Most Spreadsheet-Like
Not sure which Project Management Tool is best for your needs. Well, don't worry. In this video, we're looking at seven popular project management apps taking a look at their unique features, and I'm going to tell you which one is best for you or your team's needs.
Hello, everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. And yes, I'm going to be handing out a couple of awards so you can get that much closer, to finding the perfect project management app just for you.
Now, the very first tool in our list is Smartsheet. And I've decided to start here for a reason. If you're brand new to Project Management Tools and applications, you're probably coming from a spreadsheet environment such as Microsoft Excel or Google sheets. And Smartsheet, of all of the apps on today's list,
is the most spreadsheet-like. Now that's not a bad thing. If you're already comfortable working within a spreadsheet you're going to be very comfortable transitioning and moving your project management over here to Smartsheet.
But don't get me wrong, it's so much more than just a spreadsheet. Here on the left-hand side, you can see I can add notifications, comments, attachments,
and other attributes to any line item here. So rather than just filling in the text,
I can have a document attached directly to this line item. It also makes it very easy for me to make assignments to either myself, or other members of my team. But if you like seeing these start and end date and seeing other columns listed in a spreadsheet type view, Smartsheet may be the one for you.
Most Customizable
Next on our list, let's take a look at Asana. One of the most popular Project Management Tools over the past decade. Now here you can see, we're getting away from that spreadsheet look, and Asana has a fairly straightforward interface here.
In this particular example, I've got three different sections or three different stages for my project. But what's great about Asana, is that not only can you dive deep and actually see the components of any particular task, but you can still see what's going on here on the left-hand side of your project as well.
As we continue throughout today's video, you'll notice that often we have to either dive deep, or look at the project view. And Asana is one of the better components when it comes to viewing both at the exact same time.
Now, one area where I give Asana some particularly high marks, is when it comes to customization. Here in the top right hand corner I can click on this customized button, and easily add my own custom fields but also turn on or off other fields that I may not need.
Asana is also especially helpful if I want to create some customized rules. So for particular behaviors or particular assignments
when it comes to my projects. Now, Asana is certainly not the only one that provides customization, but I'm going to give it the label of most customizable. So whether your team is big or small, Asana has you covered with a variety of customizable options.
Most User Friendly
Now the next project management app on our list is Hive. And one of the things I love about Hive, is how user-friendly it is. It's really quick to get going and set up, but also has added some nice touches that you may not find elsewhere.
Number 1, when you open up a task I like how Hive has naturally created some separation. So we got some key things here such as assignee, date, status, and priority level, separate from the details of the task itself.
Often, this is where we want to go or the information that we need to see, but sometimes it can be buried in with the rest of our information,
as you will see in other applications. But I also like how Hive has included some additional features that really make things that much more handy. So for example, here, if I want to assign this task to myself, it's going to ask me if it also wants to assign all of the sub actions. What it refers to as subtasks here, within that task.
So I'm going to say, "Yes, update the subactions." And now you've can see, I'm also added to these as well. In most other project management applications, you'll have to come in here separately and add yourself to these subtasks.
So it's these little things that can go a long way. I also particularly like that Hive has some built in notes,
and not only can you take notes right from within Hive, but you can then convert them to actions or add them to existing actions. So for example, if I need to send this email reminder I can hit this plus button, and either create a new action which is essentially a task within Hive, or I can add it to an existing action and say that, "Yes, this is related to the product roadmap, "insert that as a subaction." So, some great features here.
Now, one of the reasons that Hive is so user-friendly, is because they actually listen to their users. Here in the top right-hand corner, I'm going to click on the feature request option. And here you can see, they welcome your feature requests in a very simple feature request form.
Now I don't have to fill in 7 different fields, and give the name of my firstborn child. But you also get to see all of the other feature requests as well, what people are saying, and how many votes they are getting.
For example, if I sort the feature requests from the top, you can see that the three most vote getting features are all in progress. Yes, Hive is actually building out
these features as we speak. And if I click on this first one here, you can see that this feature was requested on January 21st and then less than two weeks later, they were starting to build it out.
So if you want to use a tool where you know your voice will be heard, Hive may be the best solution for you. Now you can start using Hive right away
on their free forever version. But if you need more, be sure to use the discount code SIMPLE10, to receive 10% off your subscription.
Most Affordable
Now the next app on our list has gained a lot of attention and a very loyal fan base. And that is ClickUp. ClickUp, gives us a nice mix of being able to access certain things
and certain pieces of information, on the front or the project level, but also being able to dive in and give us lots of space to use this information. Whether we're adding subtasks and dependencies, or editing things here within our project.
I especially like that they give us so much room for the description field, and have even added a nice touch. If I want to minimize this information on the right-hand side, I can make this larger as well.
So, depending on your needs or the comfort level of your team, this might be a great solution for you. I also like that you don't have to stay in this high level project view, but we can drill down to different areas or phases of that project.
So, maybe I just want to focus on Phase 2 today, I don't need to see everything else in relation. If you are new to Project Management or perhaps your team is, this could be a great big barrier.
If they always have to come back and see so much information at once. ClickUp makes it very very easy for us to drill down, and just see the info that we're looking for.
But in terms of its greatest strength, I'm going to give click up the label of "Most affordable." Yes, it has a free forever version, which many of the tools do on this list.
But if you need more, their first pricing structure starts at just $5 per month. Most other Project Management Tools start at $10 a month. So you can gradually work your way up depending on your needs.
Most Powerful
Next up on our list, we are taking a look at Wrike. W-R-I-K-E. And at first glance, you may be saying that we're returning to more of a Spreadsheet-like view. But I would say that Wrike is a better balance between a spreadsheet view where we can make changes and edit things here on the fly, but also be able to dive into any of these details.
So, if we need to keep, for example, a checklist, or dependencies or other things hidden within that task, we can do so while still seeing that high level view here. And if you don't like the table view, don't worry, Wrike also has a list view, and a Gantt Chart view, so you can see the information the way that you want.
But another great feature of Wrike, is being able to have quick access to certain dashboards or snapshots of the way you want to view your data.
Here, under the tool section, I can set up a campaign calendar, I can set up a number of different dashboards for me to look at, I can also set up certain contracts or certain files.
So I can just zero in on what I want to look at. While you can achieve many of these views in some of the other tools in which we've looked at already, I think that Wrike makes it the easiest for us to access and get into these pieces of information.
When it comes to the label that I'm going to give to Wrike, I'm really going to say the "Most powerful." It's hard to just scratch the surface when it comes to Wrike in terms of what it can do,
and what it can also integrate outside of just the platform itself. This may be too complex or maybe too enterprise looking for some of you, but if you are needing a powerful Project Management Tool, Wrike can certainly meet your challenges.
Most Intuitive
Now, if Wrike is possibly the most complex and the hardest learning curve on this list,
Trello would find itself on the other side of the spectrum. In fact, most people can get started with Trello in just a number of minutes. Trello was really the first application
to bring to prominence this idea of a board-style view. Now almost every other Project Management Tool including the ones that we've looked at today, provide a board-style view or at least something very similar.
But Trello keeps things very, very basic. So you can get started in just a few moments. It's also very easy for team members who are needing to learn a new tool, in a short amount of time.
So for today's list, I'm going to give Trello the award or the label of "Most intuitive." It's going to be your quickest route to setting up a project, and manage the things that you need.
Now, while Trello does include some powerful automation and customization tools, Trello's real strength remains in its simplicity. So that you can focus more on the work, and the tasks and getting things done, rather than managing the system itself.
Most Versatile
Now, the last project management app on our list is monday.com. Certainly the most colorful tool that we've looked at so far. And in many ways, it's these visual indicators
which many Monday users love the most. Not a only can you manage your tasks in a variety of different stages or different workflows, but you can see at a glance how long something is coming along. Even this row called "Asset files," where it's actually showing me a small preview of that image can be very helpful rather than having to dive into each and every file.
And if I scan over here to the right, you can include as many different columns or as many different details as you need. So you can really customize your look and feel of monday.com. In addition to a large variety of project management features, you can create your own documents right here within the monday.com space. Or maybe you want a dashboard that you want to share with others.
A lot of customization, a lot of versatility right here within the monday.com space. In addition, Monday has one of largest libraries of integration. So whether you want to integrate directly with your CRM system, with an email client, an email manager or some other tool, chances are Monday has the plugin to allow you to do so.
Now is there a Project Management Tool that I didn't include on this list, but you would like to learn more about? Be sure to let me know in the comments down below.
And if you enjoyed this video, you might also like the other content right here on the Simpletivity channel.
Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.
In fact, it's very simple.
