A project management software or tool allows companies and individuals to plan, schedule, and manage their projects and tasks. A project management software can be a Website, a desktop application, an app or a combination of all of them. A software project management software or tool allows software development teams to manage their software projects and tasks. In this article, I will discuss some of the top software project management tools that I use in my day-to-day project management.
Project management is a process of managing projects. A project can be any type of project such as building a home, renovating the kitchen, annual financial planning, building software, and creating a new website. A project usually includes a team of people.
Project Management Software
A software that is used to manage a project is called a project management software. We also call them project management tools. Microsoft Project is one such software tool that has been used by project managers to manage their projects for years.
Project management tools can be broken down into two major categories,
- On-premise: The product is installed on your company’s local machine or network. The company buys a number of server or individual licenses and installs on the number of machines.
- Cloud-hosted: Cloud-hosted tools are installed in a cloud by a provider and you buy a number of user subscriptions. All data stays on a centralized Web server. The customer front-end is served via a Website and/or an app. Today, cloud-based project/task management systems with mobile apps are more popular.
Key features of project management software
Here is a list of key features of a project management software.
- Personnel management: Provides functionality to manage team resources and their roles.
- Time management: Provides functionality to manage resources and their time spent on tasks.
- Cost management: Provide functionality to calculate the project cost, resources rates, and estimates.
- Real-time collaboration: Allows teams to collaborate and communicate in real-time, send messages, and discuss tasks.
- File management: Allows teams to store, share, view, and edit files and documents.
- Analytics and reporting: Allows teams to analyze work progress and generate reports including online views, PDFs, and Excel.
- Workflows and boards: Allows workflows and boards to track tasks, progress, time, and cost.
- Third-party integrations: Integration with third parties to import data, export data, and share files.
- Messaging and notifications: A key feature for teams to send messages and notifications.
Top project management software
Here is a list of top 21 project management software tools. The list is not in any particular order.
- Azure DevOps
- Jira Software
- Microsoft Project
- Excel
- Basecamp
- Asana
- Trello
- ProofHub
- Wrike
- LiquidPlanner
- Clarizen
- Quire
- Zoho Projects
- ProjectManager
- Mavenlink
- ActiveCollab
- Avaza
- Teamwork
- Workzone
- Paymo
- Monday.com
- Clickup
1. Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps, previously known as VSTS, is one of the most popular and powerful project management platforms available today. Azure DevOps integrates with Microsoft’s popular developer IDE, Visual Studio.
Azure Boards
Deliver value to your users faster using proven agile tools to plan, track, and discuss work across your teams.
Azure Pipelines
Build, test, and deploy with CI/CD that works with any language, platform, and cloud. Connect to GitHub or any other Git provider and deploy continuously.
Azure Repos
Get unlimited, cloud-hosted private Git Repos and collaborate to build better code with pull requests and advanced file management.
Azure Test Plans
Test and ship with confidence using manual and exploratory testing tools.
Azure Artifacts
Create, host, and share packages with your team, and add artifacts to your CI/CD pipelines with a single click.
2. Jira Software
Jira Software is designed for software teams to plan, track, release, and report software development tasks.
Jira uses today’s Agile methodology for tasks management. Features like Backlog let businesses add tasks, and teams can use boards to add tasks to their ToDo lists.
The planning feature of Jira lets teams create user stories and issues, plan sprints, and distribute tasks across your software team.
Team managers can prioritize and discuss your team’s work in full context with complete visibility.
Release managers can ship with confidence and sanity knowing the information you have is always up-to-date.
The reports feature lets you generate reports on team performance based on real-time, visual data that your team can put to use.
Jira comes in two versions, cloud and self-managed. Jira cloud pricing starts with $10 per month for up to 10 users. For bigger teams, the pricing is $7 per user per month. For users more than 250, the cost is reduced to $1.10 per user per month.
3. Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project (MS Project) is one of the most widely used project management tools by project managers. Microsoft Project is a part of MS Office product. It is available offline, online (cloud-based), and as an app.
Key features of MS Project include,
Built-in templates
Built-in, customizable templates use industry best practices to help you get started on the right path—so there’s no need to create project plans from scratch.
Project planning
Familiar scheduling features like Gantt charts and prepopulated pulldown menus help reduce training time and simplify the project planning process.
Systematic resource request
Use Resource Engagements to request and lock in resources, so your projects are always properly staffed.
Out-of-the-box reports
Share reports across your organization to keep everyone on the same page. Reports include everything from burndown charts to financials.
Multiple timelines
Quickly view all project activities, from tasks to upcoming milestones. Customize timelines to represent specific data and easily share them with project stakeholders.
Visual heat maps
- View how resources are used with Capacity heat maps. Quickly identify overused and underused resources to optimize assignments.
- Reporting in real time
- Track project success visually and dynamically by using out-of-the-box reports from the PPM Content Pack for Power BI for quick insights and drill down.
Robust resource analytics
- Compare resources across standard data and forecast projected usage. Built-in reports let you monitor progress and address concerns.
- Systematically evaluate project proposals
- Microsoft Project helps your organization capture and evaluate project ideas from anywhere within the organization, through a standardized process that feeds detailed business cases and project charters to management for review.
- Seamless BI integration
- Use tools like Power BI Pro and Excel to gain insights across portfolios. Native OData lets you quickly aggregate portfolio data with other line of business (LOB) systems for further reporting.
- Integrated collaboration solution
- Collaborate effectively with tools like Skype for Business (sold separately). Teams can access Skype in project plans, so there’s no need to switch between apps.
4. Excel
Microsoft Excel is not exactly a project management software but believe it or not, it has been used to manage more software projects than any other tool out there. Excel can be used to create custom fields, list of team members, assign their tasks, delivery dates, and manage them.
Excel also provides templates such as Simple Gantt Chart that allows you to add project details, team members, the tasks and start and end dates.
5. Basecamp
Basecamp is a website and a mobile app that provides tools such as To-do lists, message boards, schedules, document and file sharing, real-time group chats, direct messaging, emails, notifications, and reports to manage and execute projects and tasks.
Watch the following video to learn more.
6. Asana
Asana provides a cool user-friendly UI for teams to work on projects via its website and a mobile app. Key features of Asana include boards with drag and drop features, team and task assignments, messages, tasks lists, timeline, calendar, portfolios, messages, notifications, and assignments.
Watch the following video to learn more.
7. Trello
Trello is the easy, free, flexible, and visual way to manage your projects and organize projects. Key features of Trello includes team and task management, assignment of tasks, calendar, scheduling, boards, and reporting.
Watch the following video to learn more.
8. ProofHub
ProofHub comes packed with powerful features to eliminate the need of having too many different tools to run your business. Key features of ProofHub includes proofing, custom roles, white labeling, multilingual, task management, workflow and boards, Gantt charts, time tracking, live chats, calendar, file management, notes, project manager, project templates, notifications, emails, and reports.
9. Wrike
Wrike project management tool provides features including Gantt chart, real-time resource utilization, tasks, workflows, dashboards, and reports.
10. LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is a smart project management tool with features including smart schedules, resource management, cross-project visibility, contextual collaboration, integrated time and budget tracking, and advanced analytics.
Watch the following video to learn more.
11. Others
Clarizen, Quire, Zoho Projects, ProjectManager, Mavenlink, ActiveCollab, Avaza, Teamwork, Workzone, Paymo, and Monday.com are other top project management tools.