4+1 Apps For Project Management
Project Management is a weird, complicated thing to write about. It can be a dry topic when presented as a reading assignment. A book about project management is mostly theories or other people’s experience. However, it is an absolutely critical skill to have. You need project management skills regardless whether you are running a solo venture or a team of 100. You bet, a team like an F1 team runs on project management skills of the team.
After being in a project management team with my small team of makers and builders for the past 15 years, I know for certain that collaboration is what makes a team ticks and to collaborate you need to exchange ideas and information. There is no team when you don’t have these exchanges. With that, you usually have a war room but how do we handle this when time changes and life is ravaged by a pandemic and you work in isolation?
Here are 5 applications that my team and I started using since the pandemic started.
- Microsoft Teams
This is a life changer not because it helps to separate and define work chat and other-than-work chats. You can create as many rooms as you want with your team. You don’t have to travel far and wide to have a discussion anymore. You can talk on Teams and if you have Teams — you literally can work anywhere.
This is my number one app. I know I can work in Bali, Shanghai, Kaohsiung, downtown Kuala Lumpur or at my local cafe as long as I have Microsoft Teams.
However, my caveat. I understand that a team will never realize its full potential when it is apart. This is a great app to have but I will always need to touchbase with my team face-to-face.
2. Trello
Ever been to a Japanese car’s service centre? A Japanese car’s service centre is the ultimate kanban method user. I was curious and impressed by the lack of conversation when I first observed this at my local Toyota’s service centre. Everybody knows what they should be doing. Everybody referred to the same board.
The point of this method is to share as much information as possible and you know where your team is. You chat about the issue at the particular board and specifically at the card where your issue is. We don’t waste time going round the circle. Pre-Covid, we used to do this manually but now we just do everything on the Trello board online. It’s perfect because I don’t really like pointless meetings.
3. Instagantt
Instagantt is scheduling on a web-based platform. It’s fast and it’s incredibly easy to use. Most importantly, you can assign work immediately at the app. You can also see who’s overworked and whether you need 1 or 2 welding team for a particular job. You can also calculate man hours directly at the app. I can’t rave further on how it has changed my life. It’s just awesome.
4. Pipedrive
Making a sale should be treated as a formal process. It is not random and it shall be treated as such. Pipedrive is an excellent way to make it formal. You will also know what your respective salesperson is working on. Deals are organized by stages and you plan activities for each of the potential deal. It also provide insights at the speed of light on your sales activies.
5. WhatsApp for Business
I don’t know what WhatsApp is like where you are but it is huge in Asia. Everybody chats on WhatsApp from your boss, your mother, your kid’s parents’ group (one group per class), cousins, neighbourhood group. Everybody is on WhatsApp here and we have a group for everything, at least in Malaysia. These days the schools opt for Telegram because it is less intrusive but most things are conducted on WhatsApp. While this is a reason why I conduct chats about work in Teams, sometimes we need to do something urgent on WhatsApp. My strategy for this is to use WhatsApp for Business. I separate my personal talks and my office work. It does help with my focus and when it comes to chats that I want to have during office hours, I will just look at that. Beyond office hours, having this app reminds you that you need to focus on what’s important at the moment.
I know there are a lot of us who are reluctant to migrate to doing things the new way but if having these apps help you become your most effective self — by all means, please try it. I know for certain with these apps I don’t have to know everything. Tinkle around it. I hope this helps!
Mooke Esham is a project manager in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
