Project management and program management are two essential concepts in the world of business and management. They both play a critical role in the success of any organization, as they help ensure that projects and programs are completed on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of stakeholders. While they are similar in some ways, project management and program management differ in their scope and focus. In this article, we will discuss the differences between project management and program management, their importance, and the key skills required to be successful in both roles.
In today’s fast-paced business world, managing projects and programs is a critical function for organizations to ensure the successful delivery of products, services, and initiatives. Project management and program management are two essential disciplines that play a crucial role in ensuring the success of any organization. In this article, we will delve into the differences between project management and program management and how these two disciplines work together to help organizations achieve their strategic objectives.
When it comes to project management, there are a variety of different tools and techniques that can be used to ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget. One such technique is the use of Kanban or Scrum boards. Both offer their own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to have a good understanding of both before choosing which one is best for your project.
In this article, we’ll explore both Kanban and Scrum boards in greater detail and talk about the differences between them so you can decide which will work best for your own project management needs.
A survey has found that 59% of project managers manage between 2 and 5 projects, 11% manage 6 to 10 projects, and 15% manage more than 10 projects at a time. Only 15% of project managers manage one project at a time.
Managing even a single project can turn out to be an overwhelming task for project managers, leave alone running multiple projects at the same time. The task is made even more difficult when working with remote teams to get the job done.
Within every organization, there are always projects that need to be completed and tasks that need to be carried out on a daily basis.
Whether it’s something as simple as a social media campaign or as complex as developing a new product, these projects and tasks need to be managed in order for the organization to run smoothly.
That’s where project management and task management come in. And while project management and task management are usually pieces of the same puzzle, there are some key differences between the two.
In this article, we will explore the similarities and differences between project management vs. task management, as well as when to use each.
The Top-Rated Project Management Tools for Timely and Organized Projects
Project management and task management tools help you complete projects and tasks on time and within budget. There are several project management tools available on the market, but not all of them are created equal.
Here are a few of the top-rated project management tools to consider for your next project:
Zoho Projects – Best overall project management software
Monday.com – Best for customizing your project workflow
Project management is the process of planning, executing, and monitoring a project to achieve specific goals. These goals could be anything from launching a new product to increasing sales by a certain percentage.
Project management brings together people and resources to achieve a common goal. It involves setting objectives, creating a plan, and executing it.
Project management also includes tracking progress and making changes along the way, if necessary.
The ultimate goal of project management is to complete the project within the given time frame and budget.
A project is a temporary undertaking with a defined start and end date. Project management is vital to the success of any project, as it helps to ensure that all of the necessary tasks are completed on time and within budget.
One of the key duties of a project manager is to create a project schedule, which outlines all of the steps that need to be taken to complete the project. In addition, the project manager is responsible for assigning tasks to individual team members and ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goal.
By managing all aspects of a project, a project manager can help to ensure its success.
What Is Task Management?
Task management is the process of organizing and managing tasks within a business organization. This includes identifying, prioritizing, and assigning tasks to employees, as well as tracking progress and ensuring that deadlines are met.
An effective task management system can help improve productivity and efficiency and reduce the likelihood of errors and mistakes.
In order to be successful, task management must be tailored to the organization’s specific needs.
For example, a manufacturing company will have requirements like tracking inventory levels and meeting production deadlines. They will also deal with compliance-related tasks, such as safety inspections.
A marketing agency, on the other hand, will need to focus on tasks like creating and managing individual components of its clients’ campaigns, as well as analyzing data and producing reports.
By understanding the organization’s unique needs, businesses can develop a task management system that helps them achieve their desired results.
The Basics of Project Management vs. Task Management
Task management can be seen as part of project management because it is necessary to complete projects. However, task management is its own distinct process with a different focus. Here are the basics of each:
Project management focuses on the bigger picture, while task management focuses on separate tasks
Project managers focus on the overall goal of a project. They create a plan and schedule, assign tasks to team members, and track progress. They are primarily focused on the entire project from a high-level perspective.
Project management typically consists of:
Determining the size and scope of a project
Figuring out the budget of a project
Project scheduling
Assembling and briefing a team
Tracking project progress
Making changes to a plan
Monitoring overall project health
Reporting to stakeholders
Task managers, on the other hand, focus on the smaller tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve a goal. In many cases, they are members of a project manager’s team.
They are responsible for identifying, prioritizing, and assigning tasks to employees. They also track progress and ensure that deadlines are met.
Task management typically consists of:
Identifying tasks that need to be completed
Prioritizing jobs based on importance or deadline
Assigning tasks to employees
Tracking the progress of each assignment
Ensuring that deadlines are met
Making changes to assignments as needed
Reporting to a project manager or team leader
Project managers are less hands-on and handle interactions with stakeholders and executives. Within a project, it would be up to the task manager to brief the team, assign tasks, track progress, and report back to the project manager.
Project management is temporary, while task management is continuous
Within an organization, task management is much more ubiquitous because every organization has tasks that need to be completed daily.
Project management, on the other hand, is only temporary. It is only needed when a specific accomplishment that needs to be achieved. Once the project is complete, the project manager and team are no longer needed.
For example, a company may need to launch a new product. In this case, they would assemble a team of marketing experts, product developers, and designers. This team would work together to create a plan, produce the product, and launch it to the market. Once the product is launched, the project is complete, and the team is disbanded or assigned to another project.
Project management is more complex and requires more resources
Coordinating with multiple team members and interacting with stakeholders and executives is more complex than monitoring job completion. It also requires a greater understanding of the organization’s overall goals.
Task management, on the other hand, is less complex because it focuses on individual jobs that are generally repetitive. This means that it can be completed with a smaller team or even by one person.
Project management is more expensive because it requires more resources. These resources include project managers, analysts, and software.
Project management requires a team, while task management can happen at the individual level
Almost everybody engages in some form of task management on their own. For example, a sales rep may have a list of prospects they need to retarget or previous clients they need to follow up with.
A project manager is only needed for more complex projects that require coordination between multiple team members.
4 Tools to Improve Your Project and Task Management
Since so many organizations need this kind of function, there are thousands of business tools that you can use to manage projects. Here are four of the most essential tools to improve your project and task management:
1. Zoho Projects
The best overall project management software is Zoho Projects, a cloud-based solution that offers an intuitive interface, a wide range of features, and scalability for businesses of all sizes.
Zoho Projects offers Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and a host of other tools to help you plan projects, assign tasks, track progress, and more.
It also integrates with over 300 third-party applications–including Slack, Zapier, Google Suite, and Dropbox–making it easy to collaborate with your team.
One of the best things about Zoho Projects is its affordability–for $4 per month, you get up to 20 project templates, unlimited projects, and attached files up to 100GB.
For small teams and budding agencies, this plan is more than enough, and it comes at a cost that you can easily justify to your boss.
2. Slack
If you want to make communication as easy as possible across your entire company, use Slack.
Slack is a messaging platform that lets you create channels for different teams and projects.
You can also use Slack to direct message other users, share files, and make audio and video calls.
Plus, with Slack’s integration with Zoho Projects, you can receive notifications about your project tasks directly in your Slack channels. You can also respond to them directly from Slack and they’ll be reflected in your project management software.
Slack is free, but its $6 Pro plan gives you unlimited searchable history, more app integrations, and the ability to add more guest users.
For project managers, Slack is essential for keeping everyone on the same page and ensuring that no task falls through the cracks. To set up a new project, all you need to do is create a new channel and add the relevant team members.
When a task is completed, you can simply @mention the project manager in Slack and they’ll be notified in their channel.
This way, you can avoid the back-and-forth of email and ensure that everyone is always up-to-date on the status of your projects.
3. GanttPro
GanttPro uses Gantt charts to help you to manage your projects online. You can plan and visualize processes, create tasks and assign them to team members, set deadlines, and track the progress of individual tasks against anticipated timelines.
You can also share the Gantt charts you have created with others by assigning dedicated users specific permissions (e.g., view-only or edit). GanttPro has a set of key features tailored for Agile methods, such as:
Scrum boards
Product Backlog
Sprint planning
For teams of all product developers, GanttPro will be an indispensable tool for managing your project development process.
4. LessonFlow
Lessons learned reporting is essential to project management, but it can be time-consuming. LessonFlow is a tool that helps you to track and report lessons learned quickly and easily.
With LessonFlow, you can create a library of reusable templates for different types of projects.
You can also add tags to individual template items so that you can easily search for and find the template you need.
When completing a project, simply fill out the template with your lessons learned and share it with your team.
For project managers who want to improve their team’s performance, LessonFlow is an essential tool.
3 Tricks for Effective Project and Task Management
Since project and task management play such a big role in the efficiency of your company, it’s important to get them right. Here are four tips to help you manage projects and tasks more effectively:
1. Avoid perfectionism
It is human nature to want to do things perfectly. However, in the world of project management, perfectionism can be your enemy.
There is always a trade-off between quality and quantity–the more time you spend on one task, the less time you have for other tasks.
Instead of striving for perfection, focus on getting things done and making progress. If the completed project meets the predetermined goals and the stakeholders are happy, it should be considered a success.
2. Try not to multitask
Multitasking often seems like the best way to get everything done while working on limited deadlines. But when it comes to working on projects or multiple complex tasks, multitasking can actually be counterproductive.
When you try to focus on too many things at once, your attention is divided and you are more likely to make mistakes. And a mistake that needs to be corrected later can end up costing you more time and resources in the long run.
3. Familiarize yourself with product management methodologies
Whether you are a task manager or a project manager, it is important to familiarize yourself with the different product management methodologies.
There are several different approaches to product management, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. By understanding the different methodologies, you can choose the one that best fits your company’s needs.
Let’s take a look at a few of the most popular:
Agile: The Agile methodology is designed to be flexible and adaptable. It is based on the principle of “iterative and incremental development”, which means that projects are developed in small steps or iterations. Agile is well-suited for projects that are likely to change over time, as it allows for changes to be made quickly and easily.
Waterfall: The waterfall methodology is a more traditional approach to product development. It is based on the principle of “sequential development”, which means that each stage of the project must be completed before the next stage can begin. Waterfall is best suited for projects that are well-defined and unlikely to change.
Scrum: Scrum is a popular Agile methodology. It is based on the principle of “empirical process control,” which means that all decisions are made based on experience and experimentation rather than on pre-determined plans. Scrum is well-suited for complex projects that require a lot of collaboration.
Kanban: Kanban is another popular Agile methodology that is based on the principle of “just-in-time delivery.” This means that tasks are completed as they are needed, and there is no need to complete all tasks before starting work on the next task. Kanban is well-suited for projects that have a lot of moving parts.
By being knowledgeable about the different product management methodologies, you can choose the one that is best suited for your company’s needs.
What to Do Next
If you want to learn more about product management, check out our blog post on everything related to project management. By educating yourself on project management best practices, you can be better prepared for success within your own organization.
And if you aren’t well-versed in project management methodologies or don’t know where to start, check out a few of our resources here:
If you’re working in the business world, you must have heard the terms Enterprise Architecture vs. Project management. These two terms might sound like two separate ends of a pole, but they do overlap in their responsibilities and value to the business. However, they both deliver a separate value to the enterprise, and mostly these roles are not well-defined.
While working on multiple projects, enterprises go through several processes. Therefore, it becomes pivotal to understand Enterprise Architecture vs. Project Management to face minimum overlapping when it comes to creating smooth workflows.
Project managers in the organizational paradigm are primarily responsible for carrying all of the processes and tasks that are included in the project development process, on their shoulders. They are the backbone of the whole shebang and without them, everything will go to waste.
As we all know, that the primary objective of the project managers is to complete all of the projects in their roster at the appropriate time with just the resources that are in the resource pool. But that doesn’t mean that they ignore the most important element related to the whole process, the people.
It’s not hard to guess what Time Doctor does best by reading the name.
In the productivity space, it’s the employee time tracking software you want to have around if you’re serious about saving thousands of dollars a year in lost time.
Unlike other time tracking tools, Time Doctor is known for being highly customizable and can easily work for both remote and in-house teams (or a hybrid of both).
Below, we dive deep into the specifics of what sets Time Doctor apart, the pros and cons of onboarding the tool, and what pricing options you have if you decide to use it.
Let’s take a closer look.
Time Doctor Pros and Cons
Pros
Comes with an app
Has option for automated time tracking
Offers client login access through its Premium plan
You can track tasks and activities in real time
Offers data storage and screenshot features
Highly adaptable to any business
Available for Window, Mac, or Linux operating systems
Integrates with a number of popular business and payroll software
Cons
Can get expensive the more users you need to add
Minor usage glitches reported by users
Its manual setting can be inaccurate if you forget to set them correctly
User interface isn’t as modern as it could be
Time Doctor Features
Knowing the pros and cons can be a quick way of assessing just how useful Time Doctor can be for you. However, diving into the specific features is where you’ll find out whether it’ll fit your existing workflow and productivity needs.
Time Tracking and Employee Monitoring
Once you download the app, you have access to a timer dashboard where you can configure your activity bar and choose whether you want Time Doctor to start auto-tracking your computer usage. This is an ultra-useful feature for employee monitoring—it can let you know how long projects are taking and what tasks are the most time-consuming.
However, keep in mind that it does come with the option to manually alter time if needed. And if you want specific time tracked for specific tasks you’ll have to manually toggle the tracker on and off. This might get a little tedious for employees if they’re constantly taking breaks or logging on or off their computers multiple times during the day. Still, it’s good to know that Time Doctor comes with both an automatic and manual time tracking option.
Once time is tracked, both employees and managers can easily access tracked data. The best part is that Time Doctor can be used to track activity on any device, not just your computer.
Time Doctor can work great for small agencies and service-based startups. However, if you’re managing 20 or more employees, its onboarding team will help you get up and running.
Distraction Alerts
Distraction alerts can either be an extra feature you don’t need or a valuable way to help keep your employees on track. The usefulness of Time Doctor’s distraction alert feature comes down to individual work preferences.
If Time Doctor detects a user is spending too much time on sites and tasks that aren’t work-related—like social media or YouTube—a popup alerts the user they’re going off track. The distraction alert feature also comes in handy if it detects a user’s device has been sitting idle for too long during designated work hours.
Depending on how you want to monitor employee work, Time Doctor’s alert feature can help your employees stay productive during designated hours. However, it proves to be less useful if employees are free to choose when they work and at what intervals.
Online Timesheets and Payroll
Time Doctor’s timesheets and payroll calculations are designed so that they can easily be reviewed and approved by management regardless of whether you’re paying employees a salary or by the hour. Not only that, its payroll process is highly customizable and comes with quite a number of integrations that include Payoneer, TransferWise, Asana, and even Basecamp.
So, if you want to manage your payroll process with a payroll tool like Gusto, Time Doctor seamlessly integrates into your Gusto workflow to help you easily keep track of all your payroll costs and automate payouts.
A particular Time Doctor payroll perk that stands out is its ability to calculate payouts in more than one currency. Once you’re finished reviewing your payroll data, you can take advantage of Time Doctor’s bulk billing and payout features.
If you ever need to know what time was spent on what specific sites as you review and approve payroll, you can effortlessly pull up Time Doctor’s web and app history reports for each employee or project. History reports can be valuable since, according to Time Doctor, productivity can go up as much as 22% once employees are aware their work hours are being tracked and monitored.
Productivity Summary Reports
It’s one thing to track time spent on a project. But it’s another to figure out just how productive employees are. One way Time Doctor sets out to do that is by showing you real-time data on what projects are currently being worked on.
Time Doctor also shows you weekly and daily reports broken down by website and application usage, hours worked, or client work. This information is accessible to both managers and employees, which adds a layer of transparency as far as productivity and project management.
This feature can be useful in more ways than one. It’s easy to see how it can make communication easier as both employees and managers know what’s being worked on and the time span each project will take. Daily reports can also be useful on the client side, as they’ll know how much their project is actually costing them once you share tracked project information.
Project Management and Budgeting
One of the biggest reasons to track the number of hours any given project or task may take is to be better equipped to accurately manage budgets and future projects. To help with this, Time Doctor makes sure that projects and tasks can only be set by a designated admin.
Users can add less important tasks too and toggle their tracked time on or off as they see fit. Features like these are what make project management easier as you accurately track project hours, tasks, and expenses incurred. All this data is stored too, depending on the plan you pay for, so you can always refer back to it for old and new projects.
Offline Time Tracking
Yet another useful Time Doctor feature? Offline tracking. It’s a valuable tool that isn’t always offered by other time tracking systems. But how does it work exactly?
It’s simple. Whether you’re working offline or online, or you happen to accidentally work offline, your downloaded Time Doctor dashboard will still track your tasks and progress. Once you get back online, Time Doctor’s app will sync your offline data with the rest of your report.
As far as offline tracking goes, there really isn’t much of a downside to this feature. Offline tracking can come in handy in making sure you’re tracking every single hour whether there’s an outage, your employees accidentally work offline, or troublesome situations lead to offline work.
Time Doctor Pricing and Package Options
One of the best ways to truly get a feel for what it’s like to use Time Doctoris by taking advantage of its 14-day free trial. You get to try a plan of your choice free for two weeks and you can cancel any time without being tied down by any contracts or tricky terms of use.
If you’re considering its use, here’s how its prices breakdown:
Basic – $6 per user per month
Standard – $9 per user per month
Premium – $17 per user per month
Enterprise – Contact sales
Enterprise-grade operations can take advantage of TimeDoctor’s Enterprise solution plan since it comes with enterprise-level security, dedicated customer support, and even personalized training for the entirety of your organization.
However, smaller teams and young startups can start using Time Doctor for as little as $6 per user per month through its Basic plan. You’ll be able to track individual projects, create unlimited screenshots, and get access to email tech support when you run into trouble.
If you need more than what its Basic plan offers but are nowhere near needing enterprise-level tools, its most popular Standard plan at $9 a user a month comes with over 60 useful integrations, 6 months of data storage, and around the clock support.
As far as pricing goes, keep in mind that with Time Doctor you are paying per user. If you’re a young business, this can quickly suck up resources—especially if you’re working with a tight budget. At the end of this guide, we go through a few budget-conscious suggestions you can look through if you’re thinking about alternatives that offer similar features.
Time Doctor Reputation
Time Doctor has a reputation for offering reliable support when you need it. Besides how useful it is, users are generally satisfied with its ease of use and accessibility. Some go on to call it the best tracker they’ve ever used.
Unlike other time tracking tools with a widespread reputation for being troublesome, Time Doctor is continually reviewed and regarded as a solid and straightforward time tracking tool that can come in handy for managing large teams and projects.
However, there are areas that Time Doctor seems to fall short. Some users don’t like the fact that while you can track hours per project, you can’t budget amounts of time per project, which could be helpful for setting time estimates and project expectations.
If you’re trying to share reports with clients, you aren’t allowed to add your own business branding.
You’re also limited on how and when you can set task alerts if users are veering off task. This can be annoying, depending on how much control you want over customizing such features.
Cost-Effective Time Doctor Alternatives
If you want a solid time tracking system that takes care of the basics then Time Doctor can be the way to go. However, as mentioned earlier, Time Doctor can get pricey the more advanced tools you need and the bigger your team gets.
For that reason, we’ve listed some alternatives you can look into, albeit some with a more limited array of features. For instance, ClickUp offers a Time Tracking feature on its Free Forever plan. Though limited in all it can do, it can be useful for solopreneurs and small teams that need basic time-tracking tools on a budget.
Harvest, a time tracking tool that offers a 30-day free trial, comes with more straightforward pricing. You can manage two projects per one seat on its free plan. Or you can try its $12 per seat per month plan to get access to all its time tracking tools. Here’s what you get for its paid plan.
For an ultra-affordable time tracking tool, you should check out Jibble. It offers tools like selfie clock-ins, GPS and timesheet reporting, both mobile and desktop apps, and the ability to track work in offline mode. However, it becomes even more impressive once you look into its pricing plans.
You can start using Jibble and have access to solid time tracking tools without paying a penny. Its free plan is free for unlimited users and it stores up to two months of historical data. Its highest Ultimate plan offers a slew of time tracking features that include activity tracking and overtime calculations. All at a super affordable $3 per user per month rate.
While Time Doctor is a solid time tracker, if you can’t swing the cost, especially as your team gets bigger, it’s possible that there are better and more affordable options out there.
It’s a matter of testing a handful of tools and taking advantage of any free trials to truly get a feel for what tool can help you reach your project management goals.
Business management software empowers you to streamline your internal processes into workflows that garner results. The trick is finding software that can work with your business to help eliminate errors, gather data, and equip you with useful automations.
Today, we’re looking at the top business management platforms you can use to improve your business across the board. Let’s dive in.
The Top 5 Best Business Management Software
Zoho One – Best for big businesses that need high customization
If you’re managing large teams with enterprise-level needs, Zoho One offers comprehensive bespoke solutions for businesses that need a wide array of tools that are highly customizable.
Let’s face it, big teams can have a harder time staying nimble as they cater to customer’s needs and manage a growing audience. Zoho One offers everything from sales and marketing solutions, productivity and collaboration tools, HR and customer experience tools, finance and accounting, and even a low-code developer platform all at a granular level of customization.
It lets you automate daily tasks, set SOPs, streamline data management, and create workflows exactly how you need them. Not only that, Zoho One leads you through the onboarding process by taking care of migration needs, equipping you with in-depth product knowledge, and helping you set your unique technical needs.
For enterprise-level needs, security and privacy are of utmost importance. With Zoho One, you can be sure you’re GDPR compliant as you execute operations globally. Data gathered through Zoho isn’t sold to third parties, as they manage data security issues with great care.
Here’s a look at Zoho One’s two pricing plans:
All Employee – $37 per user per month
Flexible User – $90 per user per month
In the All Employee plan, you must purchase licenses for all of your employees and with Flexible User, you can purchase a license for any number of users. Both prices above are billed annually.
To learn more about Zoho One’s enterprise-level plans that include customization, you’ll have to get in contact with its sales team.
Salesforce stands out as the all-in-one solution option for businesses that need streamlined management across every department. Its Customer 360 option, for instance, is designed to unite all your teams around one thing: your customer.
Salesforce does this by uniting sales, marketing, IT, service, commerce, and analytics into a customized solution that caters to your specific needs. Salesforce’s Einstein AI feature makes sure you can automate repetitive tasks and time-consuming tasks, even if you manage teams that are working far apart from each other.
What’s more, Salesforce also offers free training through its Reskilling hub, where your employees, old and new alike, can sharpen their skills while they learn the ins and outs of every tool Salesforce’s software has to offer.
Salesforce’s Customer 360 approach also makes sure all your team members have access to crucial data to be able to make smarter and quicker decisions.
It’s not an exaggeration to say Salesforce is a truly feature-rich business management tool. So if you want to get familiar with its prices, it’s best if you navigate to its extensive pricing page where it breaks down plans by either need, business size, or industry.
For instance, its small business management software plans break down as follows:
Essentials – $25 per user per month
Sales Professional – $75 per user per month
Service Professional – $75 per user per month
Pardot Growth – $1,250 per user per month
If you don’t yet want to commit, Salesforce also lets you try any plan for free for 30 days once you answer a few questions about your business.
Sometimes, your business needs software that simplifies work and projects without bringing too much complexity. That’s where a tool like Wrike can be an optimal solution.
Wrike offers dashboards, processes, and automation tools for seemingly every business team. It can take care of anything from:
Marketing
Project management
Professional services
Business operations
Product Management
IT teams
Digital marketing teams
Wrike enables you to break down silos and connect all your teams through an easy-to-configure platform and secure cloud collaboration. Moreover, its customizable status reports help you keep everyone in the loop. With its out-of-the-box templates you can plan objectives and KPIs with actionable items that teams can organize on kanban boards with plenty of integrations.
One of Wrike’s standout features is its library of Wrike courses. They educate you on all things Wrike, including modules on building teams, managing processes, and increasing productivity all through the Wrike platform. In fact, Wrike won an award for the best customer training program in 2020. This all sounds great, but how do its prices break down?
Free
Professional – $9.80 per user per month
Business – $24.80 per user per month
Enterprise – Contact them for more information
For small businesses, Wrike can be a free tool worth using to streamline and scale processes. From there, its most popular Business tier at $24.80 per user per month offers more robust work management tools with plenty of reporting features and access to additional customization options.
If you haven’t made up your mind yet but think Wrike might be a tool you’re interested in, you can start a 14-day free trial for any plan you’d like to get a real feel for how the software operates.
Business management software isn’t just for big businesses with large teams. Solopreneurs and freelancers need processes and automations to streamline their operations too. QuickBooks can be a solid option for freelancers and one-man businesses that need to get a handle on their accounting and time tracking needs.
With QuickBooks, you’ll have an easier time getting paid and sending invoices, keeping track of income and expenses for tax purposes, and you’re able to gain clarity on how many hours you’re actually working.
QuickBooks lets you ditch limiting spreadsheets and replace them with powerful cash flow management, as well as reporting features that’ll help you keep cash flowing. Need payroll? You can easily add that to your plan.
Its time tracking feature, a crucial part of keeping a well-oiled freelance workflow, takes note of hours worked for an easier time calculating payroll and billable hours. Thankfully, QuickBooks isn’t only built for efficiency, it’s also an affordable solution.
Simple Start – $12.50 a month
Essentials – $20 a month
Plus – $35 a month
Advanced – $75 a month
For only $12.50 a month the Simple Start plan gives you access to income and expense tracking, invoicing, general reports, cash flow, and contract management. However, for more advanced features its most popular Plus plan can run comprehensive reports, capture and organize receipts, manage and pay bills, and even includes access for up to five users.
Managing a service-based business? Scoro has the tools you need to quicken your business processes through automation and data management. With Scoro’s real-time Gantt charts, your team can track progress in real time and lets you set tasks, dependencies, and events.
Scoro lets you create customer pipelines, automate billing and recurring invoices, and even automates the process of sending late invoice reminders. As far as data goes, it lets you automatically compile reports, and track KPIs through its data-rich dashboard. All of these tools and more help you manage the entire project life cycle on an intuitive and easy-to-use dashboard.
Built-in calendars, task lists, and time trackers make sure you’re keeping a finger on the pulse of all your service projects for higher rates of success. One of the best parts? Scoro can be pretty affordable for businesses that want a service management tool that can scale with them as they grow.
Essential – $26 per user per month with a minimum of five users
Work Hub – $37 per user per month
Sales Hub – $37 per user per month
Ultimate – Contact the sales team for pricing
Scoro offers a demo and a free trial if you’d like to try it out first.
How to Find The Best Business Management Software For You
Finding a fitting business management system isn’t a situation where you can just eye some features to find out if any given tool will work for you.
While it’s pretty straightforward that you’ll want your budget constraints, the size of your team, and your overall business goals to dictate which tool to onboard, there are additional criteria you can think through to maximize the chances of finding the right one.
Customer Management
Before committing to any tool, it’s worth determining what customer management tools your business will make use of.
Tools that enable you to do things like create customer profiles, or to anticipate the needs of a customer through tracked data might not be necessary for young startups or freelancers. It doesn’t make sense to invest in a more robust software if your business won’t truly need it— since more complex business management software almost always means you’ll have to pay more each month.
On the other hand, if your business has hundreds of employees and/or thousands of customers, a heavier customer management software package might be worth investing in.
Training and Onboarding
The more complex your business management tool of choice, the more of a learning curve your team will have to deal with. Fortunately, the best business management software providers know this and make it easier for businesses to use their software by designing an onboarding process— or at the very least providing a library of knowledge.
This way, any downtime is minimal during the onboarding process, your team will feel supported as they’re introduced to a new tool, and the transition to new software can be as smooth as possible. Some software providers come with customer support forums, an extensive knowledge library, and even on-demand training webinars and videos.
Knowing there’s a library of material they can refer to can save your team a lot of time and avoid miscommunication.
Summary
Without a doubt, the right business management software can transform the way you work. But first, you have to find one that works with your team’s needs and business goals. Here’s the complete list of software we went through as a quick refresher:
Zoho One – Best for big businesses that need high customization
Once you’ve carefully read through the guide and considered your options, you can take advantage of the free trials and demos each tool offers before making a full commitment.
PDCA cycle is a four-step cycle for constant improvement. Companies constantly evolve to keep up with the rapidly advancing world. PDCA approach is one way to inducing these changes in the system.
PDCA cycle is the means to making sure that your company is constantly improving and is headed in the right direction. In terms of marketing, for example, businesses have transitioned from country-wide print media ads to strong social media campaigns targeting audiences across the globe.
One of the most important roles in an Agile Project is that of the Product Owner (PO). The Primary responsibility of the PO is to represent the Business, prioritizing business requirements for delivery. This often means that the PO is the one who decides what the Squad does in a Sprint. However, it does not mean that the PO tells them how to do it, when to do it during the sprint, and which team member should do what. Sadly some POs go beyond their key responsibility and start managing the team and the project – the Project Managing PO! These POs find it difficult to move away from Project Management and adopt an approach of trust, collaboration, and empowerment – which is pivotal in an Agile context.
This article highlights the PO anti-patterns, describes the repercussions of these, and towards the end suggests a few tips to avoid them.
Agile has achieved a great deal of traction over the last couple of years, and companies right left and center are aiming to implement an agile methodology in their workforces.
And in light of this, the question becomes how can you run a successful agile project?
If you are starting as a project manager you may have seen WBS or work breakdown structure, and we are sure you wondered what is a work breakdown structure? A work breakdown structure, although despite what its’ name may suggest involves breaking down deliverables not work. This simple confusing fact reiterates why you need to understand what is a work breakdown structure.
Therefore, we have curated this guide to clue you in on all that is WBS. Let’s start with the basics.
It’s quite difficult to imagine a modern IT company without a project manager. It is rather an important role, which includes the application of methods, skills, processes, and experience to achieve the project goals and meet the client’s needs and requirements. As Martin Barnes, the former president of the Association for Project Management said, “At its most fundamental, project management is about people getting things done”.
Why Should Businesses/Startups Care About PM?
Both big companies and startups need efficient project management. In fact, the main value of project management lies in the fact that it ensures the appropriate allocation of resources so that a project is completed effectively. Besides, project management is what gives cohesiveness to the process of software development. Meanwhile, the role of a project manager also includes making sure that the project falls within the established budget and will be completed within the deadlines.
Are you planning to be a project manager? Project managers can easily qualify as the lifeline of a project. They are the ones who must make sure that things are done quickly and accurately. Not just that, a project manager also must make sure that the team sticks to the scope of the task. In order to accomplish all this, a project manager must have analytical acumen without letting the numbers diminish their creativity.
So, what does it take to become a project manager? The answer to this question is not a simple one, owing to the fact that there are multiple ways to become a project manager or to lead and coordinate a project. There are several factors that come into play, from skill to experience. In this article, we are going to discuss two paths to becoming a project manager: a more structured path led by formal education and training and a path guided by personal experience.
Even today, when project management and spreadsheet programs are getting better by nearly every conceivable standard, Microsoft Excel is still a popular choice for many.
Whether it’s owing to the fact that it is a simple spreadsheet platform which allows maximum customization, or that it lets you quickly process data, Excel is an essential tool in many workplaces.
Sorting out who does what on a project would appear to be pretty basic. Clear tasks, with clear responsibilities and deadlines, is Project Management 101. But in too many projects, it remains unclear who is responsible for a deliverable until it’s too late.
The Circle Dot Chart addresses this issue. It’s a tool for getting clear on what deliverables are due, when, and who is responsible for them. The chart consists of lines that represent tasks, and circles at the intersection of tasks and functional responsibilities. It identifies key deliverables on the horizontal axis and key roles or key individuals on the vertical axis. Open circles indicate that an individual function is involved, while solid circles represent the directly responsible individual (DRI) for a given deliverable. It is essential that there be one and only one DRI.
