Your team is struggling to stay organized. What cloud-based project management tools can help?

I believe that to help teams stay organized in an organization, several cloud-based project management tools offer robust features: 1-monday.com: Known for its user-friendly interface and customizable workflows, monday.com assists teams in organizing tasks efficiently. 2-Wrike: A cloud-based solution offering features like task management and collaboration, Wrike is suitable for teams looking for comprehensive project organization. 3-Asana: Renowned for its task and project tracking capabilities, Asana helps teams stay organized by providing a centralized platform for collaboration. 4-Trello: Particularly useful for visual project management, Trello helps teams organize tasks using boards and cards, enhancing overall project visibility.

With emphasis on documentation being a pre-requisite for process stage gates, audit, compliance, deliverables and overall process governance, the real time collaboration capabilities that cloud based tools provide cannot be be compared with offline tools. Just few years back a single document had to be shared to multiple people over emails ( attachment sizes and possibilities being a corrupted was always a challenge ) as compared to today time when multiple people can collaborate over a single document and even digitally sign it and update it back to the cloud tool. Additionally, cloud based tools are providing more visibility on the intended security expected to be applied on the usage of these cloud based tools .

Today, when managing a project, it is mandatory that all the materials and data for its management be accessible to all the project leaders so that they can promote the project at any moment and from anywhere. The possibility of this happening is only if the data is in the cloud

1Asana is a versatile tool that enables teams to organize tasks, set priorities, and track project progress. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy for teams to stay on top of their work. 2.Jira, particularly popular for software development, provides robust project management features. It allows for detailed issue tracking, agile planning, and collaboration among team members. 3. Monday.com provides a visual and collaborative platform for project management. It’s customisable, allowing teams to create workflows that suit their specific needs.

It's a precise question to be shared publicly, when it comes to tools: it depends on the engaged and assigned teams, the available options inside the organization in terms of what's best for the business and its defined requirements, also, the top-rated tools in the market and how the set of teams interact with. Based on this, it could be much easier to pick the most effective and suitable tool to achieve the business needs.

During the 25 years I have been a project manager, I have used a variety of software and tools in recent years, we must progress to cloud-based management tools because that is where the world of project management progresses and the answer is the best

A simple capability to bulk import / update/ edit data is a key differentiator as decision on the choice of tools keeps changing with ever changing requirements and people. This is where this feature makes a lot of difference as the historical data from the legacy tool can be imported / loaded to the new tool.

Cloud-based project management tools offer real-time collaboration, enabling teams to work seamlessly from different locations. They provide centralized storage for documents, fostering efficient sharing and version control. Task tracking and scheduling functionalities enhance organization and streamline project timelines. These tools often include communication features like chat and notifications, fostering team cohesion. Overall, they provide accessibility, scalability, and improved coordination, addressing organizational challenges in a dynamic and collaborative manner.

As in the past, so today there are quite a few tools for project management. The important thing is to adapt the tool to the specific project so that it gives the best answer to project management and to raise interest.

One of the biggest factors I consider when selecting any digital tool is integration with existing systems used in a cross functional environment. Nothing happens in a vacuum and if your project management software isn't well integrated with the systems used company wide, you risk putting a wedge between your team and the rest of the organization.

In my experience, when choosing a cloud-based management tool, One of the first things I consider is "ease of use". This is because in a team where some stakeholders are not tech savvy, you would have a back and forth of how they will use the tool. This may end up delaying your project and team synergy. Whichever tool you choose to go with, training and onboarding is very important.

Be specific about needs of all teams involved in project. Try to understand current needs, and what you perhaps will come to need. Explore different tools, they usually offer "free" accounts for a while.

Assess team needs: Identify specific project requirements, collaboration preferences, and team size to determine features necessary for effective management. Scalability and flexibility: Choose a tool that can scale with your team's growth and offers flexibility to adapt to changing project dynamics. User-friendly interface: Prioritize tools with an intuitive interface to ease adoption and reduce the learning curve for your team. Integration capabilities: Ensure the selected tool integrates seamlessly with existing software and apps to streamline workflows and enhance productivity. Security and compliance: Prioritize tools that adhere to industry standards, ensuring data security and compliance with regulations.

There are many great cloud-based project management tools to assist in keeping your team organized. Jira is great for agile project management, Smartsheet offers versatile spreadsheet-based solutions, Asana provides task and project tracking, Trello is known for its visual boards, and Miro is excellent for collaborative online whiteboarding. Choose the one that aligns best with your team's needs and preferences.

There are more advanced project management software such as monday.com that give more options for the project manager. each software has it own advantage

In some cases, I use Jira. For those unfamiliar, it's a software platform developed by Atlassian, highly versatile for project management, especially in software development environments and agile teams. It's robust for issue tracking, enabling teams to efficiently create, prioritize, and assign tasks. It's flexible for customizing workflows, managing sprints, and tracking project progress. It's well-known among developers, allowing integrations with other tools and offering a detailed view of a project's lifecycle. It's worth it.

??I find the change of working with JIRA, Azure DevOps, Polarion, and Confluence. Every cloud-based solution somehow has its unique way of working and advantages. Hence, assess your situation and expectations of your environment then choose the best for your team and yourself.

In my professional life, I work a lot with Basecamp, which I find very convenient for continuous feedback collection on various assets. Trello works great as internal workflow overview tool.

In my experience, the key to overcoming organizational challenges lies not just in tools, but in a mindset shift. Instead of relying solely on cloud-based project management tools, consider fostering a culture of clear communication and accountability within your team. While tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday.com are popular, their effectiveness is contingent on a well-defined organizational structure and committed team members. Prioritize aligning goals, clarifying responsibilities, and establishing open lines of communication before turning to any specific tool. Tools enhance processes but don't substitute for a robust team dynamic.

If your team is struggling, cloud-based project management tools like Asana, Trello, and Monday.com provide user-friendly platforms for task management, helping to organize and prioritize work. For more robust project tracking and resource management, tools like Microsoft Project and Smartsheet are effective. Slack and Microsoft Teams are excellent for team communication and collaboration. For document sharing and real-time collaboration, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are useful. These tools can enhance team coordination, communication, and productivity, addressing common team challenges effectively.

A starting point would definitely be a simple excel based online tracker ( Microsoft Excel shared over OneDrive or Google sheets shared over GDrive) with fewer columns and pre-filled drop downs to immediately start collecting the information from the key resources and make it acceptance in usage as simple as possible prior to adopting a cloud based management tool . A key take away from past experience is to define the template in such a way so that importing it into any cloud based tool is possible.

Consider looking at your PM Processes and how you are tackling each project phases. If you have issues or “waste” in your process, having a tools itself will not result in a permanent solution. Instead of jumping onto digitising or digitalising, look at streamlining or optimising your processes. Remove the WASTE to improve your FLOW.

Be always prepared to change from one to another tool. Its just way it is. All tools evolve, and so do your projects and teams.