As more and more of us are working from home on a permanent basis, it’s become more critical than ever to stay organized and keep track of our projects and clients. Project Management tools are a great way to keep you organized and your client updated on their project status and what’s still needed or outstanding on the project. As with other tools, which one you use will probably depend on which one your client or company you work for uses but there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from familiarizing yourself with some of them by taking advantage of the free starter accounts these companies offer.
Virtual assistant sitting at home office and discussing project management status with her client.
Whether you’re working at home as a virtual assistant, independent consultant or an employee of a large company, project management tools can be a real life saver as they not only help keep you organized but they can help you plan and communicate properly with your client or employer. These tools allow you to see exactly what needs to be done and when so you can be more efficient while working at home. You can easily share tools like Trello and Asana with your clients so everyone can view the project status and be on the same page as far as when tasks are completed or become due.
There are many project management tools on the marketplace to help keep business owners organized so being open to learning news tools and gaining some new skills is key, especially if you’re working as part of a team. The following are just some of the more popular project management tools you may encounter as you continue to work at home:
Project Management Tools
Basecamp – The great thing about Basecamp is it’s accessible from anywhere – on the web, on iOS, and Android making it a desirable work at home tool for teams. Every project on Basecamp includes the tools all teams need to work together such as message boards, to-dos, schedules, docs, file storage, real-time group chat, and automatic check-in questions. For example, if you’re working at home as part of a team, your “My stuff” menu lets you see everything that’s on your plate such as your assignments across every project, your schedules, things that you’ve bookmarked, etc. One of the many benefits of Basecamp is that it allows organizations to cut down on time spent in meetings. If you’re interested in learning about BaseCamp, you can sign up for the free Basecamp Personal account here which is great for personal projects, students, freelancers, families, and light use. Note that this account is limited and allows you 3 projects, 20 users and 1GB of storage.
Trello – A lot of organizations love Trello as it helps teams work more collaboratively and get more done but Trello can also be used for free by individuals for a side project or even planning a family vacation. Trello uses a concept called boards that represents a project or a place to keep track of information. A Trello board can have four key components that consist of boards, lists, cards and menus. Boards are made up of lists and cards where the list can represent a workflow or process and the Cards represent tasks which move across these lists to completion. Like BaseCamp, Trello uses teams to help your team stay organized. If you wish to learn about Trello, think of a project or goal to work on and then take advantage of their free training guide. Trello also offers a generous free plan that includes unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per Workspace, 250 Workspace command runs per month, iOS and Android mobile apps and more. You can sign up for your free Trello Account here.
Asana – Asana is a work graph data model that gives teams everything they need to meet deadlines and reach their goals. It also uses the concept of Boards that let you organize your work like sticky notes. Like some other programs, when working on a project, Asana lets you create sections and tasks to easily organize your project as it moves through the project stages. Asana offer a free, Basic plan for individuals or teams just getting started with project management. In addition to being able to collaborate with up to 15 teammates, the free plan includes list, board and calendar views, unlimited tasks, projects, messages, activity log and file storage of 100MB per file. You can sign up for your free Asana account here.
ClickUp – ClickUp prides itself on being one app to replace all and has multiple ways to help teams work the way each person wants to. ClickUp uses a unique Hierarchy structure allowing users to organize everything from small teams to large companies. It all starts with the Workspace which is the top level. Inside the workspace you can create additional spaces, tasks and even subtasks. Setting up spaces is fairly straightforward and Clickup allows you to create both personal spaces or private spaces. You can think of Spaces in Clickup as being like departments or companies. You just create your space and decide who you want to share it with. Clickup’s Free Forever account includes unlimited Tasks, unlimited Members, Collaborative Docs, Whiteboards, Real-Time Chat, Email and much more. You can sign up for your free Clickup account here.
Zapier is somewhat of an essential tool when it comes to automation as it helps you automate repetitive tasks between two or more apps without any coding required. Zapier uses automated workflows called Zaps that are responsible for telling your apps to follow certain commands under certain event conditions. “When this happens, do that.” When an event happens in one app, Zapier can tell another app to perform (or do) a particular action. If you’re only going to need simple automations, you can make use of Zapier’s free plan. However, if you’re looking at creating multi-step automations, you’ll need to sign up for a paid plan, the lowest being $19.99 per month. You can sign up for your free Zapier account here. To learn more about how Zapier works, view their Quick Start Guide here.
These are just some of the project management tools available today to help you work more efficiently. While they are all unique in design and terminology, they all aspire to the same goal of keeping you organized and your clients updated on their project status and what’s still needed or outstanding on the project.