Get Organized with a Free Project Management Tool

Without a good project management tool in place, it can be difficult for you and your team to stay organized and focused on tasks that matter most.

Project Management tools are extremely useful for a wide variety of teams including marketing, design, engineering, human resources, IT, operations, product launch, cross-functional and more.

How to Get Organized With a Free Project Management Tool?

In this post, I'll explain why having a project management tool is important, how to choose a project management tool, and provide a few tips to get started.

An example of how a project management tool can break out, simplify, and organize a complex task list.

Why Having a Project Management Tool is Important

Having a robust, easily accessible, and transparent project management tool implemented in your small business is important for many reasons, some of which are as follows:
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• Many projects are multi-faceted and need effective planning and monitoring.
• Projects can be clearly defined and chaos reduced by mapping out a clear plan.
• A schedule can be set and costs controlled by managing scope.
• Allows for effective change and quality management resulting in happier customers.

How to Choose a Project Management Tool

Before you head over to Google and search "top project management software," you'll want to be clear on your project management needs so you can find the best solution for your team. 

The type of business, number of employees, and complexity of your projects will affect your decision. Your company may benefit from a simple to-do list or a tool with additional features such as task assignment and progress tracking.

Once you're clear on your team needs, then you can head over to Google to perform your search. You'll find dozens of options (Trello, JIRA, Monday, Zoho, Wrike, Hubstaff, etc...) but one I particularly like for startups and small businesses is Asana.

The main reason I like Asana is that it has a Free plan for teams and individuals looking to get started. It's a riskless option and keeps costs low as you ramp up your business. You can create tasks, view them in a board, list or calendar view, assign tasks and due dates, use with up to 15 teammates, and integrate with many apps you're likely already using.

The second reason I like Asana is for its integration abilities. Asana can connect with other business apps such as Outlook, Salesforce, Slack, Dropbox, Google Calendar, Google Drive & Microsoft OneDrive, GitHub, BitBucket, MailChimp, and many more.

Other important factors to consider in your decision should be user interface, ease of use, reporting and customization capabilities, and obviously budget. Some advanced users may want to consider API integration, issue tracking capability, and invoicing ability. ​

Tips to Get Started with a New Project Management Tool

You'll want to communicate the benefits with your team to get them on board.

• Less time in meetings
• Real-time project status transparency
• A centralized location for requirements, documents, and feedback
• Better planning ability making your business more efficient

​Conducting training sessions with your team can also help with adoption of the software and new process as well. 

Summary

Although there will be some initial hurdles to implementing a new project management tool, ultimately it will simplify your project planning tasks and make your team more productive.