10 Tools to Help you Keep Track of Your Project
Keeping a to-do list and sharing with the whole team is essential for running a project smoothly. Perhaps the most common way to keep a to-do list is by just using a pen and paper or a regular text document on your computer. But although this is the easiest way to do it, it also comes with tons of drawbacks.
When keeping track of your project, you will sometimes want to give access to multiple people to edit or read the to-do list. And when multiple people constantly add new tasks to your to-do list it will most probably become pretty big very soon. Then you will want to organize it some way.
What you really need is a project management tool. There are plenty of them out there and each one comes with different useful features. The best news is that if your run a small team of 3-10 people, you can easily stick to a free option.
We’ve gathered some of the best for you.
(Check also: 12 Great Small Business Tools Every Entrepreneur Needs To Get Familiar With)
Google Docs
The good old Google Docs is one of the best options for you. Your team will only need a Google account to use it and almost everybody has one these days. With this absolutely free account, you can create documents, presentations, emails, spreadsheets, calendars and much more. You can easily share each file with other people and let them also edit it. This makes Google Docs a perfect option not only for keeping track of project but also for team collaboration.
Pricing: Free
Evernote
Evernote is a popular note-taking app but has some very advanced features that make it suitable for project management as well. You can simply add notes, create notebooks, share files with other team member and much more. Evernote also has great Android and iOS apps that make it really easy to have all your information available on all your devices.
Pricing: The basic package is free and there are two paid packages costing $19.99 per year and $39.99 per year respectively.
Trello
Trello is a web application that makes it very easy to arrange notes into different categories and collaborate with other team members. Organizing your work takes just a few minutes and the drag and drop functionality makes it really easy to use it. You can add comments, tags, due dates and much more to every note so that you can then easily find what you are looking for.
Pricing: The basic package is free. There are also two paid packages at $8.33 per user per month and $20.83 per user per month.
Basecamp
In Basecamp, all users can access a custom dashboard and see all project activities and additional information about them. The app makes it easier to assign a task to other team members and open discussions. Basecamp has some advanced features as well, such as managing communications with partners and external vendors.
Pricing: Offers both a free package and paid packages starting from $29/mo.
Flow
With tons of great features, Flow is another pretty solid project management app. It has so many features that you won’t need email or any other team collaboration tool whatsoever. Flow lets you chat with other team members, assign tasks to them, add and edit due dates, comment on tasks. You can also use it on all your devices as it has an Android and iOS app.
Pricing: No free plan. It only offers a 14-day free trial. There are several different plans based on the number of people on your team. It will cost you $19/mo for the smallest package and $399/mo for the biggest.
Azendoo
Azendoo is another popular project management tools. Its main focus is teams, but you can use it to manage your own personal project as well. Azendoo integrates also with plenty of other popular services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, GitHub, MailChimp and much more.
The tool also comes with 10GB of free storage where you can put your files. You can assign tasks to team members, check their status and make comments on each of them. Azendoo allows you to have all your data on all your devices and of offers both Android and iOS app.
Pricing: They offer a free version with certain limitations. You can also pay $7.5 per user per month to get access to the premium version.
Asana
One of the most popular products on this list, Asana is good both for individuals and for teams. You can add multiple projects and keep track of them simultaneously, set goals and milestones and organize everything in the most convenient for you way. Asana also offers Android and iOS apps which mean that you can keep track of your projects on all your devices. Some pretty big companies are using Asana, such as Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Dropbox.
Pricing: Teams up to 15 people can use the tool for free. For $8.33 you can upgrade to the premium package which will give you access to more advanced features.
Podio
Podio is a cloud-based project management tool that gives you access to all your work-related information. You can assign tasks, keep track of them, attach files to them, see the status and much more. You can also integrate plenty of other apps to Podlio, including Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, Zendesk and others.
Podio is trusted by some very big teams, such as Sony, Volvo and Garmin.
Pricing: There is no free plan. Instead, there are several premium packages starting from $9 per month per employee.
Producteev
Producteev is a really simple tool that lets you keep track of your projects. Working with the app is pretty easy as its design looks very similar to a mail client. You have task lists with multiple tasks that can be marked done or not done. You can also add subtask within tasks, set priorities, add labels, set deadlines and much more.
Pricing: There is a free version with all important features. The only limitation is the lack of integration opportunities. The Pro version is the same except you can integrate Producteev with Outlook, have personalized support and some customization options. The Pro version will cost you $99 per month.
Wrike
Another good option is Wrike. The tool lets you create tasks, set up discussions withing tasks, keep track of the progress in real time and much more. It also has Android and iOS apps, as well as the ability to integrate it with some really useful cloud storage services, such as Google Drive, Box or Dropbox. The paid versions provide some really advanced features, such as dashboards, time-tracking, etc.
Pricing: Wrike offers a free version that is limited for teams up to 5 people and has some other limitations. Prices for the paid packages that offer more advanced features start from $49/mo.
