Most people have the need to communicate faster and more effectively, often working virtually with people across the globe. For companies to become more profitable, project teams must collaborate effectively online to complete projects and improve business. And projects must be brought to a conclusion on time and within budget.
Project management tools come with all kinds of names: Redbooth, MeisterTask, Orangescrum, Paymo, Glasscubes, Podio, and many more. Project management tools also come with various focuses or emphases: simple and basic (Excel), visually oriented, speedy, collaborative, and more. And project management software is used in a variety of fields and industries and for a variety of purposes: IT, software, supply chain management, architecture, design, and civil engineering. Finally, project management tools can be categorized into: agile (adaptive and iterative); traditional (linear and incremental); and extreme (xpm) which focuses on very complex and challenging projects and requires a lot of flexibility.
The Best Project Management Tools
Nearly all of today’s project management and collaboration tools are online but vary widely in the power, scope, and learning curve required for average users to begin using it effectively. If a company or organization chooses the right project management/collaboration software, it will likely avoid some of the typical pitfalls found in project management and more effectively reach desired results.
A good approach to choosing the right project management software is to read about case studies that help readers follow projects step-by-step. With this approach, project managers can choose the best of the breed project management software and tools. PC Magazine publishes a list “The Best Project Management Software” every year to help out with that endeavor.
The following video explains the 12-Step APM project management process: The 12 steps are:
- define the project
- list the tasks
- estimate the cost and time of each task
- plan the dependencies and longest route
- speed up the project plan if necessary
- create a Gantt chart (I love Gantt charts)
- check you have the resources required
- think about risk
- start the project and monitor progress
- monitor cost
- adjust your plan if necessary
- review and learn from what happened
