(Newswire.net — September 30, 2019) — Project management is a bit of an art and a science. It involves planning, delegating, budgeting, tracking, and generally keeping everyone involved in the project on task to meet the specified and overarching objectives and goals.
Project managers have a difficult job, but software can help. That’s why many teams turn to offshore development companies or hire in-house teams to create custom platforms for project management. These tools can facilitate the process from start to finish, allowing teams to collaborate, monitor progress, track updates, set deadlines, share and edit documents, manage budgets, and more.
Why use project management software?
Software can’t replace a project manager, but it can make his or her job a lot easier. When in-house employees are collaborating with teams offsite, such as offshore developers or freelancers, these tools can help ensure that everyone is up to date and informed about the project’s progress.
Even when all the contributors to a certain project are in physical proximity to one another, project management software helps team members see what their individual tasks and deadlines are, understand what resources they have at their disposal, share important files, and more.
Entire teams can use this software — not just project managers. Team members can check-in and monitor their own progress, as well as that of the entire project, collaborate and communicate through the platform. The project manager will likely be the person to assign tasks and deadlines through the software, but others may still use them frequently.
In addition to monitoring their own progress, they can see how the other components are coming along and, if necessary, adjust their own work accordingly. It’s also a good place to make notes and ask questions.
What to look for in project management software
Some businesses choose existing platforms for their project management needs, while others partner with offshore development companies to create personalized solutions. In either case, businesses should consider:
• The size of the organization and how many team members should be able to use the software
• The cost of the service or platform — the software should help reduce costs overall, not add to them
• How the software can function with the rest of the tools and operations the organization uses
• The most important features the project and business need — for example, document-sharing or chat capabilities
If you do turn to offshore software outsourcing to build you a custom platform, they can account for many of these considerations. Just be specific when articulating your needs and negotiating.
Top project management software
If you decide to use an existing platform instead of offshore software development services, you have many options. Some of the top software platforms include:
• Asana
Asana is a good option for smaller businesses to view, plan, and monitor projects and updates. It allows for numerous integrations with other applications, has document-sharing capabilities, and can automate certain project management tasks.
• Monday.com
Monday.com is a customizable platform that depicts the project flow visually for companies of all sizes. Features include automated notifications, timeline views, time tracking, adjustable workflows, and more.
• Teamwork
This cloud-based tool is ideal for collaborating with remote workers, such as offshore development companies and developers. It offers private messaging, time tracking, file uploads, the ability to assign tickets, charts for viewing project timelines and deadlines, status updates, and more.
• Wrike
Wrike is ideal for larger teams. Teams can stay organized with color-coding features and customizable workflows. They’re also able to edit projects directly through the tool and add comments. Project managers can view activities according to when they happened and assign tasks to team members, as well as specify who is able to see and edit data.
• Zoho
Through Zoho Projects, organizations can collaborate, assign tasks, and stay up to date on a project’s progress. It’s a good platform for small-sized businesses, although businesses of all sizes can benefit from it. Another helpful tool by Zoho is Zoho Reports, which allows you to customize your dashboards and view and import data from a variety of devices and applications.
Project management software doesn’t just help project managers — it also streamlines processes for all team members and entire businesses. Whether organizations turn to offshore development companies to build them custom platforms for their needs or use existing software such as Asana or Wrike, they will ultimately find that these tools will help them manage their projects and stay organized.