Article Overview
Being a project manager can be a thankless job at times. Even the most efficient project managers can reel under the pressure of managing large, complex projects that can impact their performance as well as the overall well-being.
“Good leaders do not take on all the work themselves; neither do they take all the credit.” – Woody Williams
Table of Contents
- 1. Microsoft Project
- 2. ProofHub
- 3. Scoro
- 4. Evernote
- 5. Workzone
- The Final Word
In case you’re wondering what can make the life of a project manager so hard then you need to keep reading this post. A project manager has to work hard on a daily basis and is always expected to deal with tasks, resources, time, and budget, as well as manage projects.
He/she is held solely responsible for the success (or failure) of the project. A project manager constantly juggles people, cost, time, scope, and quality. To understand the hard work of a PM and the diverse challenges they face daily, let’s take a look at some major threats that can veer their projects off the track if not tackled efficiently.
- Poorly Defined Goals
- Inadequate Team Skills
- Poor Communication
- Risk Assessment
- Scope Creep
- Unrealistic Deadlines
- Lack of Resources
- Ambiguous Contingency Plans
- Great Expectations
- Procrastination
- Limited Engagement of Stakeholders
Given that project managers have to deal with a multitude of challenges that project management throws at them daily, it’s nearly impossible to complete and deliver projects successfully without any help.
A project manager cannot do everything on his own, and neither he can ill-afford to lose track of tasks and project progress. Therefore, to simplify complex project management, organize and monitor all activities from a centralized location, and automate rigorous, manual tasks, using a functional and easy-to-use project management tool becomes a necessity.
This post features some reliable and feature-rich tools used by project managers across the globe. Using these tools has helped their teams and organizations to improve job accountability and cater to the high expectations of their clients consistently.
Let’s take a look at them.
Microsoft Project is a powerful, easy-to-use project portfolio tool with cloud-based and on-premise options. From small projects to large initiatives, you can easily plan everything with the power of dynamic scheduling based on project duration, the effort required and allotted team members. The MS Project has an intuitive interface that helps managers to create interactive dashboards to view overall status and drill down into the details of your projects and programs.
You can build the desktop or mobile experiences you want and create automated workflows. Microsoft Project enables managers to manage portfolio investments and deliver success with the intended business value. The software consists of three main modules - project management, portfolio management, and resource management.
Some Powerful Features Include:
- Board View
- Grid View
- Communication View and Collaboration View
- Agile Methodology
- Waterfall Methodology
- Reporting
- Roadmap
- Timesheets
- Resource Management
- Project Planning & Scheduling
- Demand Management
Pricing: The paid plan starts from $9 per user/month.
ProofHub is an award-winning project management and team collaboration software with simple, fixed pricing plans. With a long list of powerful features under one roof, project managers can have ultimate control over teams and projects without juggling multiple tools. ProofHub simplifies complex projects by helping managers to divide tasks into smaller, manageable subtasks, and then monitoring their progress on Kanban boards. The project management software also makes it easier for managers to onboard new members as it has little to no learning curve and an intuitive user interface. If you want a simple yet powerful tool to improve team collaboration and performance, then ProofHub should be your go-to choice.
Some Powerful Features Include:
- Workflows and Kanban Boards
- Online Proofing
- Gantt Charts
- Task Management
- Timers and Timesheets
- Custom Roles
- Custom Reports
- Group Chat
- Discussions
- Calendars
- File Storage
Pricing: Simple, fixed pricing plans. The Ultimate Control plan is priced at $89, billed annually.
Score is an all-in-one business management software that helps to streamline work and eliminate routine tasks. With Scoro, you do not have to navigate between numerous tools and spreadsheets that don’t add up. You can use Scoro’s automated reports and personally tailored dashboards to share results and track progress in real-time. A fully interlined digital workspace empowers your team to collaborate efficiently. The score is a comprehensive solution that has all the features you need to manage projects and teams with top-notch efficiency.
Some Powerful Features Include:
- Drag and Drop Planner
- Project Timeline
- Work Management
- Sales and CRM
- Kanban Task Board
- Personal and Shared Calendar
- Project Templates
- Advanced Project Management
- Track Non-Billable Time
- Time Locking
Pricing: The paid plan starts from $26 per user/month.
Evernote is a comprehensive note-taking app designed to help managers and their teams to plan, keep records, and manage projects from any device. You can use Evernote to create to-do lists and store all kinds of information about your files and projects in files and notes. Evernote is user-friendly and highly configurable and gives you easy access to features such as multi-device synchronization, web-clipping tools, search handwriting options, and document scanning so that you can bring speed and efficiency to your note-taking efforts without hassle. Evernote allows multiple people to collaborate on shared notebooks, which can be instantly updated and accessed from the desktop, mobile, or web device.
Some Powerful Features Include:
- Sync and Organize
- Web Clipper
- Templates
- PDF and Doc Search
- Spaces
- Search Handwriting
- Document Scanning
- Integration
Pricing: Free basic plan is available. The paid plan starts from $2.59 per user/month.
Workzone is a robust cloud-based project management software solution that focuses on document management and collaboration. Workzone can help project managers instantly see which projects are on track, which ones are falling behind, and what task is being performed by every team member. The software includes project dashboards that help users view listed projects with start and end dates, current status, percentage of the project completed, and notes. Users can create unlimited subtasks nested under specific general tasks or projects. Workzone has been around since 2000, and counts amongst the most reliable tried and tested online project management tools in the market.
Some Powerful Features Include:
- Project Dashboard
- To-Do Lists
- Gantt Chart
- Status Alerts
- Project Templates
- Task Dependencies
- Project Request Forms
- Workload Reports
- Time Tracking
- Document Sharing
- Secure File Sharing
Pricing: The paid plan starts from $24 per user/month.
For project managers, it’s not about choosing the best project management software available in the market but picking the right tool that offers the versatility, functionality, and desired features at an affordable price. That’s like asking everything under one roof! The good news is that you can easily find such a tool that offers you more bang for your bucks. The aforementioned five PM software solutions are already used by project managers and businesses to streamline workflow and achieve higher efficiency and productivity. Why should you be left behind? Go ahead, do your research, and pick the one that reduces your workload and make your day-to-day work much easier.