When I go through a realistic approach I made a list and compare project management tools. After the exhaustive R&D, I came to the conclusion that, ‘Every tool is unique and I cannot categorize them in order to state which one is an ideal tool, some are good in cloud storage, some are good in task management and so on and so forth.’

Here in this article, I’ve decided not to go through the list of those tools, because that will not cover up things efficiently. Instead of that, I would like to go for a list of features you might want to look up when you select an ideal project management tool for your business. With these features, any tool can be one of the best tools for project managers.

Essential features of an Ideal Project Management Tool

Here we go,

1. Shareability of the tool

You all have worked on have worked on Google Docs and Smartsheets. You may have noticed that over these apps, you can not only share conveniently but also work together. This facilitates you to avoid such hectic sharing of the file every time you make any changes. Although sometimes there are cases when you find too many experts at one place. Every expert sucks the very oxygen they get, and it becomes impossible to cope up with a sustainable environment. Even more when these problems continue to persist, the main admin can close the access which is almost like a perfect solution for the problem.

So, In a project shareability can play a huge factor as it allows every member of the team to participate. Also, if needed, there are many actionable solutions that can ultimately solve such confrontation as mentioned above. An ideal Project Management Tool must have such a feature.

2. Differentiation in Department

Now, if I say that since you relate to IT department, so there is no need for you to see accounts report. Am I wrong here? I guess No, Of course, No. When there is no relevance of some information, what is the point of showing you that? It is similar to a project management tool. It must have some departmental categorization in order to avoid such irrelevant information. If a project is related to marketing department then there is no need for a developer to have a look on the project. So, a departmental differentiation in a project management tool is considered ideal.

This feature will save a lot of time of every employee of yours which could have been wasted because of checking out irrelevant project notifications. So, an ideal Project Management Tool must have this feature.

3. Different Levels of Access

Let us suppose for a moment, if we are working on project management tool for a project say writing services. Now via this tool, our editor will be assigning us the topic and a deadline associated with the article. Now, if you cannot work it out through before the deadline and you decided to play clever and changed the deadline in that tool. Of course, that is not very ethical of you but well humans are humans. In order to avoid such condition, a Project management tool must have a layer of performing activities. For instance, your editor allowed only view activity to you, in order to communicate the topic and the deadline.

Just like this, an ideal project management tool can allow you some sort of layering in the level of access to avoid any kind of confusion.

4. Mobile Presence

Now, this is a tricky question, how you prefer to use your Mobile phone (Except for calling and chatting)? Well, the most common answer for this question is Games. So, attention everyone, phones are not just for candy crush or temple run oz. There are so many uses of it. If a project management tool has an app which can be used in the mobile phone, it can enable you to review projects easily. Nowadays mobile phones are more multitasking than computers, so you can use them to create presentations, review reports and many and many more functions.

So, the mobile presence of a project management tool can ease up so many tasks and make it an ideal tool.

5. Team Communication

Team communication is one of the most important parts when it comes to a project. Just suppose if your project management tool is allowing you to share the files, however, it didn’t allow you to post a comment on that upload to sort out what it is. It may be the time to move on to another tool.

A tool with a feature through which team members can communicate efficiently via text message, voice call or even video call can be the best option. This way a team can communicate efficiently and effectively to share reports, feedbacks, project suggestions or anything that can be productive with respect to that project.

6. Simpler Visualization

You all know how a project is broken down into parts to have a better execution. Similarly, these parts are further broken to tasks and furthermore to subtasks. This breaking up of the bigger tasks into a smaller task can create smoothness in the work environment.

It is always a plus point for a project management tool to further breaks the data for simple visualization such as diagrams, graphs, line graphs etc. So, an ideal project management tool must go with a simplified visualization.

7. Good Riddance of Routine Jobs

You all know, the project manager is the center of mass for an ongoing project. What is the use of such tool which is not helping him to get the tracks of the project? If a project manager has to do everything manually what is the point of keeping a project management tool.

An ideal PM tool must eliminate these routine jobs such as status reports, performance (agent-wise), KPIs, due dates and many other factors. These routine jobs actually take a huge pile of time from a project manager, and if these routine jobs can be eliminated, then the project manager can invest hi/her time in the more productive way which is good for everything.

8. Task Management

An ideal PM tool must be able to divide a bigger task to smaller tasks and subtasks. This is very crucial when it comes to the better deliverance of a project. For a timely delivery of a project, Task hierarchy is very crucial. This can turn the whole project upside down. Hence it is very crucial for a project manager to keep the progress of a project intact.

9. Resource Management

An ideal PM tool must allocate and plan your resources smartly. The resources can be in the form of people, time, money or software. The PM tool must be able to give the current work pressure of specific team member to have a clear idea of who is free and who is not in order to provide additional tasks.

So, these are elements that a best project management tool must have. Let’s give you a quick recap about the elements that are essential for an ideal PM tool.

What does your ideal project management tool look like?

Do you agree with my suggestions?

Can you suggest some more?

Post a comment in the discussion, I love to get knowledge worthy suggestions.

Further Reading...

How AI could Revolutionize Project Management?

Top 3 Ways for Companies to Work Smarter

Five Career Pathways for Project Management Degree Holders