Any great project requires careful planning, collaboration, and expert-level execution. Plenty of teams have great ideas, but a project is only successful when everyone can bring their best work to the table. The key to a great project management process is using the best tools to organize and share resources across all team members. For the next project you look to organize and plan, be sure to keep an eye out for key characteristics of a great project management tool. Below are a few of these features, along with a list of top tools recommended by the project management team at Blue Label Labs.

Great Characteristics of a Successful Project Management Tool

Even if everyone works in the same office, project management tools can help to improve organizational workflow. Here are some things to look for in the perfect project management tool for you.

Easy Communication Platforms

The best project management tools help you stay in touch with everyone involved in the process. It doesn’t matter if five people are involved or fifty: project management tools should be the primary place you communicate with one another. That means things like a dedicated messaging system as well as the ability to create groups.

Mobile Compatibility

While it’s true that most project management tools have a mobile app, some don’t work as well as the desktop application. Everyone on your team is involved in several things at once. That means meetings, personal obligations, and other professional responsibilities could have certain members on-the-go regularly. Mobile compatibility means more than simply having an app. The platform has to work well on phones and tablets given how mobile the modern workforce is today.

Proven Project Management Tools

The best project management tools on the market are ones you’ve likely heard about. Here are a few that you might want to consider for your planning and organizing.

Asana

What do Dropbox, Airbnb, and Uber have in common? They all use Asana. This platform allows for customization of project management tools and utilities to ensure the digital capabilities of the tool fit your organization perfectly. With things like groups, the ability to assign tasks as well as communicate during the process of their completion, and a great mobile app, this is one of the most popular project management tools for a very good reason.

Trello

One thing that makes Trello stand out amongst competitors is its simple “board” format. Simply name a board after a project or step in the process and assign people to the board with a given task. The user-friendly simplicity of the software, as well as its easy-to-follow visual appearance make it a favorite among many professionals.

Monday

For project managers with many different people involved in the process, Monday is easy to organize everyone. Every member can only see work relevant to their role. That means they won’t get confused with loads of information in front of them and allows them to focus on what they need to bring to the table. Not to mention, easy integration with things like DropBox and Google Drive make using third-party agents for file sharing and cloud services easy.

There are several great options at your disposal for project management tools. Assess what your organization or team needs most, and find the right fit for you!