To do this, a feasibility study must be carried out in this phase in which the objectives, a timetable for achieving them and the estimated costs are defined.
- Planning . If the project is approved, it is necessary to divide it into tasks, assigning responsibilities and deadlines. This phase also includes human and technical resource planning and financial planning. And, transversally, it is also necessary to foresee the risks or weaknesses that will have to be overcome, and the way in which this will be done.
- Execution. All of the above planning is implemented. It is time to coordinate teams, communicate objectives and respond to needs derived from early work.
- Follow-up . It is very important to monitor the time, resources and costs that are actually invested, to ensure that the roadmap is respected.
- Closing . This step includes a review of the overall and individual performance of everyone who participated in the project. It is important to make an honest evaluation, in order to detect possible improvements to be applied in other projects. From a budgetary perspective, it is important to check whether the profitability assumptions initially established have also been respected.
5. Keep an eye on those other aspects
In addition to those mentioned above, there are other causes of project failure that must also be taken into account:
- Failure to check resource availability, expenses and progress. The monitoring phase is essential and must be daily . Slacking off on the follow-up phase can lead to unreturnable situations that can ruin the project. This is one of the most valuable features of a project manager because it makes this tracking efficient and a snap. It also makes it easier to reallocate resources and communicate changes quickly.
- Lack of leadership. The tools and resources may be adequate and…the problem may be lack of management involvement.
- Not including a risk percentage . When a business plans a budget, it should include a risk percentage for contingencies that may require unplanned investments.
- Lack of coordination. Management, the project manager and the team must work in unison. A project management tool allows real-time access to all information, which is undoubtedly a great way to ensure that everyone is aware and coordinated of the actions to be taken. This point is particularly critical in projects with interdepartmental or interdependent tasks.
- Don't automate alerts to prevent possible delays or cost overruns. Good project management software will set up alerts so that managers are informed of any schedule anomalies one second after they occur.
- Prioritize cost savings . Sometimes, reducing expenses becomes a priority because it is seen as a way to optimize project resources. However, excessive reduction of resources can lengthen the work unnecessarily. In the long run, this will actually generate more costs than you are trying to avoid.
- Not being open to change . The analysis and planning phase is essential. But the circumstances in which they were carried out are changing. It is important to be flexible and be able to make decisions during the project to correct the effect of external factors on the project results.
Final thoughts
Therefore, businesses must first determine which KPIs they should prioritize. They then need to check which project managers are integrating the most appropriate features and tasks to achieve them.
Without losing sight of a whole series of global recommendations that make it possible to respect time and profitability objectives.
Such as, for example, carrying out adequate planning, carrying out exhaustive monitoring or carrying out a realistic and data-driven final analysis. Questions for which the project manager becomes a fundamental ally, capable of accelerating and optimizing work management and, therefore, stimulating the growth of the company.