Uniting your team and preparing them to work as a unit is integral to the success of your projects. But without the proper tools to manage these projects, you may be doubling your efforts instead of optimizing it. By spending time maintaining a dozen spreadsheets and trying to stay on top of an overflowing inbox, you will be missing the opportunity to be strategic with your time. This is the importance of using the right tools for the job.

Below we tackle two general groups of tools that you should use for managing work more efficiently: your work management/collaboration tools and your personal productivity tools.

Project management tools can vary from team to team, but they are more commonly used as computer programs enabling project managers to plan, execute and manage their projects in one centralized virtual location.

Project management software can be used for any of the following:

1. Project planning
2. Project scheduling
3. Resource allocation and capacity planning
4. Budgeting and monitoring project costs
5. Quality management
6. Storing and sharing documentation and project records
7. Creating and publishing project reports
8. Tracking the actual time spent on project tasks versus plan
9. Analyzing trends and forecasting

Who should use project management tools?

Anyone that manages projects can benefit from a project management software. Even if you don't run formal projects or don't have "project manager" as your title, project management software still provides value.

In fact, many companies that don't run formal projects still use project management software to plan, organize, track, monitor and execute their projects.

Why use project management software?

Managing a project without the proper software is possible, but it will increase the risk of errors and add inefficiencies to the process. Project management software allows for visibility and team collaboration that can otherwise be difficult to attain.

For example, while it is possible to use spreadsheets for project tracking,

it takes a lot of time and effort to do correctly. In addition, manually updating spreadsheets increases the risk of manual errors and, in order for the rest of the team to see the update, the spreadsheet has to be re-saved and re-uploaded to a central location.

Other issues project managers have with spreadsheets are:

Multiple versions of the same file existing and constantly having to identify which is the most accurate and up to date

When more than one person needs to update the spreadsheet at the same time, it can be tough to sync each version or work together in real-time

Security can be an issue when the spreadsheet is being uploaded and downloaded multiple times in multiple places

There are often delays between activities occurring and updates being recorded

Project management software is designed to overcome all of these issues.

Here are fifteen additional reasons why people choose to use project management software:

1. Creating new projects and tasks from old files and templates is easy
2. Modifying existing projects and tasks automatically updates linked tasks, dependencies, and other variables in real-time.
3. Building reports and dashboard views to visualize project performance is easier.
4. There is less risk of losing your progress than with manual tracking methods.
5. Stakeholders can be granted access to view real-time progress and reports for greater visibility.
6. When everything is in one place, you get a clearer overview of the project's overall health.
7. Automated notifications can be set up to alert you when certain actions occur, such as when a task is assigned to you or if a task is past due.
8. Lessons and learnings from previous projects, as well as documentation, can be stored in one centralized location.
9. Certain project management platforms integrate with other applications you, your team or your customers use, increasing efficiency.
10. Project management software can coordinate tasks and automate workflows, so that team members are notified when one task is complete and another needs to start.