While there are many reasons you need a project management tool, the most important reason is that a project management tool helps you stay on track to achieve your business goals.
As a business owner, you understand how hard it feels to manage many different tasks and projects all at the same time. Even if you have a team, balancing all of your responsibilities can feel overwhelming.
With a project management tool, you can plan and organize your goals, communicate with your team, and stay on top of everything that’s going on in your business. As a result, you will save time and see an increase in your income.
Why A Project Management Tool Is Essential
Once you have a PM tool in place, you will wonder how in the world you ever managed without one. Project management tools help you plan your goals, organize your ideas, share information, communicate with your team, and keep track of progress.
Reason #1: Stay On Track With Your Goals
Have you ever set a goal and not seen it through to completion because you didn’t know how to get there? This has happened to all of us.
A project management tool helps you get specific with your goals. It also allows you to assign due dates for task completion. Whether you set yearly or quarterly goals, organize your PM tool so your goals are listed as weekly and daily goals.
In a PM tool, everything will be in one place so you have a visual of what needs to be done to achieve your goal. You can plan out actionable steps, assign a team member, and set a due date. Get ready to knock out those goals!
Reason #2: Stay Organized With Everything In One Place
A project management tool is important because everything can be located in one place. This reduces mistakes and gives you a visual of what needs attention. No more notebooks or post-it notes! Your team can go to the PM tool to check on the progress of a project and see the tasks assigned to them for that day or week.
Train your team members to communicate within the PM tool rather than sending you another email. By entering information right into the PM tool, everyone can stay on the same page. Everyone stays informed which leads to clear goals and expectations for a project.
Reason #3: Assign Tasks To Your Team Members
When you can assign tasks to your team members within your project management tool, you avoid tasks falling through the cracks. You also save time that you would normally spend sending emails or Voxer messages to tell them about a new tasks or find out their progress.
When you train your team to refer to the PM tool for task assignments, you make sure everyone knows the expectations for each day. It helps your team plan their week accordingly which eliminates missed deadlines or work being set aside and forgotten about.
Of course you will still need to schedule regular meetings with your team members to discuss schedules, problems, and goals. By being able to assign team member tasks, however, you will eliminate the need for constant contact throughout the week to get ongoing updates about progress.
Reason #4: Save Time By Creating Templates For Recurring Tasks
Within project management tools, you can create a template for projects that have the same steps. These may include producing a podcast, writing a blog post, or launching a new product. The steps to complete the project are the same; it’s only the content that is different.
Just like an SOP, begin by listing out the tasks you complete during the project. Attach documents you need, including any SOPs, to complete each task.
By creating a template, you will have a checklist in front of you to track your progress. When you need an SOP or other documents, it will be right at your fingertips. Rather than creating the checklist each time you begin a project, you will have a template that helps you start more quickly. At the most, you will need to make some minor changes to make the template project specific.
Reason #5: Helps You and Your Team Stay Accountable
Assigning due dates to tasks within a project allows each team member to easily identify expectations. It enables them to complete tasks on time because they are able to plan their week.
Because everything is in one place, things stay visible and are more likely to get done. You are able to track progress because team members can enter notes about what they’ve done. There’s no need to check in with a team member every day to make sure tasks are being completed.
Reason #6: Become More Productive
Once you start using a PM tool, you will notice that your productivity increases. Of course, you’ll still need to communicate with your team. However, you will no longer need to manage the tasks because task lists are in one place within the PM tool. You’ll be more organized and eliminate the time you once spent digging through numerous emails or Voxer messages to find the one bit of information you need.
You’ll also be more productive because you’ll have a set schedule to accomplish your to-do list. No more guessing what you need to do that day. You can start on your tasks the moment you sit down to work. By listing tasks with a due date, you’ll also have some more accountability for actually completing the work.
How To Choose A Project Management Tool
Now that you know the important reasons you need a project management tool in your business, what’s next? There is no shortage of project management tools available to business owners. So how do you choose?
First, make a list of the key features you absolutely cannot do without. Some of these features may include the ability to set a recurring task, assign tasks to team members, create templates, and multiple views to see tasks.
Next, ask your peers in business what they use or have used. Their input will help you make a good choice that will work well for your business.
Personally, I have landed on ClickUp. I can’t say enough about this project management tool. It has a lot of capabilities at an affordable price. In addition, ClickUp continues to make improvements to their software to make it more user-friendly for their customers.
Whichever you decide to use, it’s important to get a project management tool in place now. Once you implement a PM tool, you’ll save time and increase your productivity.
P.S. If you need help with organizing your business, I’d love to speak with you. Check out my services page and schedule a free discovery call with me. For other tips to scale your business, check out my blog post, “Easy Steps You Can Take Today To Scale Your Online Business”.