THE PROS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Project management can feel like a circus trick — you’re balancing multiple projects, tasks, milestones, and team members. It takes effort to balance innovation, efficiency, and execution, which is where an effective project management system can help. Project management tools eliminate the limitations of managing your data in spreadsheets and sending endless emails to give you a clear view of your project from start to finish and help reduce risk while increasing collaboration.
We are big believers in using project management software here at RB Collaborative. We use it internally and individually, and also with some of our clients.
Did you know? 9.9% of every dollar is wasted due to poor project management, including the lack of using effective project management tools. 77% of high-performing projects use some kind of PM software. Yet only 22% of organizations use PM software. So why don’t more companies utilize this tool?
It’s spendy! Project management tools can be quite expensive, especially if you have a large organization. It’s also one more program that your team has to learn how to use, and not all PM systems are intuitive. There could be a steep learning curve.
But the benefits are undeniable. Here are a few reasons why you should put away those sticky notes, spreadsheets, and emails while trying to manage a project. Project management software:
helps increase productivity.
keeps projects moving along on schedule.
helps to manage resources more efficiently.
improves team communication and collaboration.
facilitates the sharing of information, discussions and coordination in real-time, and reduces communication errors.
improves transparency and accountability.
helps identify, manage, and mitigate risk.
standardizes processes and procedures.
Ultimately, project management software keeps your team on schedule, unified, and on-time. There are fewer mistakes, more collaboration, and higher project success rates.
Over the years we’ve used quite a few different programs. As a small team, we use ClickUp, and it works really well for us. It’s relatively inexpensive and has all the features we need. Plus, they add improvements and enhancements pretty regularly.
For larger teams, we’ve used Basecamp and Monday. These are pricier, but offer more features and allow for more users. In our experience, Basecamp goes above and beyond for collaboration and templated projects, while Monday shines for large projects that require regular status updates and quick, easy viewing.
While it isn’t necessarily our top pick, if you decide to go with Asana you will get rewarded with rainbow unicorns flashing across the screen and all kinds of glittery accolades when you check off a number of tasks in a row. And as millennials, we’re fans of anything that tells us how great we’re doing and how awesome we are.
