In the age of remote and home-based work, how do you stay on top of deadlines and projects? Achieving focused work is a challenge as is in the traditional workplace; and for some, it remains a greater challenge for remote work. This is where you can make technology work for you and boost your productivity instead of struggling against it.
Remote work has become prevalent. With that, there are now so many digital tools and online platforms that can help you manage projects and tasks. The most popular of these are project management software. Some of these are even designed to be especially useful for specific industries or tasks. They have functionalities like tracking project updates, planning marketing strategies, and file sharing.
As Malaysian professionals continue to navigate and cope with working remotely in the new normal, these digital tools will be of great help for staying productive. Whatever industry you belong to, there is a project management software for you.
Many of these online tools can be tweaked for different applications. Specialised features include social media content plans, editorial calendars, customer onboarding, event planning, product launches, marketing plan, and sales tracking.
You now have so many project management software tools to choose from. Below are five of the most popular, flexible, and trusted options that you—and your team—can try out today. These platforms are also available as mobile and desktop apps, so you can stay updated across different devices.
A favourite of project managers and marketing teams across the globe, Asana is designed to be an intuitive platform for tracking tasks and projects at every stage.
Project stages or details are mainly organised into Kanban boards where tasks are added or moved around. The Portfolio feature is especially handy for project managers who need real-time monitoring of their projects.
There is also a Timeline tab. Essentially a Gantt chart, this shows the progress of each individual project and how the tasks affect each other. This is very useful in identifying and addressing bottlenecks as changes or developments in the project happen.
Other great features include 100+ integrations (file sharing platforms like Google Drive), customised workflows that allow users to check their individual tasks, templates, forms, automation, and secure project sharing for feedback or review.
Basecamp takes pride in being at the forefront of transitioning teams to remote work, even before the new normal. In fact, it was designed for software development studios, design firms, freelancers, consultants, and agencies with teams scattered across the globe. Therefore, it is one of the tried and tested project management platforms available.
It has a message board for posting announcements and other team communications, group chats, to-do lists, and shared scheduling. You can access these through Google Calendar, iCal or Outlook, and file sharing. Basecamp also keeps everyone in the team in the loop even without the need for meetings all the time.
Owners and executives can ask everyone what they are working on with automatic check-in questions. Managers can have an overview of everything that is happening using the activity view. Individuals can use the “My stuff” menu to track their schedules, assignments, and deadlines.
Another long-time project management software, Trello is best known for popularising the board and card format for tracking both personal and team projects.
This free online tool is one of the simplest platforms available, so it is perfect for those who are just dipping their toes into the Kanban board format—or digital project management tools in general.
Apart from the board, users can also view projects in different views: timeline view for project planning, calendar for time management and deadline tracking, table view for connecting work across boards, and productivity metrics.
Cards can contain deadlines and feedback, and can be assigned to other users or connected with work across apps. Use the built-in automation to reduce common actions like moving lists, alerting about upcoming deadlines, and scheduling teammate assignments.
If you are used to organising project tables and working with databases, Airtable is one of your best options. You can add different fields to a spreadsheet and pull data from different sheets using the flexible relational data model, making it easy to track anything and everything.
You can view projects by Calendar view, Gallery view, Grid view, and Kanban view. Additionally, you can create forms using the fields of any software, connect your Airtable workflow to hundreds of apps and services, and create custom notifications and tool integrations through automations.
If you need a simple yet flexible project management or planning software Notion is a great option. While a relatively new player, it is slowly gaining popularity for combining powerful note-taking, database relations, project tracking tools, templates, multiple views, notifications, and extensive customisation. Since it is primarily a wiki-tool platform, it also serves as a great option for creating knowledge base and documentation for various projects.
Despite these features, Notion does not have a lot of tools typically provided by most project management software. Still, it will still work great for individuals and small teams. It can also complement any of the options mentioned above in case your project requires extensive documentation.
While these options are all free, you or your team can upgrade accounts for some extra functionalities to your virtual workspace. Keep in mind that using digital tools like these is only one part of getting work done. For the rest, take note of some simple yet powerful productivity tips you can add to your routine when working from home.
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