Overall, workplace productivity is decreasing in America. Whether you’re an employee or employer, this isn’t good news.
While the advent of the internet has given us more tools at our fingertips, it’s also provided more distractions. So how can you boost your productivity without sacrificing work-life balance? By using project management tools.
Here are some top ones you can use to either boost your own productivity or the general efficiency at your business.
Trello
Trello is an easy-to-use project management tool that works like a pinboard. On the dashboard, you can create lists, and within those lists, you can create cards.
When you create a card, you can assign people to them and create labels to indicate how far along the task is. The cards are also moveable, so you can track it across lists like “in planning,” “in progress,” and “complete.” You can also attach files from your computer, Trello itself, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, or OneDrive.
Another useful feature is the deadline function. The cards will show the deadline on the general overview if you have them assigned. For any that are coming up soon, the dates will be highlighted in red so your attention is drawn to them.
Trello is free for personal use, but if you want to get multiple subscriptions for your business, then it costs around $10 per month.
Monday.com
This is also another simple project management tool that allows you to create projects and tasks, and assign both owners and stakeholders to. The dashboard is in table form, and you have many options to customize the columns based on what your project requires.
For instance, on one project, you can have columns for task name, owner, priority, status, timeline, and estimated cost. Then, on another project, you can have columns for task name, owner, stakeholders, priority, and status. Not only can you choose prefilled columns, but you can also create your own if none of them suit your needs.
Within these rows, you can attach documents easily from your computer, Dropbox, Google Drive, Zapier, and other platforms.
Monday.com offers a free trial so you can see if you like it before you commit. If you go through with a subscription, they charge around $25 per month for their basic plan.
Asana
If you want a project management tool that utilizes the cloud, then use Asana. This tool allows all of your team members to map out the projects you’re working on so you can see every step.
Within the dashboard, you can have separate lists where you write down the task, status, due date, and tag the stakeholders who are involved. Together, you can schedule tasks on an Asana calendar where everyone can see all the tasks clearly.
Asana has a free subscription that’s great for personal use or for very small teams. Otherwise, they have a premium plan for around $10 a month, a business plan for around $20 a month, or an enterprise plan (price will depend).
JIRA
For IT companies, JIRA is a fantastic project management tool. It works across platforms and lets you track bugs with its software.
With JIRA, you can plan sprints and also delegate tasks to each team member. You can also communicate within the tool and get real-time reporting.
JIRA’s ticket system allows both you and your customers or clients to open tickets with issues. The appropriate person can take responsibility for the tickets, then close them when the issues are resolved.
Unfortunately, JIRA isn’t available for free use, although they do offer a free trial. Their most basic subscription is for up to 10 users and costs around $10 per month. If you need larger subscriptions, you can pay $75 per month for up to 15 users or $300 per month for up to 50 users.
EventCollab
If you’re trying to schedule events, then you need to have EventCollab in your tools. This is a web-based cloud app that lets you do project management for events, as well as logistics tracking.
In this tool, you can write down and manage things like tasks, contacts, schedules, and calendars. Since you can work on these projects in real-time, you’ll ensure your big events will go off without a hitch. All of the data will be encrypted so you won’t have to worry about sensitive information being leaked.
You can get a subscription for EventCollab starting at around $20 a month.
Consider Project Management Training Too
It’s not simply enough to adopt project management tools for your business; you have to know how to use them correctly as well. There are experts in the industry who can help you develop strategic initiatives and train your employees to use project management tools at their full potential.
By hiring a project management solutions consultant, you’re paving the road to a new mindset for your workplace. See here for what project management training can do for you.
Implement Project Management Tools for Increased Efficiency
By investing in a few project management tools, you’ll see a significant difference in your workplace efficiency. Not only will you be able to communicate with one another better, but you’ll also streamline how projects go.
The best thing about project management tools is that the majority of them are affordable, or are even free! For any that cost money, they usually offer free trials, so there’s nothing to lose by giving some a test run. You’ll wonder how your workplace ever functioned without them when you see how easy they are to use.
Check out our other blog articles for more informative reads.