Best project management software 2023
The year is 2023. You’re organized, regularly crossing items off your to-do list with the help of the best project management software 2023, and leaving the office (or closing your laptop in your living room) before 5:00 PM. Not your reality yet? No problem.
It may seem complicated to maximize productivity with so many people working remotely or shifting to a hybrid work model, but it’s more attainable than ever. With the help of great project management software, you can revolutionize the way your team works together and manages their workload.
Topic: Best project management software 2023
What Is Project Management?
The concept of project management has been around since the early 20th century with the introduction of Henry Gantt’s Gantt charts. Over the last decade, however, modern project management technology has brought these principles into the everyday workplace. In fact, PWC found that 77% of high-performing teams use project management software. Coincidence? We don’t think so.
So what is project management exactly? A project is defined by the Project Management Institute as a temporary, unique undertaking that has a “specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal,” and often involves diverse groups working together.
The project is then managed through the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. The project management life cycle is divided into 5 phases: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing. The main goal of this entire process is to complete projects efficiently while producing quality results.
Topic: Best project management software 2023
What is Project Management Software?
Understanding project management tools help to clearly define what constitutes a project. According to the Project Management Institute, a project is a “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result." This includes five phases that need to be completed to achieve the objective. The phases are: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Any project management software should provide features for all these phases.
While the five phases stay the same, there are multiple approaches to project management. The most important include:
The phased approach: It is also known as waterfall project management. The phased approach is a series of distinct steps that depend on the completion of a previous phase. Project phases can only be managed in a linear sequence, making it difficult to correct errors.
The iterative and incremental method: Consists of repeated cycles. This means a deliverable can be reviewed and improved after its initial completion. This approach, also known as agile project management, can be particularly beneficial in software development.
Lean project management: It uses lean management principles to reduce waste while maintaining a high level of productivity. This approach helps companies identify and eliminate tasks that do not bring value to the company and the customer.
Critical chain project management: It is based on the theory of constraints (ToC), a management philosophy focusing on restrictions that may jeopardize the success of a project. By identifying the most critical constraints, companies can prepare to avoid project issues.
Process and product-based project management: It focuses on outcomes. It is a part of the benefits realization management approach. When the result is a product, the company defines and manages projects to optimize production and distribution. For professional services companies, the business processes are at the core of their project management strategy.
Project management software has evolved into new offerings, including professional services automation (PSA) software and project and portfolio management (PPM) software. PSA software includes back-office features, such as CRM and accounting, on top of project management. PPM solutions focus on unifying multiple types of projects and managing the interdependencies between them. Buyers need to understand the differences between these types of software to choose the best solution for their needs.
SMB companies may benefit from a PSA solution that combines project management and back office, thus providing a single data repository and an integrated system. A possible drawback of PSA is that it may not always include robust back-office features, which is why companies may prefer to choose a separate accounting or CRM solution.
Medium to large professional services providers can significantly benefit from PPM software, which allows them to manage projects with multiple stakeholders. PPM can be quite expensive and needs to integrate with other systems, such as ERP systems or CRM software, which usually requires extra investments.
Small companies are facing another critical challenge when evaluating project management software: the multitude of solutions that only provide subsets of a typical project management solution. A few examples are task management and project collaboration tools, which can be used to complement core project management features but not replace them. While these types of software are more affordable than project management solutions and can be a good option for startups and micro businesses, they usually become insufficient as a company grows.
Topic: Best project management software 2023
Who Uses Project Management Software?
Most employees, as well as the partners and customers, of a project-based business benefit from using project management software.
Employees: Project management software help employees involved in project execution, who need to know what they have to do and when. Employees also update the system when they complete tasks and use the software to communicate and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders. Through integration with other solutions, employees can track the time spent on each activity or check the availability of resources like equipment or components.
Project managers: Project managers need access to all the features of the system to define projects and resources and monitor all activities, but also to intervene and modify any part of a project when necessary. This can only be achieved through alerts and notifications with different levels of severity, which include workflows for escalation. Project managers are also involved in setting and managing access rights for internal and external users.
Executives: Executives mostly use analytics and reporting to monitor projects. Besides details on the status of the project, they also need information on the costs of the resources allocated and the overall effectiveness of each project. They can also benefit from using alerts and notifications when activities or stages of the project are completed.
Partners: It is important for partners, such as contractors or third-party providers of services that complement the offering of the company. Since external contributors are only involved in particular activities at different stages of the project, they need to access the information required to do their job and nothing more.
Customers: Customers may also use this type of software through dedicated portals to monitor the progress of one or multiple projects, provide feedback, and communicate with the service provider. For large and complex projects, customers may have a dedicated person or team responsible for the project; they could need access to the project management solution of the provider.
Topic: Best project management software 2023
Benefits Of Project Management Software
Resource management and cost tracking: The main reason why companies use this type of software is to manage resources and track costs for nonrepetitive business operations. For instance, marketing companies usually provide standard services such as social media promotion, but they may also create customized campaigns for large clients. The standard services are delivered in the same way to all customers and are therefore repetitive and require similar resources, which means that their cost is usually the same for every client. Custom campaigns can be completely different depending on the needs of the customer, meaning that the resources allocated to each project will also vary, and so will its costs.
Diversification of offering: Project management software offers the ability to combine multiple types of services to diversify the offering of a company. This flexibility allows teams to adapt to the changing preferences of their customer and market demand. The ability to quickly respond to market changes can be an essential competitive advantage in highly competitive industry sectors such as professional services.
Effectiveness and profitability tracking: Project management is needed to track the effectiveness and profitability of professional services activities. By allocating the right resources to the right tasks at the right time, project managers can deliver the project on time and on budget, which improves customer satisfaction and productivity.
Topic: Best project management software 2023
Best Project Management Software 2023
There are countless project management tools and productivity apps to help you hone in on tasks and projects like a pro. To help you make sense of it all, we’ve rounded up the best project management software to get you and your team just a little bit closer to total productivity paradise.
Task Monitor: You can Boost your team's productivity with free and premium time-tracking features! Take advantage of an intuitive and accurate time tracker to track the hours across your project, clients, and team tasks.
Desktop Software for Mac & Windows:
The stand-alone desktop software greatly enhances the features of the browser-based time tracker service. This is the intuitive time tracker software for your own needs and your team's. The most notable functions exclusive to the software application are:
- Offline support with auto-sync
- Idle time detection
- Auto-start time tracking
- Auto-pause if the user is idle
- Taking random screenshots*
- Tracking app usage*
- Tracking web usage*
- Tracking activity & idle time*
Export any timesheet to Excel or PDF format:
In a few seconds, you can filter your reports and create various exportable timesheets suited to your needs.
- Date range filter
- Export employee timesheets
- Export timesheets for clients
- Export project timesheets
- Export timesheets by task
- Export reports for easy printing
Get real-time insights into all your teamwork:
Monitor in real-time the team's daily activity, and employees' productivity, and track their app and web usage. Customize the time tracker and enable or disable monitoring features individually for each member of your team.
- Overview of hours spent
- Insights into employees' work patterns
- Monitor unexpected days off
- Detect possible delays in projects
- See who is working right now
Mobile-friendly Time Tracker App:
Track easily your time on your desktop, tablet, or on your smartphone! Track your team's performance, monitor their working time, and generate timesheet reports on any mobile device anytime and anywhere.
Generate timesheet reports automatically:
No more mistakes that cost you money in your timesheets with incorrect duration, dates, and time. Create a colorful timesheet automatically, no more manually created timesheets and calculations!
- Excel timesheet reports
- PDF timesheet reports
- Employee reports
- Client reports
- Project reports
- App usage reports
- Web usage reports
- Task note reports
Software Link: www.taskmonitor.xyz
Topic: Best project management software 2023