What engineering management tools and software do you use?

1 Project management tools

Project management tools are essential for engineering managers to organize and monitor their projects from start to finish. They can help you define the scope, schedule, budget, and deliverables of your projects, as well as assign tasks, track dependencies, manage resources, and report on the status and outcomes. Some of the popular project management tools for engineering managers are Jira, Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Microsoft Project. These tools can help you create and update project plans, collaborate with your team and stakeholders, integrate with other tools and platforms, and automate workflows and notifications.

2 Communication tools

Communication tools are vital for engineering managers to facilitate clear and timely communication within and across their teams, as well as with external parties. They can help you share information, ideas, feedback, and updates, as well as resolve issues and conflicts. Some of the common communication tools for engineering managers are Slack, Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, and Email. These tools can help you create and join channels, groups, and meetings, send and receive messages, files, and links, conduct video and audio calls, and record and transcribe conversations.

3 Documentation tools

Documentation tools are important for engineering managers to create, store, and access various documents that are relevant to their projects and teams. They can help you document the requirements, specifications, designs, tests, and results of your engineering projects, as well as the policies, procedures, standards, and best practices of your engineering team. Some of the widely used documentation tools for engineering managers are Confluence, Google Docs, GitHub, GitLab, and Dropbox. These tools can help you create and edit documents, collaborate with your team and stakeholders, version control and track changes, and sync and backup files.

5 Risk management tools

Risk management tools are useful for engineering managers to identify, assess, and mitigate the potential risks that may affect their projects and teams. They can help you anticipate and prevent problems, as well as respond and recover from them. Some of the common risk management tools for engineering managers are Risk Register, FMEA, SWOT, PESTLE, and Monte Carlo. These tools can help you create and update risk lists, matrices, and diagrams, evaluate and prioritize risks, develop and implement risk mitigation strategies, and simulate and forecast risk scenarios and outcomes.

6 Problem-solving tools

Problem-solving tools are helpful for engineering managers to analyze and solve complex and challenging problems that may arise in their projects and teams. They can help you define and understand the problem, generate and evaluate possible solutions, and implement and monitor the chosen solution. Some of the popular problem-solving tools for engineering managers are Fishbone Diagram, 5 Whys, Brainstorming, Six Sigma, and Agile. These tools can help you identify and visualize the root causes, effects, and factors of the problem, collect and process data and information, involve and engage your team and stakeholders, and apply and improve your solution.