How to choose the best project management tools for you

To manage the lifecycle of a project, you need processes and tools to deliver work on time and on budget.

In this guide:

• What is project management software?
• How does project management software differ from task management software?
• What project management solution is best for you?
• Tips to find the best project management tool for you

What is project management software?

Project management software can make workflows less complex and projects more efficient by helping your team manage the stages of work through the project lifecycle.

A comprehensive tool can help with teamwork, time tracking, resource allocation, team collaboration, to do lists and so much more. The right tool can give you a timeline view of a project and workspaces to manage project workflows. Often it will boast customizable features.

Most software systems fail to take this end-to-end approach to project planning, focusing on only a few phases of the entire lifecycle.

Comprehensive project management tools give you the ability to track your team's progress on complex projects from start to finish. To find the right project management software for your team, ask yourself what you need:

• Do you need to manage multiple projects across multiple teams?
• A digital to-do list for more basic task management?
• Integration with CRM, financial systems, or accounting tools?
• Integration with Agile and Waterfall methods?

This will help you to establish what project management features you should prioritize.

Project management software vs. task management software

Project management software

Project management software provides an overview of the goals, resources, and processes for projects. It gives project managers the tools to:

• Organize large projects
• Break them down into tasks and subtasks
• Assign those tasks to individuals
• Check them off as they're completed

While no two applications are alike, they typically focus on three areas:

• Project communication
• Creating Agile workflows
• Aiding with specific project management methodologies

Pros:

Everything in one place

Many project management systems will give your team a single place to:

• Communicate
• Collaborate
• Assign tasks
• Proof documents
• Manage assets

Software solutions that make project information accessible to everyone can help to clear inefficiencies and bottlenecks and streamline processes. However, some project management software may fall short with ad-hoc requests that aren't part of the scope of projects or with sharing project information in real time.

Project tracking

Project management software enables you to track projects from when a team member submits a project request to when the work is completed and reported. This gives you a daily rundown of your team’s tasks and a 360-degree view of your projects so you can check on the overall project’s progress or specific tasks at a glance.

Universal access (from anywhere)

Want to know what your team is working on? Easy. Advanced project management software now gives everyone access to the latest data and project status at any time. And if you choose a cloud-based project management tool with a mobile app, team members can easily access their projects at work or on the go.

Cons:

Learning curve

Some project management tools may have a steep learning curve for new users to become familiar with.

Costs

Most project management companies are transparent about their costs—some are not.

Downtime

It may take time to plan a project, define milestones, enter everything into some project management systems, and allocate tasks to team members.

Unnecessary complexity

Some project management software may cause novice project managers to generate complex projects that could have been simpler.

Task management software

Task management software focuses on tasks as the smallest unit of work. Typical features include:

• Task creation
• Visualization
• Notification capabilities for individual projects
• Ongoing corporate task management

Pros:

Easy to use

Task management systems allow team members to get on board reasonably fast with little learning curve. They are easy to use. That means they’ll be checking off their to-do lists and task dependencies with little or no downtime.

Granular control

Do you want a micro view of what your team members are working on at any given time? Task management systems typically allow for greater granular control of what people are working on to help you track progress.

Tracking ad-hoc tasks

When your boss adds a small but unexpected task to your to-do list this can easily be added to your dashboards in real time to make tracking one-off job requests that aren't part of larger projects easy.

Cons:

Limited view

Task management software covers one small part of work. So, team members may not be able to see the entire scope of a project. If you need a bird's-eye view of your project timelines, task management may not be the best choice.

Fooled by "free”

There are many task management systems that offer free versions—but don't be fooled. Many of their ‘free’ versions are substantially less full featured than their paid options.

Short-term gains

Task management tools are great for managing your team members’ day-to-day workloads. But they're not optimized as a long-term solution for resource management, team collaboration, and wider project management.

What project management software is best for you?

Choosing the right productivity software for your team is not a one-size-fits-all process. The hands-down best project management software for one organization may not be right for another.

You may initially target project management software that gets your team from A to B. But what if you could arrive at point Z with the same effort and cost? Some days, your team needs a big picture, project-level view. Other times you need a granular view. You might consider project management software that spans the whole project management process.

Out-dated project management tools

Whether you realize it or not, you are probably already using some form of project management strategy:

• Emails
• Status meetings
• Sticky notes
• To-do lists
• Spreadsheets

While these simple project planning approaches might seem helpful, they weren't designed for managing digital work. And it’s not always easy (or fast) to get the right information to the right people, at the right time.

Piecemeal tools

Many tools promoted as comprehensive project management systems really only emphasize the execution phase of the project lifecycle. So, you end up having to invest in various other tools to manage the full lifecycle of your project. That might include:

• Helping ticket systems to manage project requests
• Resource planning software to help with the planning or coordination phases
• Analytics or reporting tools to provide the insights you need

Before you know it, you’ve invested in a dozen or more different tools to help you manage your projects — from resource management and project planning to project timelines and kanban boards.

The requirement to invest in many different tools and systems to successfully manage your projects from beginning to end has made the term "project management systems" feel unsuitable.

Vendors characterizing their less-than-comprehensive tools as complete project management systems has led to confusion. And the terms “work management software” or “enterprise work management” have surfaced.

Modern processes incorporate digital project management tools to automate and streamline the different phases of work. These tools allow you to:

• Standardize your processes
• Optimize your resources
• Improve reporting accuracy to increase project success rate

Managing projects in the digital age

Project management systems should address the complete project management lifecycle. They should represent everything you wanted and expected from the project management tool in the first place.

When researching workload management tools, think big. Ask what are its end-to-end capabilities? And how do those capabilities help you through your entire project management lifecycle?

Managing workload requests from a central location

Effective project management begins with a well-thought-out intake process. You need to be able to manage requests in one place — no more work assignments delivered via email, sticky notes, or in meetings.

People need to see their workloads on a kanban board or dashboard with clear deadlines so they can handle their own task management. Collaboration tools allow them to notify people when work is ready to be reviewed so project timelines can be updated.

Once you can see all the work that’s coming in real time, you'll be able to:

• Accept the right work
• Prioritize and assign tasks correctly
• Keep your team focused on the most important work

Mapping resource to workload

At some point, you’ll need to balance project timelines and budget with limited resources. The ability to quickly assess people’s workloads is key. Evaluating projects and breaking them down into manageable pieces is the first step. But you also need real-time visibility into task turnaround times to address issues that cause gaps between planned vs. actual hours.

With this information, you'll be able to make smart resource management decisions that have a positive impact on your organization.

Organize tasks and portfolios

The modern enterprise needs more than a tool that just logs tickets. Project management software allows you to organize your work to align to business goals. Building hierarchies like programs and project portfolios gives you visibility into the status of work happening across your team, leaving you more time to deliver true value.

Project management with Workfront

The right project management tools or software empowers you and your team to do your best work. Workfront project management software helps you balance expectations with aggressive goals. Your team can get more done, without sacrificing quality or running themselves into the ground.

Automate workflows

Manually handling repeatable workflows such as routing, reporting, documenting approvals, updating work, and enforcing compliance processes slows you down. Automate project steps and processes, including online proofing, with a tool that allows you to build custom templates and assign work based on role, availability, or skill set.

Facilitate collaboration

Collaboration is the cornerstone of innovation. But being truly collaborative can slow work down. Sending emails back and forth, scheduling meetings or conference calls, and relying on instant messages make it feel impossible to keep everyone in the loop and keep projects moving forward.

Choose project management software with built-in collaboration tools so your team can:

• Have discussions
• Make decisions
• Track progress

Deliver reports and insights

To remain competitive and prove your team’s value, you need to be able to quickly analyze performance and make improvements. Update stakeholders and make sure you can demonstrate your successes or make corrections where projects might be drifting.

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Find project management software that addresses your team’s needs

There is no objective “best” project management software solution that will work for every individual, department, or team. But you can find project management software that can address your team's specific needs.

Some project management tools are best for enterprise-level creative teams who blend Agile and Waterfall methodologies and talk about things like sprints and scrums. There are other tools that are best for startup tech companies with a total of five employees spread across three different states.

Tips to find the best project management tools for you

1. Become a better decision-maker

Become a better decision-maker by setting some rules for what you want from a project management tool and from its vendor. Make a list of important factors and remove options that do not meet your criteria. Some good things to include could be where they are based, or how well-known the brand is.

2. Choose from only your favorite options

There are more than 400 possibilities for your project management software. So how do you make the right choice? You can make your decision easier by narrowing down your list.

Don’t decide from a pool of over 400 options. Choose from a pool of five options. Test a few likely candidates and choose the best of those.

3. Weigh simplicity against features

If you’re working with a small, startup team, you may find all the features you need in a small, startup project management tool. The newer the tool, the more likely it is to be user-friendly and easy for onboarding, and to include the latest design and user-experience features.

But if you are working with a large team on complex projects, you may prefer a well-established enterprise-level work management tool. Here, the vendor has had time to refine their product, build in specialized features and customize it for different needs.

Take a free product tour of Workfront.