Starting a small business can be extremely rewarding, but at the same time, a bit difficult to manage.
Besides financial constraints, small business owners already have too much on their plates. And, it’d be no surprise if they miss out on important client meetings, fail to meet deadlines, or deliver half-cooked projects.
That being said, such inconveniences can easily be avoided with the help of project management tools.
Speaking from experience, project management tools are the ultimate solution for small businesses. From handling daily tasks to long-term projects, such tools can come in handy in every business operation.
Below, I’ll share my picks for four of the best project management tools out there. So, let’s get started.
Asana
It is one of the free project management tools on this list. From assigning tasks to your team to setting deadlines and managing multiple projects simultaneously, Asana is a perfect project management tool.
Additionally, Asana offers comprehensive ways to keep a watchful eye on different projects. With the help of Kanban Board, Calendar View, and List View, Asana lets you organize tasks and projects in multiple ways.
That said, what I like the most about Asana is the integration options. You can integrate Asana with more than 300 tools and software, such as Microsoft Teams, Tableau, Slack, etc.
However, there’s one thing you need to be careful of when integrating Asana or any project management tool with third-party software. Such tools are already bandwidth-heavy and require a high-speed and reliable connection when integrated with other software to work like a breeze.
I had a similar experience with Asana some time ago. I integrated Asana with Slack and Power BI, and it failed to sync data across these platforms. However, only when I switched to a faster network, Cox Internet, was I able to resolve this problem.
Plus, I recently called Cox Customer Service to upgrade my plan since I was about to integrate a few more third-party tools. So, while project management tools can greatly help, ensure that your connection is a fast and reliable one, especially when you plan to integrate it with other tools.
Monday.com
It is probably the best workflow automation tool for small businesses. Monday.com lets you create different automations from scratch. You can automate almost every possible type of work, and if you don’t want to create one, this service offers built-in templates as well.
These templates have predefined rules, but they’re customizable as well. So, with a few tweaks, you can create a workflow automation to automate any business operation you want.
Also, what I like most about Monday.com is the number of widgets it offers. To name one, I’d say the budgeting widget is the most helpful one for me. With this widget, I can easily track the cost of different projects in real-time.
Smartsheet
This is one of the most advanced tools when it comes to creating dashboards. Effective project management includes dashboards to clearly review and understand data. And with Smartsheet, you can create informative dashboards to understand your business performance.
On Smartsheet, you can find a lot of customization options within a dashboard. You can visualize the data in any way you want. Plus, you can choose to display only the key metrics related to a project.
Created dashboards can be integrated with third-party tools, and the data is automatically updated on them. This way, as soon as you open a dashboard on Smartsheet, you can view the latest data and numbers related to a specific project.
Last but not least, there is also a content collaboration tool available on this platform. You can use it to review other projects, leave remarks or instructions, or approve/decline projects without leaving the platform.
ClickUp
It is a complete all-in-one project management tool. In my opinion, no other tool is more customizable than ClickUp. You can customize almost every single feature of this platform in any way you want. Additionally, ClickUp offers a built-in time tracking and workload management tool. These features can offer real-time insights about project deadlines and your team’s capacity to handle more tasks.
Other than this, ClickUp also offers built-in communication tools with a variety of features. That said, you can easily replace your external communication platform with it. And this way, you won’t even have to leave the platform to message your teammates.
Also, another great feature of ClickUp is Whiteboards. This feature allows you to brainstorm different ideas and offer suggestions related to your projects.
So, these are the four project management tools that I believe are some of the best. You can easily share your business responsibilities with these tools.
And to conclude, I’ve got a little suggestion to share. Always avail the free trial period that comes with these tools. Once you ensure that these tools work for you, only then should you buy their subscription.
