Services for organizing collaboration. Best Project Management Program

ProjectLibre is a free analogue of Microsoft Project. The program is designed for project management. Software is cross-platform and compatible with the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X. The program supports major European languages ​​including Russian. The main features of the program include: support for Microsoft Project 2010 file formats; Ribbon interface; Earned Value costing (earned value method); support for Gantt charts; PERT charts.

Trello

Trello is a free web-based project management application. The user creates projects presented in the form of task panels (boards), which in turn contain lists (lists), i.e. form task lists. Lists contain cards, i.e. tasks. Cards support the following functions: assign a project member, add a checklist, assign a project finish date, attach a file. It is assumed that cards can be dragged from one list to another. Users and taskbars can be grouped into unified system... The app can be used with: iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 8 mobile platform, however, the app website is accessible by most mobile web browsers. The iPad app was released in 2013.

Unsurprisingly, in Lately all more people prefer to work from home, or simply refuse to travel and prefer to keep in touch using teleworking tools. That is why you decided to post a review of the tools for this.

• Ta-da list
  Ta-da List is a tool for group work with lists. If you need to maintain lists within a team, this is the most suitable tool that does its job well, but at the same time is not overloaded with functionality.
• TimeBridge
  TimeBridge is a scheduling system that integrates with Google Calendar, Exchange, and Outlook to make it easy to manage meeting schedules between people in different time zones.
• Campfire
  Campfire is another brainchild of the creators of Basecamp and Backpack, a web application that combines chat and instant messaging functionality that is built specifically for business use. The free version allows simultaneous participation of no more than 4 users, but often this is quite enough.
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets
  A staple of any group tool list. - This is probably one of the best tools for group work today. You can both edit texts and work with tables together with your colleagues.
• Writeboard
  If you are looking for something simpler than Google tools, then you may certainly like Writeboard - a lightweight and simple web application that works great with change history, and allows you to collaborate on simple documents in an easy and understandable way.
• Evernote
  Evernote is a wonderful tool for saving all kinds of notes, has the ability working together so that you can send documents from user to user. in this way, you can even write an entire book with other authors. To do this, you can, of course, use Google Docs, but there is no such opportunity for creating notes and quotes from a variety of sources. Although it is possible to use Google Notebook and Google Docs together for the same purposes.
• Mixin
  The previously mentioned one allows you to use only the time that all participants designated as free, while Mixin takes on the job of offering a convenient time from the point of view of the system for everyone. This tool can serve as an accompaniment to TimeBridge when participants cannot find a common free time.
• Task2Gather
  There are tons of online task systems out there, but they are better suited for project management and team member interactions than many, if not all, of them. If you need an application that combines tools for working with personal tasks and managing projects in teams, Task2Gather is a good choice.
• MediaWiki
  The wiki has long been considered one of the most advanced group collaboration tools, combining co-authoring capabilities with communication, messaging, group mailing and more.
  MediaWiki is demanding when deployed and configured for specific needs, but it certainly pays for it with its rich capabilities.
• Delicious
  If you have to work where there is a need to constantly evaluate and process links in a team, then this is the best tool for this. By adding tags like for: username, you can create a list of links to view a particular team member by organizing something like a to-do list.
• WordPress
  If you are looking for a blog well suited for collaborative writing, then WordPress after recent changes is a great choice. It's not even worth recommending anything else to support a team blog. among other things, it supports version control and therefore makes it easy to roll back unnecessary changes and fix the situation in case of any trouble.

What, in your opinion, is the main problem in the conditions of remote work? Communication is perhaps the first thing that comes to mind. Imagine that you mistakenly sent your employees the wrong information or, even worse, forgot to attach the required file. Now imagine how much time and effort it will take you to explain to everyone that it was a mistake and after that send a letter with the necessary information to all these boxes!

But what if your remote colleagues do not share your position on the current project and established priorities? How are you going to come to a compromise? The answer is simple: you will achieve unity of opinion only by gathering your entire team in one place. Fortunately, all of these problems can be avoided by using online systems s to work together.

Collaboration solutions like these can not only significantly reduce the distance between people working on projects from different parts of the country, but also provide the ability to store, edit and share files - in one place and in real time!

To save you some time, we provide an overview of 10 project management systems whose functionality makes the most impact. Forget about the problems you faced before, because now all you have to do is choose the most suitable online platform and register for one-two-three!

Assembla is ticket-based. This means that employees working remotely receive tickets with tasks from the project manager. At first it may seem a little strange, but after understanding the system, many users find this method of assigning responsibilities very convenient. The ticket system resembles a forum in which employees discuss specific issues, and the project manager acts as the main moderator. Assembla also provides a built-in corporate encyclopedia Wiki, which will ensure unity of thought in the company and motivate users to read the instructions written by colleagues.

Teamlab is free system for online collaboration, focused primarily on small and medium-sized companies. Working for Teamlab is like having your own social network for business. You can not only keep a corporate blog available to all employees, but also in a matter of minutes get the opinion of colleagues on a particular issue by arranging a public poll and even a vote. In addition, employees can independently create threads on the forums so that no one is left without participation. All company news is announced on the main page in the "Community", which means that the awareness of employees thanks to the Teamlab notification system strives for 100%

Again, the built-in instant messaging client allows you to discuss pressing issues without leaving the portal. It is especially convenient that all employees are initially entered in the contact list, which means that you do not have to spend several hours accepting and rejecting requests for "adding to friends"

Created by Chicago-based developers 37 signals, Basecamp focuses primarily on effective communication. Instead of sending information to multiple users, the project manager can simply post a message directly to Basecamp, making it available to all employees. Thus, Basecamp will allow you to avoid all this red tape with long message histories from each user.

When it comes to file sharing, Basecamp supports all the most common formats, from MS Word documents to all kinds of images. When uploading a file with the same name, the existing document will not be deleted permanently - the system will send it to the archive, replacing it with a more new version so that users can refer to the revision history if necessary.

Like any other online collaboration system, Central Desktop lets you work wherever you are and as long as you have an Internet connection nearby. With this cloud-based solution, you can work in the environment that suits you.

Users get access to time tracking, the ability to conduct web conferences online (which is of enormous importance for any team), a built-in client for instant messaging, as well as a document editor (like Google)

But perhaps the most ingenious feature of Central Desktop is quick posts, similar to Twitter posts, allowing employees to make project updates for everyone to see. And, of course, forums where current issues are discussed will never lose their value for those who work in different time zones.

If you are an ardent Wiki fan, then mastering Confluence will not be difficult for you! This system really has a lot in common with the well-known free encyclopedia: the ability to create content, edit and discuss, "smart" information search and much more. File exchange is organized according to the drag and drop principle. Unlike other project management systems, Confluence is focused on file sharing as much as possible, which is definitely a key point in large-scale projects with a lot of documentation.

As in WordPress, there are many plugins here that users can easily install on their systems, but the most powerful argument "FOR" Confluence is the ability to integrate the platform with Microsoft Office... Agree, this is a lot.

Is your inbox completely out of hand? Teambox will solve this problem, as if suggesting what to look for and how to prioritize.

Teambox, like Central Desktop, keeps up with the times and has taken over some of the capabilities of Facebook. For example, users can publish statuses with the only difference that they will concern their work progress. Teambox is perhaps one of the few online systems with which you will not have to search for the necessary information or file for a long time. Everything here is so simple that intuition itself will tell you which button to press.

He will gladly take on the problem of wasted time, because each of us knows that time is a key factor in business and often a leader needs to know what every minute is spent on.

So, the key feature of Timedoctor is activity monitoring remote workers through… screenshots! To some, this method may seem like a violation of personal workspace, but no one will deny that the system works flawlessly. Automatic generation of daily reports, a list of sites visited, applications used and many other features that will allow you to track the slightest action on a specific computer. If you want to have a record of every minute spent by your employee, then Timedoctor is what you are looking for.

There are many online services to organize team work and track task statuses. Some are more suitable for IT development, others for designers. We have collected the main systems, described how they work and took comments from those who work with them.

How to choose services for teamwork

External clients are given access to certain tasks without registration.

Application users set deadlines, hold discussions, upload files to each card. Members working group see changes in real time, can archive cards.

There are apps for iOS and Android.

The basic version (one improvement, files up to 10 MB) is free, the minimum paid version is $ 9.99 per month per user, billed annually.

Trello benefits

Traditionally, lists are divided into the stages "what's in the works", "what is done", "what needs to be done", but you can call them in your own way and create additional sections.

Changes in projects are visible in real time, it is possible to control which user is viewing tasks.

Cards and comments can be created by e-mail... Trello downloads attachments from mail into the application, you can work without opening the program.

Additional features (powerups) allow you to vote for cards, connect other services (Evernote, Google, Dropbox and others), see “aging” cards that you haven't worked with for a long time, set a countdown for deadlines.

Companies using Trello: Adobe, Pixar, Google.

Available for iOS and Android.

The basic version for up to 5 users is free, the minimum paid account is $ 9 per month.

Podio Benefits

Convenient CRM system- allows you to maintain profiles of existing and potential customers, save information about documents on transactions and their implementation.

Document base - templates for presentations, contracts, links to videos and other materials. They can be searched by filters and shared with internal and external users.

Work and financial results each group can be monitored with live performance graphs.

There is integration with Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote and other services and dozens of extensions: for creating Gantt charts, time tracking, and more. Open API for connecting Podio to other tools.

Volvo, Sony, Sotheby's, NFL.

There is a time tracking and reporting system. The service is suitable for large companies.

In September 2018, Bitrix24 launched a large-scale update. Among the new products are system management using voice assistants Yandex, Google, Amazon and Apple, forecasts for converting customer acquisition into a deal, and special chats for quickly discussing deals.

There are apps for iOS and Android.

The basic version for up to 12 users and up to 5 GB in the cloud is free, the minimum paid version is $ 39 per month (but in rubles more than two times cheaper - ₽990 per month).

Bitrix24 advantages

Multifunctionality - you can both compose reports for managers, and add photos from corporate events.

It can be used as a CRM system, analyze customer acquisition channels, and from November 2018 track the effectiveness of managers.

Synchronized with 1C, you can connect a product catalog from Instagram to CRM and work with orders from there, quickly create mailing lists, sms and calls with product offers.

Companies using Bitrix24: Xerox, Samsung, Volkswagen.

Jira allows you to assign project leads and track task readiness in real time. Jira has an intuitive interface. The peculiarity of the platform is in the special names of the key elements of the processes. Epics here are a large amount of work that is divided into tasks, and stories are small tasks.

Available for iOS and Android.

There is no free version, but there is a 7-day trial access. Access for a team of up to 10 users costs $ 10 per month, for 11-100 people - $ 7 per month.

Jira benefits

The choice of a board template - Scrum or Kanban - depending on the tasks, experience of flexible work and the rigidity of project personnel management.
Agile planning and transparent reporting can be done; track the status of releases and prioritize.

You can import data from Asana, Trello, MS Project and connect other services from the application collection.

You can work in the cloud, or you can use it on your own server - this is convenient if the project is large and important, and you cannot rely on the power of other people's servers.

Companies that use: Square, eBay, Spotify, Sisco.

Users can create group and private chats, conversations for individual projects, exchange files. Skype for Business is used for calls. By the end of 2018, Microsoft Teams will introduce an important feature - the background will be blurred during video conferencing. This is extremely convenient for those who are in a crowded place.

Available for iOS and Android.

The basic version with the minimum functionality is free, the minimum paid version is $ 5 per month per user, billed annually.

Benefits of Microsoft Teams

Convenient for Office 365 users - connects to all programs of this service. But anyone can use Teams for free.

Tasks are distributed through the integrated Planner; you can schedule shifts and change them in real time; you can work with documents in the application.

You can connect Asana, Trello, another task scheduler or app.

Companies using Teams: Microsoft, Deloitte, ConocoPhillips.

Employees communicate in person or in groups, exchange files and links. For different topics there are separate channels, when you send links, you can see a preview.

There are apps for Android and iOS.

The basic version (integration with 10 services, history of 10 thousand messages) is free. The minimum paid is $ 6.67 per month per user.

Leaders of enterprises and organizations often face the problems of shaping and planning work processes. Often, in order to achieve certain results, it is necessary to create an optimal scheme that excludes any unexpected situations in economic activity... As a rule, in such schemes, all processes must go in a strict sequence: for example, when building a brick house, they first lay the foundation, and only then proceed to the construction of walls, and not vice versa. Moreover, each employee of the company acts strictly within the framework of the general plan. To take into account all the nuances of the workflow, as well as to form plans and similar schemes, there are utilities that are presented in this set.

Key features of project management software

• splitting the whole project into its constituent parts and individual tasks, as well as presenting work processes in the form of a Gantt chart;
• accounting and planning of the working time of employees of the organization;
• the ability to draw up a work schedule and calendar;
• the creation of separate working groups to carry out certain assignments;
• generation of reports, diagrams, dashboards, graphs, documentation as part of the project;
• budget control: management of resources and financial flows;
• drawing up business plans;
• tracking progress (completed work or time spent) using a tracker;
• integration with popular office applications (,).

Features and types of project managers

The programs from the set can be divided into 3 types:

1. Time management.
2. Client-server applications.
3. Complex solutions.

It belongs to the first type. It is used primarily for planning the working hours of employees. The second group includes the program