Project Management Tools: How to reduce them

Project Management tools: – Organization of tasks, monitoring of projects progress, identification of the causes of a problem, management of resources, etc. The responsibilities of a project manager are many and varied.

With the development of the Internet and the development of new technologies, a growing number of tools and methods have been added to existing ones in order to simplify project management on a daily basis for the project manager and his team. These tools allow framing the projects as soon as they are initiated and throughout their life cycle. Practices, they make life easier, but to use too much, you can waste time juggling between different project management tools.

The Various Project Management tools

Discover the essential project management tools for effective project management and the solution to reduce the amount of tools you use. These project management tools help you effectively manage one or more projects simultaneously and guarantee their success. Simple and easy to use, they should make life easier for the project team and not waste time. Generally, each task has its dedicated tool to simplify it.

1. Plan and Monitor Project Progress

Any self-respecting project leader knows the Gantt chart. It is the planning tool par excellence, indispensable to plan the different tasks of the project and visualize their progress in real time. It is a dashboard that gives you a global view of the progress of your project, the next steps and the progress of the various tasks.

2. Prioritize tasks

To be efficient and productive, it is important to prioritize the different tasks of your project. For this, you must first know how to distinguish between what is urgent and what is important. The Eisenhower matrix is ​​a very good analytical tool for classifying tasks as important and / or urgent.

3. Manage Tasks

Not to forget a task and know where you are, you need checklists or checklists and to-do lists. With these tools, you know what you need to do, when and with whom. You can set the start date and the end date of each task and the time allocated. You are perfectly in charge of managing your tasks.

4. To Manage time

Time is a determining factor in the success of a project. So measuring it is essential. For this, time sheets are the ideal tool.

Contrary to popular belief, time sheets are an excellent tool for project follow-up. They provide visibility into the workload of each member of the project team and give the project manager visibility into project costs, activities and profitability. You will love to use timesheets.

5. Identify the Causes of a Problem

Because managing a project is far from being a long, quiet river, you are going to have to deal with uncertainties and problems. In order to find the causes of a problem you are confronted with, there are several methods like the Ishikawa Diagram or the 5P method.

6. Budget tracking

To ensure the success of your project, you must follow the evolution of the budget allocated with precision. To do this, you have to equip yourself with a powerful tool that allows you to follow the evolution of the budget in real time and thus take the necessary measures in case of exceeding.

7. Facilitating Collaboration

Other success factors for a project include communication and collaboration among your team members. Collaborative messaging and online calendars allow the team to communicate and collaborate more easily.

8. Sharing Information

In order to work efficiently, it is essential to simplify the sharing of documents, to group them on the same platform accessible to all concerned and to work systematically on the latest version.

Choose the Project Management Software

Each of these tools has its utility and importance. So you can not eliminate one for the benefit of another. The problem is that with this amount of different tools, you spend more time juggling from one tool to another rather than actually working on your project.

The solution? Switch to the project management software. Like a Swiss knife, it brings together all the tools you need to carry out your project. Today, there is no more project management software available: free or paid, online or standalone, with a number of features more or less extended. This tool has become indispensable to manage and follow your projects effectively. Discover the benefits of implementing project management software in our dedicated article.

For example, Planzone offers you all the collaborative tools you need to organize your project and your tasks, thus working efficiently in a team, all on one platform:

• Gantt chart
• Resource Management
• Task Manager
• Document Sharing
• Wiki Space
• Collaborative Messaging
• Project Schedule
• Project Dashboard
• Multi-Project Management
• Timesheets
• Project report

This software generally allows automation of backup tasks and / or time management. Thus, you free your mind from binding tasks to focus on the tasks that contribute to the progress of your project.  

To Conclude

Planning and control are essential to the success of a project. There is a wide variety of tools available to help you plan and monitor the progress of your projects on a daily basis. But rather than using a whole range of tools, make life easier and opt for project management software!