Project managers share many common challenges, regardless of what industry they work in. The trifecta of managing time, budget and scope applies to any project in any line of work. It’s incredibly important for project managers to have effective ways to combat scope creep, maintain constant communication within their team and prepare for contingency. Fortunately, the advent of technology has brought invaluable tools to the world of project management that keeps a project team and tasks ticking along just as they should.
At Prime Engineering, we apply our project management expertise to help our clients solve their toughest engineering and technical problems. We’re all about finding the most efficient way to get the job done, so here are some of our favourite project management tools that we recommend you use to keep your project on track.
Asana
Now a staple of the project management world, Asana is a versatile yet straightforward tool that is designed for those who favour organisation through to-do lists. In order to keep to project deadlines, it is crucial that tasks are laid out as a plan for each day to ensure progress continues to be made and nothing gets missed. It’s incredibly easy to create, manage and share tasks with colleagues in Asana, making collaboration between project team members a breeze.
You can get really granular with task-making in Asana, as the functionality allows you to break it down into sub-tasks and assign category tags to each subtask for greater definition. And while projects are generally presented as to-do lists in Asana, the tool still offers the option of working in Kanban board format or calendar views, which means that it can be set up to suit a range of working styles.
Trello
If you prefer to be able to track your tasks as they move through the various stages of your project, then Trello is the tool for you. Trello presents your project in workflow format, otherwise known as the Kanban board style, which provides a visualisation of your work in progress. In Trello, starting a new project is as simple as creating a new board, inviting your project team members to the board and assigning them individual tasks.
Trello is particularly useful if your project team is geographically dispersed, as it is the ultimate tool for facilitating virtual collaboration in project management. Being such a visual tool, Trello takes all the information out of your spreadsheets and endless email trails and presents it in a way that makes project task management more central and structured.
Wrike
Gantt charts – they’re a project management technique that is as old as the hills, and for good reason. Wrike is one of the standout project management tools that is built upon the Gantt chart method. The tool offers interactive Gantt charts, visual reporting, time tracking and even financial management all wrapped up in one very intuitive interface. With its customisable dashboards, Wrike is particularly effective through its ability to streamline and automate project processes, which means that you can spend less time worrying about individual tasks and dedicate more time to looking at the big picture of project progress.
Tools not enough? Talk to the experts.
As helpful as all of these tools can be in the management of your projects, what they all lack is the ability to help you make decisions based on specialist knowledge and expertise. Sometimes you just need some help to build something big! That’s where Prime Engineering comes in. You might have a clear vision of the project outcome you want, but to get the very best results, you need to bring in a team of experts to guide you along the way.
At Prime, we employ our extensive experience in engineering analysis and design by applying the latest technological ideas, software and tools, meaning that for any engineering problem you need solved, there’s no one better to ask than us. Let us help you make sure your project stays to the time, budget and scope requirements you need. Get in touch with us to see how we can work with you to smash your project goals!
