Are you looking to adopt agile project management tools or increase your use of agile approaches? If so, then you need to know about the tools that will have the greatest impact on your team’s productivity and overall performance.
According to the Project Management Institute, 71 percent of organizations use agile approaches to project management either “sometimes”, “often”, or “always”. Read on to learn more about what to look for in agile project management tools. You’ll also learn about six of the best options on the market today.
Essentials for Effective Agile Project Management
There’s a lot to consider when you’re shopping for agile project management tools for your team. Project management is already a difficult job, after all. There’s no need for your team’s software to make your job even harder.
The right software can work wonders when it comes to simplifying project management. Here are some essential factors you ought to consider when comparing different options:
- Access to information: You and your team should all have easy access to information related to your current projects
- Status tracking: Look for a tool that allows you to measure progress and easily keep up with where everyone on your team is when it comes to getting work done
- Scalability: The best agile project management software will be scalable across your organization and provide people at all levels with the data they need
- Workflow features: Your software should automate certain tasks and workflows to help you keep things as streamlined as possible
- Integrations: It’s best if your new tool can integrate with other tools your team is currently using for increased functionality and productivity
Agile project management software that can integrate with other tools is great for your team’s productivity. At the same time, though, if you can replace an old or outdated tool with new agile software and eliminate redundancies, go ahead and do so. This helps to streamline processes better and ensures that important information doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Top 6 Agile Project Management Tools
Now that you know more about the essential features every agile project management tool should have, it’s time to dive in and talk about specific tools that might be a good fit for you and your team. The following 6 options are all great ones to consider:
1. Weekdone
The first one on this list isn’t actually a project management tool, but rather a tool for project managers. However, it has many benefits to agile teams because of the OKR methodology (short for Objectives and Key Results). Team leaders and supervisors use Weekdone and the OKR methodology to plan the company and team goals for the quarter and link those to projects and daily activities. It ensures that workers are aware of their part in the company, and helps give greater direction than individual projects.
OKRs are very useful when it comes to project management as it helps make sure that any projects you are working on align with the company’s larger goals. If you are working on a project that doesn’t impact the company’s bottom line, it may be not worth working on at all. You can learn more about the difference between OKRs and Projects. It’s also easy for teams to integrate Weekdone with other, more traditional agile project management tools. It pairs with JIRA, Slack, Google Tasks, and Asana, for example. It also pairs with Zapier to make hundreds of other connections possible.
Weekdone is also a great addition to any team. It’s free for teams of three or fewer. For teams of four or more, package pricing starts at $9 per user per month.
2. ClickUp
ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform that allows engineering and product teams to effectively manage tasks, bugs, releases, wikis, and more. It’s a powerful agile project management solution for all types of teams across industries due to its intuitive UI, customization capabilities, and project tracking features.
ClickUp offers over 15 ways to view your projects including Gantt, Box, and its Kanban-like Board view to quickly identify bottlenecks and keep projects moving forward by sorting boards by status, due date, and priority to better align your team.
Maximize productivity with sprint planning tailored to your team’s workload and use Dashboard to get a high-level overview of your tasks, projects, and more in a single view. ClickUp also allows Agile teams to track goals, set milestones, automate busywork, add custom fields, and create or apply templates from its Template Center.
Plus, ClickUp Integrates with 1,000+ other work tools including Zendesk, Intercom, Zapier, GitHub, Bitbucket, and more!
Add unlimited members and tasks and get 1,000 MB of storage with the Free Forever Plan, and gain access to more advanced features with paid plans starting at $5.
3. Clarizen
Clarizen is an enterprise-grade automation software solution. It’s designed to speed up various workflows and processes and helps to integrate them to increase efficiency in the workplace.
For teams that have lots of repeatable projects, Clarizen is a great option to consider. It helps to automate workflows while still allow for flexibility when necessary.
Clarizen offers robust project planning tools to assist with scheduling, task planning, project optimization, portfolio optimization, and more. It has a centralized dashboard with real-time updates. These help team members to work together and see how each contribution plays an important role in getting the project completed.
Pricing for Clarizen starts at $60 per user per month.
4. Businessmap
Businessmap is a Kanban software. But it’s specifically designed to be used for agile project management. Businessmap is a good option for teams that need help visualizing work, keeping track of projects, and optimizing workflows. It helps them stay organized while also maintaining a sense of transparency and increasing efficiency.
Businessmap is an especially good fit for cross-functional and multi-project teams. It offers a simple, streamlined platform that is easy to use and provides plenty of structure to keep everyone focused and on track. It boasts real-time updates, too, which minimizes the need for project managers and supervisors to constantly check for status updates.
Businessmap integrates with other tools, including Google Drive and Dropbox as well. It can also connect to a wide range of platforms via Zapier.
Pricing for Businessmap starts at $9 per user per month. It also comes with a free 14-day trial.
5. MeisterTask
MeisterTask is another good option for teams that like the Kanban approach to organization and agile project management. It features Kanban boards that users can easily customize to fit various workflows. MeisterTask also allows teams to easily collaborate on one platform, which makes for better communication and time tracking.
This tool offers a variety of automation features as well. It lets users create recurring tasks. It also notifies stakeholders when tasks are completed, and ensure that all tasks get tagged and assigned correctly as they’re being moved around.
MeisterTask integrates with several popular project management tools, including Slack, GitHub, and Zendesk. Users can pair it with many other platforms via Zapier or IFTTT as well.
Pricing for MeisterTask starts at $8.25 per user per month. They have a free plan as well, although its functions are somewhat limited.
6. JIRA
JIRA is one of the most popular agile project management tools available on the market today. Initially built for bug-tracking, it’s come a long way over the years and is used among teams of all sizes. It’s a fixture in all kinds of businesses throughout the world.
JIRA features an intuitive interface and provides lots of opportunities for customization. This makes it good for all kinds of agile teams and workflows.
One of its greatest features is the fact that it offers so many different tools for project management and tracking, including Kanban boards, scrum boards, and roadmaps. It also offers robust automation options and makes it easy for teams to streamline all kinds of processes and increase their efficiency.
JIRA is free for teams of 10 or fewer. From there, pricing starts at $7 per user per month.
Improve Your Agile Project Management Today
There are plenty of options for you to consider when shopping around for agile project management tools. Of all the tools outlined above, though, you definitely ought to consider adding Weekdone to your roster.
Weekdone might not be a traditional agile tool. However, it works very well for goal-setting and team communication. You can also use it alongside other platforms like JIRA to keep your team focused and ensure that everyone is on track toward reaching their goals.
You can try Weekdone for free today to see what it’s all about. Sign up here.