Project Management Software

The key to starting a project that will be delivered on time, on budget and meeting quality standards is simple: writing a project plan. How to write a project plan is not as simple. It involves smaller plans that all add up to a means of completing the project successfully. After defining what a project is, we’ll explain what should be included and the steps to writing a project plan. We’ll also include a free project plan template and a few others related to the planning process. What Is a Project Plan? A project plan is a structured document that outlines the objectives, scope, timeline, resources, risks and responsibilities needed to complete a project. It serves as…

Looking for free project management software? Here's our list of the top free tools to help you plan, organize, and execute projects in 2023. The post 10 Best Free Project Management Tools to Boost Team Efficiency in 2025 appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

Explore content operations templates that support strategy, calendars, collaboration, and cross-team workflows—from Wrike and Google to ClickUp and Jira. The post Content Operations Project Management Templates to Keep Teams Aligned and Output Flowing appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

You’re probably here because you’re looking for Microsoft Project for Mac. Unfortunately, Microsoft Project, also known as MS Project, wasn’t designed for Mac computers, so its desktop-based editions (Microsoft Project Standard and Microsoft Project Professional) won’t work on any Mac operating system (macOS). Is There a Microsoft Project for Mac? Microsoft Project for Mac doesn’t exist, but there are alternatives for those who want to work with Microsoft Project Plan (MPP) files on an Apple computer. The two most commonly used workarounds are trying one of the inferior, web-based versions of Microsoft Project or installing a virtual machine, a software that allows users…

When managing projects, users have many options. Microsoft Lists and Microsoft Planner are two of the most popular project management apps. But are they the one-stop solution project managers and their teams need to plan, manage and track work? There’s only one way to find out. We compared Microsoft Lists vs. Planner. Let’s see how they stack up. We’ll put Microsoft Lists vs. Planner through a series of tests. First, let’s define each to understand what they are and how they’re used, including key features. Then we’ll explore Microsoft vs. Planner in terms of the pros and cons of each and where one excels over the other. When comparing Microsoft project planning tools, …

If you’re looking to manage a project and facilitate better collaboration with your teams, chances are you’ve heard of and are thinking of trying Microsoft Project and Microsoft Planner. To help with that decision, we’ve set up a comparison with Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner. May the best app win. The stats when comparing Microsoft Project vs. Microsoft Planner tell us that the former is a robust project management tool and the latter is more of a stripped-down version. MS Project integrates with MS products such as Office and has financial management tools and Gantt charts. However, it doesn’t have a mobile app and is expensive and complicated to use. Microso…

Explore SEO project management templates built for campaign tracking, team collaboration, and on-page/off-page optimization. The post 7 Must-Have SEO Project Management Templates to Launch Your Campaigns Right and Keep Them on Track appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

Asana vs. Monday is a matchup made for project management professionals. Which one to choose? That’s why Monday vs. Asana is such an important battle. You can’t have both, so you want what’s best. We’ll help you pick between Asana vs. Monday. It’s difficult. Asana vs. Monday are both similar project management tools. They have features, such as project tracking, workflow automation and other standard project management software features. Let’s look at those features, pricing and other comparisons between Monday vs. Asana. Of course, you can have the best of both worlds, with more powerful features and at a price point that fits your budget. ProjectManager is award-winni…

Before comparing PRINCE2 vs. PMP, it’s important to understand that though they’re often mentioned in the same context within project management, they serve different purposes. PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) is a project management framework. That is, it’s a structured approach with defined principles, themes and processes. It focuses on governance, organization and clearly defined roles and responsibilities. While PMP (Project Management Professional) is a certification that validates a project manager’s experience. What Is the PMP Certification? PMP certification is a globally recognized credential awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI). It v…

Asana is a popular work management software that helps teams collaborate on tasks and projects. Microsoft Project is a popular project management software that has the tools that project managers need to manage teams and projects. If you’re looking at Asana vs. Microsoft Project and trying to decide which is the right tool for you, we have the stats to help you make that decision. There are problems in the battle of Microsoft Project vs. Asana. For one, MS Project is notoriously difficult to use and expensive. Then there’s Asana, which is a great work management tool that calls itself a project management software solution, but in reality doesn’t live up to delivering th…

A Gantt chart is a project management tool used to view project tasks scheduled over a time period, and provides information on overall project progress. The post What Is a Gantt Chart? appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

The Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) “traces ” the project’s deliverables by establishing a thread for each requirement—from the project’s initiation to the final implementation. The post What is a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)? appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

The project manager is on the ground, running the team and keeping the daily operations of a project running smoothly. But who looks after the project manager? In project management, that position is called a project director. Project management tends to be a hierarchical methodology that has numerous tiers of command. If you’re looking for a job or need to fill an open position, you’re in luck. The below job descriptions are very precise. Let’s take a look at a project director and learn what they do. What Is a Project Director? A project director is a person responsible for leading a team of project managers, which can also include contractors, sub-contractors, softwa…

Goals are set easily enough, but reaching them takes work. Sometimes that work is falling short, and project teams need to figure out why and how to get back on pace to meet their goals. For that, they use something called a needs assessment. But what is a needs assessment, often called a needs analysis? We’ll answer that first before going into when one should take place and how to do it. To better understand, we’ll share an example and even a template to help readers get started. What Is a Needs Assessment? A needs assessment is a systematic process to identify and evaluate gaps between a current situation and desired outcomes. It helps organizations, teams or individ…

Starting your projects in the right way makes it so much easier to manage your work and your team. While it’s tempting to dive straight in and get on with your tasks, it pays to take a bit of time at the beginning to plan out your work and check that you’ve got everything you need. Set your projects up for success with this easy-to-use checklist. Work through the list and make sure you can say ‘yes’ to each item: then you’ll know you can start work confidently. But first, let’s run through some basics about project kickoff. /wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Project-kickoff-template.jpg Get your free Project Kickoff Template Use this free Project Kickoff Template for …

Projects are delicate operations. There is so much that can impact them; a storm cutting off the supply chain, equipment failure or a labor dispute are merely three possible situations in a seemingly endless succession of risks. The risk response plan that you create to deal with these risks, which describes risk identification, assessment, and mitigation response strategies, could mean the success or failure of the project. It’s no wonder so much of project management is focused on risk! Controlling risk, having a risk response plan and implementing risk response strategies are methods to better manage your project and deliver success. Another way is to have project ma…

The term stakeholder is familiar to those in project management. These are individuals, groups or organizations that have an interest in or are affected by the outcome of a project. However, not everyone understands that they can be broken down into internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. To understand the difference between internal and external stakeholders, we’ll first define both and offer examples of them in project management. Identifying them is only the first step. After that, we’ll spend some time explaining how to manage internal stakeholders and external stakeholders What Are Internal Stakeholders in Project Management? Internal stakeholders in proje…

Before defining an issue log, let’s define project issues. An issue is any roadblock or unintended impact that directly affects your project’s timeline and or performance. It’s different than a risk, which can be defined as a potential problem or future issue that might happen in your project. An issue is something that has already come up in your project, and you need to identify and track that issue immediately. What Is an Issue Log? An issue log is a simple list or spreadsheet that helps managers track the issues that arise in a project and prioritize a response to them. We have created an Excel Issue Log template you can download for free. It’s an easy way for you to…

Project management has developed the means to increase the likelihood of successful completion. That starts by breaking a project down into project management phases. What are those project phases? We’ll define them in detail. This is a great opportunity for those new to project management, but also serves professional project managers and their teams who can never go over this critical information enough. What Are the 5 Project Management Phases? The five project management phases are a structured approach to planning, executing and completing a project. Based on the Project Management Institute (PMI) framework, these phases help project managers and teams stay organiz…

Stakeholders are anyone who has a vested interest in the project. They can be internal, such as project managers, teams, owners or investors, or external, such as clients, customers or suppliers. There can be a lot of stakeholders in any project and managing them requires stakeholder management templates. ProjectManager is project management software that helps you manage projects and stakeholders. If you’re not ready for a free trial of the software, we also offer dozens of free project management templates for Excel and Word that can help with every phase of your project. Here are some free stakeholder management templates. 1. Stakeholder Analysis Template There may b…

Whether it’s investors or customers, stakeholders are important to every project. But what is a stakeholder? There’s more than one answer to that question. Let’s take some time to define what a stakeholder is, examples of stakeholders and free stakeholder templates that can help with stakeholder management. What Is a Stakeholder? A stakeholder is either an individual, group or organization that’s impacted by the outcome of a project or a business venture. Stakeholders have an interest in the success of the project and can be within or outside the organization that’s sponsoring the project. Stakeholders are important because they can have a positive or negative influence …

Projects are expensive. Project financing is how they acquire the funding to pay for the project. To understand this process, one must begin with the meaning of project financing and then work towards the various methods of getting it. We’ll go over that, explore various project financing sources, explain the process of getting that financial support and provide an example to see how this plays out in the real world. We’ll end by sharing some free templates to help estimate costs, budget and more. What Is Project Financing? Project financing refers to the process of securing and managing the financial resources needed to execute a project. It involves structuring fundin…

Successful projects aren’t had by holding one’s nose and jumping in. There must be preparation. In project management, once a project has been approved, it starts with a project outline. While a project outline might seem obvious, it’s worth spending a little time defining what the phase means. Once that’s clear, we’ll show when a project outline is made, what should be included and provide an example to show how it works in a real-life scenario. What Is a Project Outline? A project outline is a high-level overview that summarizes the key components of a project. It typically includes the project’s objectives, scope, timeline, key milestones, deliverables, stakeholders …

Keeping your employees engaged and on task is, well, no easy task. They say one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch—and it’s true. A bad hire can cost your business valuable workplace productivity, not to mention nearly 20 percent of their salary on average. And those are just a couple of reasons why workforce management is so important. Whether you’re in IT, construction or retail, mastering the basics of workforce management can benefit you immensely. What Is a Workforce, Exactly? A workforce is the total number of people employed or available for work within a specific context, such as a company, organization, industry or geographic region. Think of it as the human c…

A project list is the starting point for any project management process. They’re a great way to take what seems an insurmountable amount of disparate tasks and organize them. A project list can be as simple as a to-do list or a corral for many projects. Using a project list is so important it’s worth taking a moment to explore what it is, how to create one and how it fits into managing your project with project management software tools. What Is a Project List? The most straightforward answer is that a project list is a to-do list for a project. You could use a project list as you would any to-do list, creating a list of tasks you need to do today, this week or over the…