Thinking of switching to a new project management tool so that you can ensure greater success while dealing with various constraints? Pick a program that has the most suitable set of features and an affordable price. Also, the program must be simple to use so that there is hardly any learning curve involved.
Let’s take a look at key features which must be included in every project management software.
Work Intake Forms
This is one of the most essential features of project management software. Whatever tool you choose, it must offer intake forms, which must be easy to enter, modify and track. The offered options should allow you to prioritize certain work over other tasks. Typical work requests usually involve starting a new project, changing the scope and initiating the next PM phase.
Should the tool not offer this feature, your team would be communicating these requests through email, messenger or another similar channel, which would make it difficult to track and monitor them. Plus, some of the requests may even conflict with one another, and project changes might be carried out without necessary approval.
Tasks and Project Views
When deploying new processes or tools, resistance is often incurred at all organizational levels. But if your chosen tool has features that allow every single user to customize and modify the tool in any way they like, team collaboration and productivity will most likely increase. This is one of the most essential features of project management software because if it’s cumbersome, it won’t be used by most of your team.
Choose a software that accommodates different work objectives and styles and allows users to switch between views. Some of the key views to include are the following:
- Table View – this is similar to a standard spreadsheet, and thus, can be easily used by most people.
- Timeline View Or Gantt Chart – this view gives a complete visualization of the project, showing how every single activity is linked to other activities.
- List View – Similar to a typical to-do list, the list view is excellent for overseeing tasks that have to be completed.
- Board view – this is a preferred view when the agile approach is used for managing projects. Tasks can be put under different columns like to-do, under review, in process and completed.
Templates
Simple project management tools allow you to create and modify templates, which is quite handy for recurring projects. This eliminates the need for creating the entire project again from scratch, saving a significant amount of time at your end. Moreover, templates often serve as a checklist, ensuring that you proceed ahead with the project in a proper, step-based manner after considering and reviewing all variables. This leads to more predictable outcomes and greater project success.
Which features of project management software do you think are the most essential? Do let us know!
