In times now, project managers need to be on the run to manage a designated task in the most cost-effective, efficient, and structured manner. Right from planning to administering work, everything has to be synchronized.
Can this synchronization or team management be left to project managers to manage it single-handedly?
The answer is not a definite ‘Yes.’
Without a second thought, project managers can plan, administer, and delegate tasks, yet they need software that can improvise the way their business functions and ultimately get to the end goal of successfully completing a project.
Project management software assists businesses in organizing, controlling costs, effectively managing resources, developing tools, budget planning, monitoring documents, and managing the quality of the project or business.
This software is even referred to as task management software because the primary goal is to manage and monitor tasks at every level.
It is quite beneficial to buy project management software because it has functionalities to perform all technical and non-technical tasks. This softwares is either PC or power-based.
Given the fact that this softwares can take care of multiple tasks that cannot be managed by people alone, it has a high demand and is expensive. Therefore, it is worth choosing a free project management software because they have pretty much the necessary functionalities.
You can choose either one from two relevant free project management softwares.
1. Free Open Source Project Management Software
This software is suitable if your product is small and new. It requires developers to support and explore its features furthermore.
2. Limited Version Of a Proprietary Management Software
This software is the best if you want to upgrade your existing product in the long run.
Both of these softwares will have their own set of pros and cons. It is for you to assess and select the one you need the best.
Without shelling out money, you can do wonders with the management software. That being said, peep into some of these essential factors of buying a free project management software.
Always check for a list of free proprietary project management softwares for your business. Some of the renowned free project management tools are as follows
Helps in managing multiple projects and workspaces.
You can make simple and easy to understand workflows on this tool.
You can track everything that everyone is working on. You get to create a structured task list and edit it accordingly.
It is more like a notepad and most suitable for tracking down small tasks.
It has a ‘best-in-class’ collaboration to communicate with your team members easily.
Choose a free project management software that is less complex to understand and is easy to use. You should be able to get your work done instead of investing time in understanding the software. This saves time, and it is an essential factor when it comes to completing deadlines.
The software should indicate what’s going on at every level of the project so that planning and delegation are not affected.
Furthermore, the efficiency should be on point for the users to be able to plan projects from start to end.
For example, the software should enable you to choose a start date, specify a time frame for project completion, give you a count of the number of people required, and highlight what needs to be prioritized.
There should be an end to end detail about the process, changes made, technology updates, and knowledge of the entire project. In such situations, good documentation will come to use and see that the software has this factor.
Always opt for project management software that can act as a time tracker to show you the work that’s completed and what needs to be done in the future.
It should also track details like the number of work hours, amount of work left, and how much time it took to complete a project.
It gives you clarity on where you are excelling and lagging.
While a project is being assigned, it is essential for the assignees to work as a team and equally contribute in terms of the amount of work and efforts.
That being said, your software should be able to correctly manage tasks and divide them among the number of people.
Essentially, the software should be able to make dependency tasks, create tasks for every individual, assign a date and time for completion, and record a list of the assigned tasks.
While most of us might miss out on this aspect, it is highly essential for your software to be well-integrated so that it can collect data from multiple files, documents, folders and have it saved at one center.
It should be transparent for the project managers to be able to access information. Not just managers, the other team members should get access to view and make edits to their documents.
Furthermore, this software should be integrated with essential applications such as google drive to access information right there instead of searching it separately.
In the fast-paced world, most of us focus on how we can complete a job without spending much and as fast as we can. The project management software you use should be able to save your time to a more considerable extent.
It is said that the software should be able to smartly set timelines, and it should be able to replicate an alarm to proactively remind you about what needs to be done and in how much time it needs to be completed.
Like how tracking efficiency and the ability to save time needs to be looked at. You should even check if your project management software can manage resources or not.
For instance, is there sufficient funding, facilities, equipment, space, and headcount? Without any hindrance, this factor sees to it that projects function smoothly.
Along with good documentation and centralized information, it is quite essential to have well-reported data. This is yet another key factor to consider while you are choosing a project management software.
There is a need for good reporting so that you can finally see where you stand, and it becomes easier for other teams to grab necessary information from a special report. Ensure that the report looks neat and appealing.
This is similar to the grading system you had in your school and universities. Finally, it would give you details of where you stand academically and in other activities.
Here are other secondary factors that are equally important when it comes to carrying out a project and gauging its performance.
A project management software is a support system for effectively managing and excelling in multiple small and big projects.
While project managers make the decision of buying a free project management software, they need to assess their internal environment, understand the functionality, figure out projects, do a trial run, check if it can be easily used, is effective implementation or training possible, study the popularity of the software. Only then they should decide on taking up the project.
If you are looking for a suggestion to get acquainted with free project management softwares, try Clickup and Teamwork.
