Casual.PM Blog

7 Best Project Planning Tools (Updated for 2020)

More than 50% of projects fail, as measured by the Project Management Institute. It happens for many, sometimes very complex reasons. The surprising research hints at some of these causes. It revealed that 66% of companies using project management software completed projects within their original budget, compared to 47% of businesses operating without a project management tool.

Indeed, how you create the workflow, arrange the tasks for your team members, set project milestones and right objectives will affect project implementation and success. It makes sense to consider project management solutions and use an appropriate one for your business.

In this post, you’ll discover a list of practical project planning tools. They are powerful must-have helpers to design project timelines in the best way and manage your projects/tasks quickly and successfully.

Most Commonly Used Project Planning Tools

There are seven popular project planning tools that companies use to up their games. Take a look at their benefits and select the best one for you:

Casual

project management tool Casual

It’s an online project management tool that helps PMs create visual working plans and present them to the team members visually and simply. With this cloud software, you can control the processes inside your projects in an accurate way. 

Main features:

  • Project planning and tracking;
  • Visual Planning;
  • Reuse of repeatable tasks;
  • Integration with Google Calendar and Google Drive;

Moreover, it’s possible to attach files to the tasks, break big assignments into smaller ones, categorize your projects for easier management, and specify the performance mood. And what’s even better, you can clone features for similar projects and connect the deadlines of tasks assigned to you to your Google Calendar.

TeamGantt

project planning software TeamGantt

It’s a freemium project planning software that many big companies use to improve their project management. You can plan your projects from start to finish and control each task that should be done efficiently. Using convenient Gantt charts, you can observe a 360-degree view of the projects. 

The tool allows you to check each team member’s availability to assign the tasks and sync with remote employees without losing productivity. You can estimate project hours and track actual time to spend on tasks using time tracking and reporting functionality. Moreover, in TeamGantt, you’re allowed to upload and save project files, export presentation-ready plans, and communicate with your team within the platform.

nTask

online task and project management platform

It’s a freemium online task and project management platform for individuals and enterprises. You can schedule, prioritize, track tasks, plan and manage projects, and make team communication easier. One of the useful features of the tool is online meeting functionality, with the help of which you can create a meeting agenda, add discussion points, and enlist follow-up actions and decisions. 

With nTask, you can collect and analyze information about spending time on each task of the project. With issue management software, you’ll fix any bug easily and quickly. Moreover, nTask provides a Risk Management tool to define risks and minimize their impact on the project.

Teamwork

work and project management software Teamwork

It’s a work and project management software used by business owners, marketing teams and project managers. Besides basic project management options, this tool customizes your workflow and advanced features for complex projects, such as portfolio management, time tracking, Gantt chart, and many more.  

Using Teamwork, it’s easy to manage multiple complex projects. You can see your project progress, have updated data about your team’s resources, and plan new projects avoiding team burnout.

Airtable

Airtable multifunctional platform

It’s a multifunctional platform that you can use according to your needs. You can create a Content Calendar, Product Roadmap, and Event Planner with different views. Using ready-to-use apps from the Airtable marketplace, you can enrich your dashboard with useful functionality to take action on your data. 

There is a big library of pre-built templates that you can use to manage your projects inside Airtable. Moreover, you can streamline the work of your team and automate tasks, design custom notifications, and connect your workflow with necessary programs and services seamlessly. The cherry on the top is an opportunity to collaborate with other departments inside your company and share the data.

Asana

online project planning tool Asana

It’s an online project planning tool that allows you to share goals, tasks, plans, and files with team members and track an execution status in one place. You can arrange tasks in a list view for more straightforward navigation, assign executors, and set timelines. 

With Asana software, it’s simple to create boards defining each stage of work and react quickly if things are getting stuck. You’re allowed to customize your workflows according to your purposes. One of the useful options is reporting. You can get statistics about your team’s progress and productivity and control work on track.

Trello

web-based Kanban-style project planning Trello

It’s a web-based Kanban-style project planning system for organizing your workflow. You can create big boards by project, category, or department and add smaller lists inside each of them. It’s possible to build cards with tasks to assign executors, specify due date, add description and checklist, and attach necessary files. 

Trello provides integration with many services, so you can connect your Trello tasks with other platforms to optimize your team’s work. What’s more, there are varied pre-made project management templates that you can use and customize for your ideal workflow.

Summary

A lack of planning or poor planning can lead to project failure. So, it makes sense to use one of the mentioned tools and professionally manage your projects. Organize your team’s work more efficiently, set objectives, and get statistics about your project’s health in one place. With a project planning tool, you will have a motivated team, meet customers’ expectations, and drive the projects to completion for sure.