It can be difficult to stay organised. Some days, I find it near impossible to keep the avalanche of emails at bay, let alone actually make a dent in any real work. So, whether it’s a writing project, a marketing campaign, or simply cataloguing client requests, project management (and general organisational skills) can be the difference between success and failure. It can be the difference between limping from email to email, and flying through projects with speed and efficiency.
That’s where project management tools come in handy.
Different people will use these project management tools in different ways. You may prefer all the bells and whistles that Evernote (a do-it-all app) has to offer. Or, it might be that you want a simple, clean and easy-to-use to-do list that you know will sync across all of your devices instantaneously, just like Wunderlist. Or, you might be after a team collaboration tool like Trello or Flow to effectively and efficiently manage all your projects. Regardless of what you’re looking for in your project management tools, there’s sure to be something that you’ll love in this post.
Trello
Trello is sort of like a digital pin board, filled with a list of lists, each of which you can populate with as many ‘cards’ as your little heart desires. It is wonderful for creating checklists, and to-do lists, and is utterly perfect for team collaboration. If you opt to use Trello for team projects, you can assign certain tasks (or ‘cards’) to certain people, create due dates, upload file attachments, and leave messages for one another. By using Trello in this way, everyone can see the whole project and its progress, in real time, and better understand their role.
Price: Free, now and forever (according to the Trello website)
Website: https://trello.com
Flow
With a focus on clarity and simplicity, Flow offers users hundreds of features, including team management, task assignment and delegation, project management, archiving and scheduling. Flow has been built with the end user in mind, with drag and drop functionality, @mentions, push notifications and a mobile dashboard. Plus, it is completely securely, support from real human beings is available and there is an extensive knowledge base of data available.
Price: There is a whole range of packages available from Flow, ranging from $19 per month for a Basic account, right up to $399 per month for a Corporate account.
Website: https://www.getflow.com
Evernote
Billed as one workspace that lives across all your devices (phone, tablet, and computer), Evernote enables you to write without distraction, collate information, find exactly what you need quickly and easily, and professionally present your ideas. If you’re undertaking a writing project that entails quite a bit of research, then Evernote is the software for you; you can clip web articles, capture handwritten notes, and snap photos to ensure that all your sources are with you at all times. It is simple and easy to set up, just enter your email and a password.
Price: There are three different price points for Evernote: Free; Premium, which is $5 per month, and gives you more enhanced search features and offline access via mobile; and Business, which is $11 per month per user, and is built for online project collaboration.
Website: https://evernote.com
Wunderlist
Wunderlist is the easiest way to get stuff done (or so the website proclaims). Whether you’re organising your latest marketing project, putting together a shopping list for your dinner party on Saturday night, or creating project checklists, Wunderlist can help you accomplish more. You can even share your lists with team members or family, through its collaboration feature, and carry on conversations with an innovative commenting feature. There are even a whole variety of ‘Public Lists’, from The Most Watched TED Talks to How to Make the Best Cup of Tea.
Price: There are a few different options and price points for Wunderlist, depending on your needs: Free, which has limits on file uploads, assignees, and sub-tasks; Pro, priced at $4.99 per month, which has no such limits; and Business, priced at $4.99 per user per month, which has the added extra of team management tools.
Website: https://www.wunderlist.com
Perplexed by the inclusion of Pinterest on this list? While it might not seem like a project management or an organisational tool (and was certainly not designed as such), Pinterest can be quite effective if used as such. You can easily use Pinterest to organise resources and sources, filing them however you see fit, by using different boards for different content. You can even save content to be shared on your social media channels at a later date, or pin websites for content marketing ideas. If you use the secret, locked Pinterest board function, then the general public won’t be privy to your organisational brilliance.
Price: Free
Website: http://www.pinterest.com
Taskforce
If you’re a Gmail user, then this app could be the one that radically alters your productivity levels. Taskforce provides the tools to help you stay organised, without ever leaving your Gmail inbox. Taskforce can change emails into tasks with just the click of a button, which can be particularly helpful if you feel like you’re drowning in a landslide of emails every day. Plus, you can easily share these tasks with others, even if they aren’t using Taskforce.
Price: There are two options when it comes to Taskforce: Free, always and forever; and the Pro version, priced at $5 per month, which gives you access to additional features like multiple workspaces, task prioritisation, and priority customer support.
Website: https://www.taskforceapp.com
If you come across something you might want to review in detail later, then just put it in your pocket! You can save all sorts of content – videos, blog posts, website articles, and more. You can save content directly from your browser, or from more than 500 different websites and apps, including Twitter, Pulse, and Flipboard. Pocket syncs across all your devices automatically, so if you save something to Pocket on your phone, it is also available immediately on your computer and tablet as well, without even needing an internet connection.
Price: There are two pocket plans: Free; and Pocket Premium, priced at $4.99 per month, which comes with all sorts of added extras like a permanent library of all sources, back-ups, search functions
Website: https://getpocket.com
Todoist
Todoist is the world’s most powerful to do list (or so the story goes). With apps and extensions for more than a dozen different platforms, your to do lists are never too far away, regardless of where you are or what you’re using: mobile devices, desktops, browsers, mailboxes, and more. You can also collaborate on projects with friends, family or team members, sharing your to do lists. Plus, its simple to use, and features a clean, minimalist design.
Price: Free
Website: https://todoist.com/mac
Remember The Milk
The claim to fame for this app is that you will never forget the milk (or anything else) again. This little app enables you to organise and manage all of your tasks in the one place, by seamlessly integrating a whole range of programs, including Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Twitter, Evernote, and more.
Price: Once again, there are a couple of options for this app: a basic Free account; or a Pro account, priced at $25 per year, which gives you access to a whole range of additional features.
Website: https://www.rememberthemilk.com
Workflowy
With this little app, you can ‘organise your brain’. Apparently, Workflowy is the first ever app to actually mimic the way that the brain works, by breaking everything down into smaller pieces and focusing on these pieces one part at a time. It is an organisational tool that makes life, and project management, easier. By using this app, you can organise your personal to-do lists, collaborate on large team projects, take notes, write articles, blog, keep a journal, plan a wedding, really anything that requires any sort of organisation.
Price: Free
Website: https://workflowy.com
MindNode
Be more creative, with less effort; use MindNode mind mapping. A visual representation of your ideas, a mind map starts with a central thought and growing from there. This app allows you to brainstorm and organize your thoughts in an intuitive way, so that you can focus on the idea behind it. You can even connect different mind maps together through related ideas, and upload images. Your mind map will auto-magically rearrange itself as you add ideas, content, and images so you can quickly and easily continue the creative process.
Price: This is one of the more expensive apps out there, with a price tag of $24.99.
Website: http://mindnode.com
