Project Management Tools and Techniques
By: Atharva Ingle
Tags: Project Management Tips, Project Management Tool, Project Management, Business, Productivity

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Motivation

In today’s fast-moving world, project management is all about using the right tools and techniques. Having these two things in order can help you manage your projects easily and effectively. It has been found in many surveys that using the right project management tools and techniques can increase your overall performance, productivity, and happiness-levels at work.

The world of project management is vast. It covers many industries and requires a range of skills. But the common thread tying this diverse discipline together are the techniques that project managers use to get the job done.

Why is Project Management Important ?

Choosing the right approach to managing a project is crucial for successful project delivery. The way you manage work is defined by techniques that you use, and tools that you adopt.

Graph showing impact of Project management

In this article, we are going to discuss major tools and techniques that will make your project management much easier than before. Both project management tools and techniques go hand-in-hand, it’s important to have in-depth knowledge of both.

Let’s take a look at some leading project management tools that every project manager must possess:

Project Management Tools

What are Project Management Tools ?

If you’re here, you’re probably wondering, “what are project management tools?” Well, you’re smart for coming to a project management software for answers to that question. Project management tools are aids to assist an individual or team to effectively organize work and manage projects and tasks. The term usually refers to project management software you can purchase online or even use for free.

ProofHub

ProofHub is a versatile project management tool used by leading organizations like NASA, Disney, Taco Bell, and many more. This all-in-one tool that comes packed with powerful features to eliminate the need of having too many different tools to run your business.

The benefit of using a multipurpose tool is that you can have everything under one roof. Consolidated data helps to keep you ahead of schedule and manage time better. It provides connectivity through team discussions and chats and transparency through uploading files and putting up as much information as you can regarding the tasks.

Interestingly enough, ProofHub helps declutter in more than one way. From Gantt charts to Kanban boards and from those confusing emails to a neat and clean calendar view, ProofHub comes through with providing you a clear view of tasks, deadlines, and goals simultaneously in many ways.

Features I would like to highlight:

Tasks : Quickly add tasks, create sub-tasks, and label them with tags and colorful tabs. View sorted tasks in their respective task lists with the whole view of the project.

: Quickly add tasks, create sub-tasks, and label them with tags and colorful tabs. View sorted tasks in their respective task lists with the whole view of the project. Custom roles : Makes task-management less stressful for teams by making it easy to set custom roles for the team members and assigning them to tasks and projects.

: Makes task-management less stressful for teams by making it easy to set custom roles for the team members and assigning them to tasks and projects. Proofing and review : Online proofing software saves a lot of time during the feedback-sharing process

: Online proofing software saves a lot of time during the feedback-sharing process Gantt charts : Get a visual picture of projects with Gantt charts. Define dependencies and map out the project timeline with ease.

: Get a visual picture of projects with Gantt charts. Define dependencies and map out the project timeline with ease. Accessibility : ProofHub is available as a mobile app as well, both for Android and iOS users.

: ProofHub is available as a mobile app as well, both for Android and iOS users. Flexibility: Help your team view their individual tasks corresponding to their deadlines in Kanban or calendar views.

ProofHub is an amazing project management and online collaboration tool because it helps you create, review, deliver, plan, and organize like no other tool. With its comprehensive bells and whistles, it comes forward as a very adaptable tool for project management.

Not only does it help with project management, but it also comes with numerous features that help the team stay connected. Exclusive communication features such as the following give ProofHub a definite edge over other project management tools:

Chat: A feature that makes ProofHub completely singular is that it facilitates quick back and forth communication on the same platform where you manage the things you communicate about. Discussions: Even though the tool comes with the facility of chat and group chats alike, sometimes a team needs to have a formal discussion. The feature of “discussions” is all about sharing ideas and putting opinions forward. And, every team member can easily participate in the same! Comments: Gone are the days of texting, calling, or pinging someone to check updates or inform people that you have reviewed their work. With comments, you can post your reviews on the task card itself and a notification will be instantly received by the concerned. Proofing: ProofHub has a more distinct outlook and caters to the workplace in a way that no other tool can. In that, it helps in the most sincere form of communication, i.e. reviewing. With markup tools for annotation, it is a powerful proofing tool that helps with all types of files.

2. LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner is one of those project management software that is known to provide a better way to plan and execute work. Interestingly, it offers a responsive approach to project management by treating projects as living and evolving constructs.

Main features:

Project plans are built on priorities

Project schedules automatically predict finish dates

Data and statuses are accessible in real-time

Instantly visualize the impact of resource availability

3. Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects seem like a nice option if you’re looking for a free online project management tool that lets you create and manage your projects on your own. It makes project management easier by letting you plan, track, and collaborate in an effortless manner.

Main features:

Plan projects with ease

Get in-depth insights with Gantt charts

Promotes seamless collaboration

Integrate with apps such as Zapier, Slack, Dropbox, etc.

Read on: Zoho Alternatives — 13 Tools Your Team Will Love

4. BaseCamp

BaseCamp

Basecamp is a project management system that has been there in the business for more than 10 years and is still helping project managers to end their project management woes. If you are looking for a simple interface and collaborative approach to manage projects, Basecamp might be the ideal choice for you.

Top features:

Robust collaborative platform to send messages and quick suggestions

Create projects and teams with just a few clicks

Reports for overdue tasks, upcoming deadlines, to-dos and more

Create schedules that integrate with calendar apps

Mobile apps for iOS and Android

Read on: Top 21 Basecamp Alternatives for Project Management

5. ClickUp

ClickUp

ClickUp is a top-rated project management tool helping project managers and teams to become more productive than ever. As it focuses on effective task management, people from different industries are using ClickUp for better work management. It has got a beautiful interface coupled with powerful features that make it a must-have for teams handling too many projects at once.

Top features:

Offers three different views — List, Box, and Board view

Create your own custom statuses and workflows

With ‘Me’ dashboard see things that are related to you

Pricing: Available for free for up to 100MB, Premium for $5 user/month.

6. Asana

Asana Board View

Asana is a software-as-a-service designed to enhance team collaboration and work management. Rated as one of the best project management tools, Asana allows both small and large teams to manage projects easily with the help of useful features that this tool offers. Asana also offers a visual project timeline that you can use to monitor, track, and manage the progress of tasks and projects at every stage.

Main Features:

Customizable dashboards

Custom Calendar

App Integrations

Timeline view

Kanban boards

Automation

Work Request Forms

7. Trello

Trello

Trello is a project management and team collaboration tool that enables you and your team to organize and prioritize tasks and projects in an easy, flexible, and rewarding way. Trello stands out for simplicity and provides a straightforward system for boosting your productivity with the help of the power of automation across your entire team. You can create different boards for different types of tasks, and its Kanban Management tool enables you to easily switch between boards.

Main Features:

Customizable Kanban boards

Built-in workflow automation

Easy, drag-and-drop

Card records archive

Deadline alerts and notifications

Custom card and board buttons

Rule-based triggers

These were the most widely used project management tools. Now, let’s take a look at some of the project management techniques.

Project Management Techniques

Project management techniques play a significant role in defining the structure, work allocation, utilization of resources, and at times, deciding the fate of a project as well.

Let’s take a look at them:

1. Agile

Agile methodology

Agile methodology is one of the most popular project management methodologies. It uses the ‘sprint approach’ where you can break a project in the form of sprints or cycles. As the word ‘agile’ means the ability to move quickly and responding swiftly to changes, likewise this methodology makes way for flexibility and collaboration. It is extensively used in software development and is best suited for small software projects that require frequent communication and the need to work together for analyzing requirements and other aspects of a project.

2. Waterfall

Waterfall

This is one of the most simple and oldest project management techniques in project management. It is also referred as Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) that focuses on making a solid plan and effective execution. The Waterfall methodology is sequential that means one task has to be completed before the next starts in the pipeline. Here, all the requirements must be defined in the beginning so that there is a proper planning and organization of a project plan.

3. Prince2

Projects in Controlled Environments

PRINCE2 is an acronym for Projects In Controlled Environments. It is a project management methodology that is made up of principles and processes. Originated in the UK, Prince2 is quite a well-put methodology in which a project is divided into multiple levels and stages each having its own set of steps to be followed. This standardness enables it to be implemented in any organization irrespective of its nature enabling them take the appropriate action for successful completion of projects.

4. Scrum

Scrum is one of those methodologies that mainly focuses on improving communication, teamwork, and speed of development in a project. In Scrum methodology, a team is often led by a scrum master that is also called Subject Matter Expert (SME) making way for seamless collaboration and encourages team members to deliver results. It was developed keeping in mind the needs of software development teams but with the changing times, many teams are either using a derivative of it or combine it with an another methodology.

5. Critical Chain Methodology

The idea of Critical Chain Methodology was introduced in 1997 in Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s book, Critical Chain where he described the methodology as a method of planning and managing projects that strives to keep resources levelled. It is different from other methodologies in a way that it focuses on resources than on the method itself and makes sure that the project plan is feasible enough and completed on time.

Apart from these methodologies, there is one more thing is equally important in project management — project management tools and software. Many project managers consider these tools a deciding factor that differentiates them from others.

6. Process-Based Project Management

Process-based Management for businesses

Process-based project management is a systematic and strategic strategy that recognizes the project’s goal and aligns it with the mission, vision, and core values of the company. This methodology emphasizes better collaboration between various departments within the company to achieve common goals. Process-based project management helps project managers to view all the activities within an organization as a collection of standardized processes, which are managed to achieve the desired result.

7. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

WBS for construction of a House

Projects big and small can feel overwhelming at first glance. There’s so much to do. The idea of just jumping in and learning how to swim is how projects drown in lost time and costs. As any experienced project manager knows, everything must first get planned before putting it into action.

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a way to organize the work into smaller, more manageable pieces. According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), WBS is a “deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the team.”

What that means is the WBS is graphic representation of every task in the project. At the top is the final product with a line that goes down the page to a box (or boxes) that represent the larger tasks which lead to that completed project. Each of these boxes are then attached with lines that go under it to smaller tasks.

8. PERT (Program Evaluation And Review Technique)

PERT for Polaris Missile Project

PERT is a project management technique that helps with calculating the estimated time it will take to complete a project. Both scheduling and budgeting are essential components of any project. PERT charts are tools used to schedule tasks in a project, which makes it easier for team members to coordinate to accomplish the work. With PERT, you get three different time estimates for the project: the most optimistic time estimate, the most probable time estimate, and the most pessimistic time estimate.

PERT has three estimation times, and each activity is designated with one of these estimates:

Optimistic time estimate (O), which is the fastest an activity can be done. Most likely time estimate (M) is the estimate that project managers will deliver to upper management if they’re only required to submit one. Pessimistic time estimate (P) is the maximum time required to complete an activity.

From all this information collected, there’s an equation to estimate the time the project will take, known as the expected time for completion, or E. E is calculated with the following equation: E = (O + 4M + P)/6

The variance possible in the estimated completion time is represented by V. Variance is calculated with the following equation: V=[(P — O)/ 6]².

The E and V for every activity is calculated. The E’s are totaled, which is the overall time expected to complete the project. The Vs are added to each activity, which is the variance for the entire project. This helps project managers integrate the uncertainty involved in any project’s schedule into their methodology.

9. Critical Path Method (CPM)

Critical Path method

The Critical Path Method is one of project management techniques used to accurately schedule all project activities.

What you’ll be actually doing is calculating the critical path — the shortest route to project completion, and arranging tasks accordingly. It’s also a great way to establish task dependencies.

You can combine CPM with PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) to create three task completion time estimates:

Shortest amount of time

Realistic amount of time

The longest amount of time

Who should use the Critical Path Method? CPM is best suited to more complex projects with a lot of task dependencies. However, just like the WBS, you can use them as tools, not just as project management techniques.

How to get started? Define all the tasks that have to be completed. Then, establish task dependencies (Task B can’t be completed until Task A is completed), and create diagrams for different duration estimates.

10. Extreme Project Management (XPM)

Extreme Project Management

No, extreme project management is not named after extreme sports like motocross or snowboarding competitions. This project management technique is used in highly complex projects where uncertainty is high. It takes a more casual and optimistic approach for planning a project and emphasizes less formality in the company’s culture. The extreme title is owed to an opportunity for flexible planning and unorthodox tactics.

Summary

Project Management is an amazing field of work as it has a number of different project management tools and techniques which let you effectively analyze and control your project as you want while keeping a keen eye on multiple dependencies and key factors to get the desired results that will benefit your business and impact your business metrics.

Project management tools and techniques define the workflow and how the project will take shape but it’s always up to the tools to execute those techniques and help you get those sweet results.

Conclusion

It can be overwhelming to choose right project management tools and techniques for your business especially when you have too many options out there in the market. We hope this post proves to be helpful in one way or the other and if we’ve missed out on some important tools and techniques, do let us know in the comments below.

References

Hope this article helped you….

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