Managing projects virtually is not easy. However, as social restrictions resume in the coming months, project managers must adapt and ensure that they remain productive. Working from home has a ton of distractions, and without the right set of tools, things can quickly get out of hand.
This is why we have outlined a list of brilliant productivity tools that can help you manage projects significantly better. With the help of these tools, you can take care of your team, tasks and deadlines, while managing your team virtually. Here are 6 different productivity tools you can use for virtual project management.
1. ProofHub
ProofHub provides project managers with a comprehensive set of tools for managing projects virtually. Using special features such as tasks, project reports, timesheets, file proofing, project progress, and many more, you can easily keep track of important tasks.
ProofHub also provides you useful tools to manage yours and your team’s time effectively with the help of alerts and timers. You can analyze where your team is spending their time and how many billable hours the project has. Moreover, project managers can also check if their team members keep track of the time they spend on specific tasks.
Key Features
· Set time estimates to see how much time it should take to get work done
· See time data for all projects, billable or non-billable, project progress
· Limit visibility of timesheets only to the people you want to share with
· Enter hours it took to get work done
· Add multiple timesheets to record time data
· Record the time it takes to get work done using timers
· Create custom time reports of people and projects
· Export timesheets and use them for client invoicing, payroll, estimation, and even time management
· Archive timesheets from the Time section and use them later whenever required
Shortcomings
· Slow
· No recurring option for tasks
2. Focus Booster
Focus booster is a brilliant way to limit your distractions and make the most of your time. The majority of interruptions and delays in remote work originate from minor distractions that end up taking most of your time.
The tool helps you prevent procrastination by allowing you to work in short, sharp bursts. This not only allows you to make the most of your time but also helps you maintain a productive routine.
Key Features
· Record your sessions, and your timesheets will be created
· Quick and easy reporting to share reports or use them to create invoices in seconds
· Work in short sharp bursts followed by short breaks, to be most effective
· Know when your next break is with the top mini timer
Shortcomings
· No pause button
· High RAM usage
· Glitchy controls
3. Todoist
Todoist is a to-do list app for delegating tasks and projects. In terms of virtual project management, Todoist makes it easier for you to assign tasks to your team and track your team’s effort. Using the tool, you can easily assign projects and assign responsibilities, share files, and discuss details with your team in greater detail.
Moreover, the tool is free, allowing you to use it as long as you want without investing anything from your end. At the same time, Todoist is compatible with a variety of platforms and devices, such as Android, Apple iOS, Mac, and Windows, as well as all major web browsers.
It also offers an extremely user-friendly interface that includes integrated productivity charts (as long as you have a premium account). Ensuring easy collaboration between project managers and team members, the tool will help leverage a set of different classification tools. All these things improve output and increase productivity within your workflow and help you work productively.
Key Features
· Powerful Recurring Dates
· Real-Time Data Synchronization
· Productivity Visualization
· Multiple Priorities
· Archive Search
· File sharing
· Automatic backups
· Centralized team billing
Shortcomings
· A few important features not available to free users
4. Trello
Trello is an excellent option for project teams looking to make most of the Kanban paradigm in project management. It contains projects that are represented with separate boards. Each one of these boards has lists and cards that users can easily drag and drop easily. This way, project managers can monitor and track the progress of each task individually and reflect the flow of each task from idea to execution.
Users also have the option to assigned cards containing projects or tasks to specific teams. Furthermore, these cards can hold several items, including attachments, pending due dates, comments, and checklists. Lastly, you can sync each of these things with your calendar easily.
Key Features
· Visual progress of impending tasks
· Simple access
· Horizontal design
· Task calendar
· Seamless integration
Shortcomings
· Can become cluttered if you add too many cards
· Lacks time tracking
· Lacks estimate functionality
· Doesn’t provide an overall overview
5. Asana
Asana is a web-based software tool optimized for efficient task management. It enables easy collaboration among project management teams. At the same time, it allows team members to manage projects and tasks online without using their emails.
Asana gives each team a workspace along with specific tasks for that particular workspace. The tool associates each task with teams and users. Therefore, whenever there is a change or update in that particular task, all followers associated with that task are updated automatically.
It provides significant features for task tracking. The easy-to-use interface allows you to add, delete, and modify tasks effortlessly. Furthermore, features such as recurring tasks and calendar sync enable project managers to automate reminders for routine tasks.
Key Features
· Limits the need for emails
· Calendar sync
· Extremely customizable
· Set recurring tasks
Shortcomings
· Lacks multi-person Tasks
· User-interface can slow down when there several tasks and documents open
· Entirely text-based interface
· No feature for time tracking and providing estimates
Working from home, staying productive can be extremely difficult. Therefore, project managers must display a greater level of efficiency and leverage advanced tools to manage their teams more effectively. Using productivity tools here, you can do your job a lot easier and deliver projects while meeting all customer requirements.