5 Project Management Apps Anyone Can Use
Its no secret that every business, no matter what you do or how big your company is, needs some kind of system to keep everything in one place, easy to find information and track your growth.
For us creatives, we all work in very different ways (perks of having one of THOSE kinds of minds), and for me personally, finding the right project management system has been the biggest headache. I kept chopping. changing and trialling SO MANY systems that to this day, I am still unsubscribing from all these online software companies pushing their product onto me.
I found, its the providers that left me alone to experiment with their system that actually worked the best for me. Simple things like to do lists, project notes and attachments, and especially in my field of work, the ability to communicate with my clients through one platform.
I’ve even received feedback from my clients that I invite to use these systems how easy it is to discuss certain elements of their design project, ask questions and retrieve/send files in an all-in-one platform that keeps both our inbox’s much tidier.
All the platforms mentioned below also have the ability to include co-workers (which opens up even more opportunity for a streamlined, well organised communication tool). Which is perfect if you hire help externally from another part of the world. All have the option to upgrade and unlock more features, but for this article, I will be only commenting on the features you get with the free versions.
Asana
My chosen weapon of mass organisation is Asana. Not only is this platform visually pleasing with a clean and modern aesthetic, but its a fantastic communication tool to use with my clients for their design projects. You can choose whether to view your project in the traditional list style or if you prefer, the kanban “card” layout. You can set up an entire workspace and invite your client to the project. They will only be able to see that specific project. With the ability to assign tasks to your client with due dates, a section for conversations (keeps lengthy chats out of the comments section of each task) and a folder for every single attachment that’s been uploaded to that project. Couple this with the app, you’ll never miss a thing. The visual layout of your project helps keep you accountable and wanting to tick off more of those tasks.
Trello
Similar to Asana, but limited to the Kanban “card” style format, Trello is like a digital sticky-note organiser. Enhance your organising experience with power-ups! Trello offer 1 free power-up on the free plan, however, if you’d like more, you need to upgrade to the subscription (which is a crazy affordable $5 a month!). Some useful power-ups I’ve used in the past are the Calendar, Google Drive, Voting, Mailchimp and Evernote. There are tonnes of power-ups that make this platform really customisable to your business and how you want to run it. Even with the free version, you get so many useful features such as coloured tags, task assignment, due dates and task tracking/progress. The visual overview is perfect for teams or multiple projects.
Airtable
If you’re the type of person that can’t give up the humble spreadsheet, then airtable is the one for you. It’s like a supercharged, better looking spreadsheet with the ability to summarise all your data in anyway that you see fit. Offering various views, incorporating forms and data collection and a summary table that can give you real time updates on anything you like. Assign tasks to your team, categorise tasks, track sales, get a calendar view of your projects and have data collected and directly put into your project management system with ease. A word of warning though… it can look very complex to set up. Be sure to watch the guide videos to help you get an understanding of how it all works. Once you’ve mastered those skills, its an incredibly useful and completely custom tool.
Any.Do
A digital to-do list you can access from anywhere, Any.Do is a really clean, easy to use and powerful task manager that can not only sort out your work life, but your personal one also. Each morning it will prompt you to prioritise your tasks for the day but adding it to your today list, completed list, or snooze for later. Sorting your lists into today, tomorrow, upcoming and someday, this helps with anyone who feels easily overwhelmed by a long to do list. Allowing you to focus on just what needs to be done today. Combined with a calendar view, subtasks, categories, assigning tasks and scheduling of tasks, it quickly replaces the stock standard calendar and note apps that come on mobile devices. The bonus of being able to access it from anywhere and any device means you’ll never miss a task.
Slack
Slack is by far one of the most popular tools used across every industry of today. An extemely powerful communication tool that boasts important features and add-ons to ensure it works with every business. An extrememly flexible product that encorporates the intuitive “chat” interface but categorises and sorts your messages, teams and projects by “channels”. I’m not going to lie, there’s a few shortcuts you need to learn in order to get the most potential out of it, but once you learn handy commands such as “/remind” it becomes your personal assistant in your pocket. Extremely helpful for teams of any size, free to use and the benefits of effective communication will be sure to elevate your productivity.