Project management is a critical component of success for startups. In this article, we will discuss how project management tools help the startup teams concentrate on their core competencies and free them up from mundane tasks. We will highlight different software platforms that are suitable for managing projects in a startup and offer an insight into selecting the most appropriate project management tool for your business.
Managing Projects – A Necessity For Startups
A startup is always under pressure to deliver fast results & avoid costly mistakes at every juncture of operations while moving steadily towards achieving its end goal. Project Management helps with planning, monitoring progress against expected outcomes and controlling costs throughout stages of development or execution of various activities crucial to business goals and objectives. It can be used to manage every aspect of the business including marketing campaigns, IT infrastructure development & audit planning. It can also be used to oversee cash flow by managing finance activities such as project costing and revenue generation forecasting. Being a significant asset in successful startups, Project Management is always a priority for the teams involved in making a startup idea become reality.
Project management tools have advanced features that add immense value to organizations looking to enhance project efficiency at all levels and help them achieve their set goals faster and cost-effectively. Here are some of the features which make these software packages so popular:
- A single console overview of your projects gives you a bird’s eye view of everything going on within your organization;
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously thus reducing time wastage and complex project dependency;
- Overcome the challenges of resource management by letting you assign tasks to specific team members based on available skill sets;
- Automate the business processes with built-in workflow templates;
- Access essential information from a centralized dashboard for faster decision-making.
Project Management software also helps in evolving an effective method of communication between project teams & stakeholders, which is vital for both successful delivery & customer satisfaction. With Project Management tools, projects are visible at all times by different individuals who need access for their operations or due to managerial requirements. This accountability & transparency keep them updated about ongoing activities and enable them to make appropriate decisions related to changes that require immediate action. It allows everyone involved in a project to collaborate in a single meaningful workspace that is essential for inter-dependencies to achieve timely and effective delivery.
Doing the Selections – What to Look For?
When your startup is looking into Project Management tools, you will come across numerous options available in the market today. Some of them are cheap & offer limited functionalities while some cost a bomb but have every feature under the sun with extensive add-on packs available as an extra charge. Faced with so many choices, where do you start? Well, there are certain factors that need to be considered before making your final decision:
- Functionality & features offered by different project management platforms;
- Yearly costs of using different software solutions;
- Customer feedback about the ease of use of various options;
- Available project management templates to make your work easier.
Cost is a major factor while selecting PM software as it will have an impact on the way you use the solution and how satisfied your team members are with it. What might suit one company’s need might not necessarily match up to others’ requirements due to the varying nature of businesses & their projects, which makes it difficult for any single platform to be affordable enough for everyone in every sector of operation. Some solutions offer extensive functionality but they come at above-average costs because they provide feature-rich products that solve real-world problems.
