With your team shifting to working from home, it becomes challenging to manage projects and deadlines as we had before. Factoring in that some employees may need to work flexible shifts for personal reasons, such as managing child care or serving as a caregiver for someone else during these trying times, or your current system can’t support everyone accessing it at the same time, it’s become even harder to have those daily check ins for updates and motivation. Fortunately, we are in an age of technology where there many tools available to help us better communicate and manage at a distance.
Project management tools allow you to track and monitor progress on different types of projects all in one space, eliminating the need for rifling through emails, spreadsheets, or files to find this information. Project management apps have exploded in recent years, with different features available to meet every team’s needs.
Here are some of the most popular features to look for in a project management tool:
Group Dashboard
Team communication has changed as more people work remotely. Meetings and updates are much more intentional as we have less informal communication opportunities, such as chatting at the water cooler or as we pass each other’s desks. Because of this, it can be difficult to stay on top of all the moving parts of the different projects or tasks you’re involved in. Meistertask is often applauded for providing an understandable bird’s eye view of different projects and tasks that need to be completed and how much progress has been made – putting the information you need all in one spot.
To Do Lists
The idea of a to do list often makes us think back to what chores need to be done, but to do lists are actually integral to project management tools. They provide a comprehensive breakdown of tasks to be completed and help guide workflow across many different employees. If to do lists are popular with your team, Monday.com provides flexible options for to do lists, and allows sorting by progress, deadline, and by project.
Highlight or change priorities
Adapting to changing priorities is a reality of business today. In project management apps, like Task Pigeon, you are able to assign high, medium, or low priority to each task. In return, employees are able to sort by this, tackling those items that are higher priority first.
Customizability
No two companies are the same, so it can’t be expected that they will use a project management tool the same – or would even want to! Therefore, make sure that any tool you use can be customizable to meet your needs, as well as the needs of your team. ClickUp is one of many well known project management tools with customizable views and built in tools to help maximize your team’s productivity. Most apps have a free trial period so you can give it a shot without committing to a long term or expensive plan before knowing if it’s the right one for you.
Project management tools can be used to maximize productivity, and in turn, help you do more by managing less.
Please note, the above mentioned tools are just one of many options available, and are only provided to serve as an example of the feature discussed. TJ Micro Ltd has not received any financial compensation for mentioning these particular tools, and does not endorse these tools over any other. TJ Micro promotes finding a tool that best suits your team and its needs.
