You’re a small business owner who needs to manage projects. What tools should you use?

1 Project management software

Project management software is an essential tool for project coordination, allowing you to create, assign, and monitor tasks, set milestones and deadlines, track progress and performance, and collaborate with your team and stakeholders. There is a wide range of project management software options available, from free to paid, from simple to complex, and from web-based to desktop. When selecting a project management software, look for features such as an easy-to-use interface with customization options, integration with other tools and apps you use, reporting and analytics capabilities, security and data protection measures, and support and training.

2 Budgeting tools

A budgeting tool is an essential tool for project coordination. It helps you estimate, allocate, and manage your project costs, revenues, and profits. You need to have a clear and realistic budget for your project and track your actual spending and income against it. A budgeting tool can be used to create and update your project budget, categorize and track your expenses and income, compare your planned and actual budget, identify and resolve any budget issues or deviations, as well as generate and share budget reports.

3 Communication tools

Communication is essential for project coordination, as you must keep your team and clients up-to-date, involved, and in agreement throughout the project. To do this, you need a communication tool that allows you to instantly exchange messages, files, feedback, and updates, as well as plan and carry out meetings, calls, and presentations. This type of tool can help you create and maintain clear and consistent communication channels, streamline and automate your communication processes, reduce communication errors and misunderstandings, boost collaboration and teamwork, and increase customer satisfaction and retention.

4 Document management tools

Document management is an essential part of project coordination, as you need to create, store, organize, and share various documents and files related to your project, such as proposals, contracts, invoices, reports, and deliverables. To do this securely and efficiently, you should have a document management tool. Such a tool can help you create and edit documents online or offline, store and organize them in a centralized and searchable location, control and manage the access and permissions of your documents and files, sync and backup them across devices and platforms, as well as share and collaborate on them with your team and clients.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?