5 Management Tools For An Efficient, Focused And Accomplished Year
The beginning of the year is usually a time when organizing, creating systems and finding better ways to stay on top of things are at the forefront of our minds. If you’re looking for new ways to help you jump start your year and hopefully keep it on the right path for the rest of the 11 + months, you might want to give these tools (sans Basecamp) a spin.
GQueues
I so really need to write a full fledged review of this system. When someone in my Google + circle asked about it, here’s what I shared.
“I’ve been using it for a few months I REALLY like it, the simplicity, the ease of adding tasks etc. I held off from upgrading before as it needed one premium account for every person you want to share tasks with but now, you don’t.”
While they don’t have a dedicated mobile app, they are accessible online via mobile. Mobile is very very important to me and it does not matter if there is an app or not. Actually, I rather prefer not having dedicated apps.
GQueues is also very affordable compared to many other tools in this space. That is definitely a plus since it falls right into my motto – “Just because you have money doesn’t mean you have to spend it”. You have to experience it.
ManyMoon (Now Do.com)
This is the system we came from prior to GQueues. There are a lot of things to love about it too and leaving was really hard. In the end, I had to because back then, they didn’t have mobile access. Just found out they are re-branding to Do.com with iOS support which is great. A step in the right direction. Unfortunately that would still not work for us because we have both iOS and Android systems. Hopefully it will for you.
RapidTASK
Just found out about this so not much to say about it. Looks intriguing.
Wrike
This is one system I’ve had my eye on for the longest time. The biggest attraction factor (in my opinion) is how well it is supposed to integrate with your email. It can be a little pricey but they do have a basic plan that’s free. Although the job doesn’t do a really good job explaining that.
GoPlan
This looks a lot like a BaseCamp alternative at a much more palatable price. Plans start at $10. Friends who use this say it has less features than industry Gorilla BaseCamp but still good especially if you don’t need (or miss) those features.
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This is an area, where I’ve never been totally happy with any solution I’ve tried. I’ve used Basecamp. Now I use a basecamp-like service called TeamBox. Wrike has always intrigued me, but not enough to buy. These options look interesting, especially GQueues.
@DavidBurch
DavidBurch. It’s funny you write that because I actually was going to mention how difficult it is to find a good system in my email. Project management systems are a very personal thing. It has to be as close to the way you and your team work as possible. If you have to re-learn or re-arrange the way you work, think or like to manage your stuff you won’t use it or find the tool lacking at best.
Like you there’s always something ‘wrong’ in the tools I’ve tried. Could never wrap my head around BaseCamp it’s just not the way I’m wired. I’ve been using GQueues for less than a year – started last summer and the moment I started I knew that was it.
The things important for me:
1. Mobility
2. Not having to abandon my email. Lots of debate around that but I find myself, team and almost all clients still live in email so I do not want to force people to log in to a system to communicate with me.
3. Having said that, an easy way to ‘push’ an email into a task is equally important. GQueues as a widget I can install right inside Gmail for me to do that. It also has a dedicated email address so I simply forward the email to that address and the task gets created
There are other things but these were among the top things.
@DavidBurch Forgot to add, I did try TeamBox as well. It was workable – just didn’t fall in love with it.
I use TeamWorkPM.net and absolutely LOVE it. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get organized. It also works seamlessly with Dropbox so you can access all of your needed files w/out uploading them into the system.
@michelleulrich Thanks for sharing! Saw that one just last night. Glad you found something that truly works for you.
Still use Microsoft Project; it is not the most intuitive of programs, but once you really learn it, it is great, especially when you need to calculate materials. Since I can’t walk and chew gum, I never multitask, so mobile functionality is totally lost on me.
Nothing wrong with that all “As long as it works well for you” that’s what I say 🙂 I don’t multi-task either – don’t send off emails when I’m driving (isn’t that illegal in some places) or schedule stuff or check emails when at a restaurant enjoying dinner with real people. However it is very convenient to add a task as I remember it when I get in the truck or while waiting on the doctor/dentist/vet etc.
I use Wedoist. I’ve only used it for about a month and it’s pretty good. Does anyone else have any experience with it?
@JeanneKolenda Hopefully someone else can share their experience. I’ve not heard of that one before. Thanks for sharing Jeanne.
Yellow legal pad. Oh, and my trusty uni ball micro pen.
@Gina Loree Marks ♥ that!
Wow, I really do like the demo of GQueues! I am a Google fan and thrilled to see this so will definitely check this out. I’ve used Freedcamp a bit but this seems a little easier actually. Thanks for sharing Lynette!
@LindaHernestalDaSilva This is why I love asking others. You’ll always find a new tool. And thanks for letting us know about Freedcamp Linda.
I’m always reluctant to pull my team into a lot of these systems because once you get everyone used to it, it is hard to change. That’s why I spent several months using GQueues and only now I think I’m ready to get everyone on board.
Great list! Thanks so much for sharing. One of my resolutions this year it to get my team and business more organized so we can all be more productive. I found a few I like on you list. I really appreciate the recommendations.
@BarbaraJeanLing This is great Barbara. Hope you and your team can buy into one system that works well.
i have used goplan .. its simply cool
now i will try others 4