5 Project Management Features We’re Thankful For This Thanksgiving

Like most years, there’s a lot to be thankful for this November. In the world of project management, we often get caught up in all the details of a project. We forget to slow down and be grateful for the modern tools we have that make our jobs, and lives, that much easier. Project management software has saved loads of project managers plenty of time, resources, and headaches. There are countless project management features that help ease our workload and lift some of the stress off of those big projects.

Like the star of Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey, it’s simply not possible to have a fantastic project management software without including all the elements that make it so desirable. Imagine serving your family a plain turkey, without any of the so-called “frills” we take for granted: no stuffing, no gravy, and no cranberry sauce. The turkey may still be tasty, but without all those extra sides, suddenly it has lost its appeal.

Imagine all the elements of project management software as accompaniments to a turkey. Collaboration features, project boards, third-party integrations, and customizable workflows may seem only like “extra” features on their own. However, remove each of these project management features and suddenly the tool becomes, in a word: dry.

The Mashed Potatoes: Collaboration Features

A turkey can’t carry all of Thanksgiving dinner completely on its own. Likewise, a project manager can’t oversee every detail of a project entirely by themselves. All the fantastic collaboration features you find in project management software have become something we depend on on a daily basis. When you onboard all your employees to your project management software, it becomes easier to make sure that each employee is contributing their part to the overall goal.

Collaborative software allows everyone to go in and update progress on the tasks they are assigned. This helps teams stay focused and on-track as they have everything they need to complete their tasks in one place. Furthermore, you reduce the need for time-consuming meetings and back-and-forth emailing by having all your tasks, documents, and communications in one neat tool. Employees can easily share files, communicate if they’re stuck on one specific task or piece of the overall project, and plan their next steps, all in a single place.

The Cranberry Sauce: Mobile Integration

Mobile integration, regarded as the cranberry sauce of project management features, is a feature that seems like a bonus. However, once you further consider it, you realize it’s an absolute necessity.

Most project management tools today include the ability to update on-the-go. Let’s face it, in today’s world, employees are not always in the office. Whether they’re out visiting a client or working from home, it’s simple to add a quick update or notice in your project management software directly from your smartphone. Having the ability to seamlessly move between working from your smartphone, tablet, or computer, means that your project won’t miss a beat. Upload a photo directly from your phone, add new contact information, or update the status of a task from wherever you are. Mobile connectivity allows your project to move and grow with your employees. They don’t have to be tethered to their desks and your project doesn’t suffer as a result.

The Stuffing: Third-Party Integrations

Project management software on its own is an invaluable addition to any business. However, just because you adopt a new tool doesn’t mean you need to forget about all your other ones. Luckily, most project management software comes stuffed with loads of third-party apps and integrations. This allows you to seamlessly take care of all your work from one place.

Let’s face it: no one is going to stop using all their routine applications. Just because you’ve introduced a new and improved project management system to the office doesn’t mean it’ll get adopted seamlessly. The best way to get your team onboard with rapid changes is to make use of the third-party apps that can be integrated with your project management software. For example, Proggio allows integrations with some commonly used apps. Easily connect with Quickbooks, DropBox, Slack, Trello, Jira, Zapier, and much more in a few clicks. By keeping your employees happy and not eliminating all the tools they’re used to, they’ll be much keener on learning the ins-and-outs of a project management system. Furthermore, adding all these third-party applications into one tool can only help you streamline your workflow and act more efficiently.

The Gravy: Flexibility

Gaining access to all these project management features at your fingertips is fantastic. However, the ability to change things up for different teams and projects is just gravy.

Every project and every team works differently. It’s a no-brainer that your project management tool should also work differently for each scenario. Luckily, modern project management tools offer enough flexibility to be able to adapt the software to multiple project management methodologies. Even someone with no technical knowledge can build their tasks and board exactly as they would want them. This flexibility means you can easily change up a task or board as your project evolves without having to involve your IT department to make complicated software changes.

The Pumpkin pie: Analytics

Lastly, but definitely not least, comes dessert. Once you’ve finished a project, the weight is lifted off your chest and you can finally breathe a deep sigh of relief. That is until the next one rolls around. A project’s end is the perfect opportunity to gain deeper insights. Take a look into the small details to discover what went well and what can be improved the next time around. Like pumpkin pie, the well-earned summary of a meal, project analytics is the best way to assess a project’s success and shortcomings once it’s over.

As far as project management features go, reports and analytics is a pretty important one. With tools such as ProjectManager, you can easily run reports on the status of a project with just one click. The best part is, that unlike pumpkin pie, it doesn’t have to come at the end of a project. Rather, you can get a report on the overall status at any point you like. ProjectManager’s reporting feature lets you keep track of important factors. You can easily run reports on aspects such as budgets, resource management, timesheets, tasks, and your team’s workload. With these analytics, you can quickly and efficiently update upper management and your stakeholders. You can also implement tweaks to get your project back on the road or improve the next one.

More than a Sum of its Parts

As you can see, there’s a lot to be thankful for when it comes to project management features. Each feature plays a roll in making our projects easier to handle. Most importantly, it helps in making a project manager’s life a little easier. Just like we can’t imagine a Thanksgiving dinner without all the sides that make a table so inviting, we also can’t picture project management tool without the features that make it as effective as it is. Instead of seeing pie, stuffing, and gravy as simple sides to a main event, we see it as part of the whole festive dinner. With project management software, the less we look at each feature as a separate attribute and more as an integral part of a greater system, the more we realize how important a business tool it truly is.