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09 February 2023 - 4 min read
There’s an old saying that the quality of your work is only as good as your tools.
When it comes to project management, tools and resources generally play a huge part in the effectiveness of your work. Find the right resource and you can really enhance your productivity, time-management and efficiency.
To help you develop your own practice as a project manager, we’ve gathered some of the resources that we think are the most essential for a project manager to have in their toolkit.
Here are 7 of the most practical resources for project managers!
Best for: General project management in small and medium-sized teams.
Trello has been one of the essential practical tools of project managers since it first launched and it’s easy to see why.
It’s simple, it’s easy to use and it’s pretty cheap. It’s a project management workhorse that’s user-friendly and pain-free to navigate.
Trello uses boards and cards to organise projects: a bit like a digital version of a sticky-note board (anyone remember them?) You can create boards (usually, a general project area) to which you then add specific cards (essentially tasks or actions), setting deadlines, delegating responsibility and uploading images or files.
The software is incredibly versatile and is suited to a range of projects. Even with a free plan, you have access to 10 boards, unlimited cards and unlimited storage which should be enough for small teams to manage basic projects.
Best for: Versatility and remote teams
Whilst it may be one of the oldest project management tools out there in the digital world, the sheer versatility of Basecamp means that it’s never really broken into a sweat when fending off newer, trendier pieces of software and apps.
Particularly suited to remote workplaces, Basecamp integrates team communication into the soul of the software and offers a variety of intuitive ways for teams to stay in touch whilst not in the office together. Everything is neatly organised according to project, ensuring that communication for projects can be easily found and referred to.
One of the key draws of Basecamp is the fact that you aren’t charged per user, like most other project management resources. Instead, you’re charged a flat-rate no matter what the size of your team. This can help you to preserve your budget if you’re working in a particularly large team.
Best for: Modern note-taking and clutter-free project management
Notion combines note-taking with project management, offering an intriguing resource for project managers that genuinely seems different to other board-based project management tools on the market. Within the app you have access to a kanban board, a to-do list, and spaces to create long-form and short-form notes, giving you a comprehensive environment to base all of your project management skills.
The ultra-modern, stripped back design helps to make the overall app feel less overwhelming than other similar apps, although it can take a bit of getting used to.
Best for: Small teams on a budget
Ideal for small project management teams that need to generate ideas collaboratively online, Monday.com’s flexibility and versatility put it into the high regard of a lot of project managers and those working with others on the delivery of projects.
You can easily import data from other places, like Microsoft Excel or Google Drive as well as track time spent on projects, budgets and individual/ collective progress towards the completion of tasks.
The pricing structure can be a bit complicated to get your head around but the user interface is clean, modern and relatively easy to use. Overall, Monday.com is a powerful project management app that’s well suited for small teams that are working to pretty tight budgets.
Best for: Creating detailed lists of what you and your team need to do
Featuring a pared down, uncluttered user interface, Todoist provides some welcome space to breath when you’re trying to break projects down into smaller elements and compose more detailed than usual to-do lists for projects.
With Todoist, you can create detailed to-do lists with deadlines, assign roles to specific projects and also set reminders and alarms about completing items. Few other project management tools come close to matching the beautiful simplicity of Todoist.
There are three payment options: Free, Pro and Business. The Free option is surprisingly good and gets you access to the core principles of the software.
You are limited to the number of projects you can have at any one time (5) and the size of the files that you can upload though, which is why if you’re serious about using Todoist for project management, you should probably consider a paid plan. That said, small teams and individual professionals should be able to manage on a Free plan for a while.
Best for: Keeping up to date with best practice, broadening your knowledge and keeping your skills current
Led by seasoned project manager, Andy Kaufman, PMP, PMI-ACP, People and Projects podcast is pretty much what it says on the tin: a project management podcast that focuses on the stories of people and the projects that they’ve led. Each episode focuses on a particular theme or questions and features an interview with a thought-leader in a particular field.
It makes for a fascinating podcast that enables you to learn about new perspectives whilst you’re on your commute, walking your dog or ploughing through your work to-do list. With over 390 episodes to sink your teeth into, there’s more than enough project management listening for you to absorb.
Listen to People and Projects Podcast
Best for: Enhancing your skillset with sought-after skills
Professional qualifications are one of the best resources that you can use to enhance your skills, knowledge and professional credibility.
When it comes to project management there’s one qualification that employers consistently say they want to see in potential new hires: PRINCE2 qualifications.
PRINCE2 qualifications are considered one of the ‘gold standard’ project management qualifications to have studied. They’re designed to introduce you to the PRINCE2 project management framework – one of the world’s most widely used project management systems.
Developed and released by the UK Government in 1996, the PRINCE2 framework is used by public and private organisations around the world and is widely considered one of the most universally-used project management systems. Put simply, if you’re working in project management, and you want to develop your career, you should probably learn about this framework.
There are three different types of PRINCE2 qualification:
We offer all three PRINCE2 qualifications at DPG so there’s bound to be a PRINCE2 qualification to match your current skill level.
Have these project management tools and resources got you thinking about how you can work smarter, rather than harder, for better results in your project management practice? We hope that our suggestions have given you something to think about and potentially, helped you improve your own practice.
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