Project Management Tools for Remote Teams
Got a project that needs to run remotely?
Want to make sure that you’ve got the right software tools in place in order to succeed?
Then, you’re in the right place! We’ve got several of the best for you to choose from!
A Note On Choosing Project Management Tools
There is no one-size-fits-all remote project management tool that works for all remote teams everywhere. The best project management software for your business may be quite different from the best for our business.
Many of these collaboration tools for remote working have free trials and it’s a good idea, if you can, to experiment to see which project management solution really meets your needs before committing to it.
Our Favorite Software For Remote Project Management
Monday.com
Monday is a cheap and cheerful productivity tool for remote collaboration on projects. It offers all the core features that project managers will be looking for though we do wish it offered help with identifying bottlenecks too.
And it works well with 3rd party apps such as Google Drive without any real effort. We recommend using their free version before you buy as it might be too basic for some.
Wrike
Wrike is something of a beast and we find it’s best used when your projects mainly involve remote team members in multiple departments within an organization.
There’s an excellent free version that caters to up to 5 users so you can get a free trial before you decide it’s what you intend to use for all your remote work project tasks.
Task management is easy and we like the file-sharing options and tools for remote teams. PMs will find resource management and the ability to manage tasks a real asset.
Celoxis
Celoxis is good when you have a lot of complexity in distributed teams and remote employees looking for project templates, project planning, time tracking, etc.
It’s top project management software and it’s great for building in KPIs, revenue forecasting, margin tracking, etc. In fact, it might sometimes feel like there are too many essential features in this tool.
Complex business operations will respond well to Celoxis but if all you need it basic collaboration tools for recurring tasks, charting the team’s progress, etc. it might be overkill.
MeisterTask
Remote task management with MeisterTask is a doddle.
No matter how computer literate each team member is they’ll find that the UI is so simple that they can create projects and get help with time management with ease.
However, the file-sharing side of this app leaves a bit to be desired as file sizes are capped at 200 MB. Though this may be no big deal if you give your remote workers access to Google Drive too.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a focused tool for sales remote teams to manage their projects. It’s excellent at task management and you can assign tasks and create tasks very easily, indeed.
There’s a lot of resource planning in among its project management features and we like the Gantt Chart outputs it produces.
The finance management features make it easy to see if the team productivity in sales is leading to profits too.
Kintone
Kintone’s strengths are in its custom fields and it enables teams to build workload management to order.
From task planning to tracking progress, everything can be structured exactly the way that you want it in Kintone.
There’s no free version but there is a free trial and if you have an in-house development team that demands more than you can find from other tools then you might want to give Kintone a go.
GoodDay
GoodDay can help you make your remote team productive by giving them completely customizable views within the system – that way, everyone works the way they want to, while the data is still consistent across everyone’s work.
Remote collaboration doesn’t get much better than that. The paid plans integrate really well with pretty much all other remote work apps too which is awesome.
Unfortunately, there is no offline access to any of the data which can be a real pain to people working out of the developed world.
And the paid plans are mandatory for a fair number of integrations, so don’t start moving all your data, just yet, try it first.
Teamwork
Teamwork has all the tools you need to manage large projects from time tracking to support for video conferencing, it has pretty much everything.
It’s a great collaboration tool and the free version is excellent with support for up to 5 users. The mobile apps are well thought out for it too and we found that it excels in file management support.
The only real downsides are that moving milestones is a serious pain once they’ve been set up and while it’s an amazing collaboration tool in its own right, it doesn’t integrate with many CRM systems.
ProjectManager
There’s a 30-day free trial of this software and we’d recommend using it as it’s quite a complex approach to working on software projects using a blend of Agile and Waterfall structures.
It handles things like time tracking very well and scheduling tasks are super easy to get set up and moving.
However, it refuses to recognize the concept of partial completion (which could be fatal on some projects) and you can’t arrange the Agile boards by project, just by the task which isn’t great.
Asana
Asana is the ideal software for working across time zones and building up an understanding of the priorities people face in remote work and laying out goals.
It can offer some basic time tracking software options too and the basic setup is offered in a completely free version!
Basecamp
Basecamp is one of the original remote work tools and it offers huge amounts of functionality. It even has a ticketing system for people to log their issues in.
There’s an excellent free trial available and anyone considering remote project management ought to at least look at Basecamp.
Microsoft Project
There was a time when MS Project was the last work in project management tools.
That time has long since passed but MS Project is still worth a look if your people have experience with it or you already have corporate licenses for it laying around as part of a larger agreement for software from Microsoft.
Trello: A Simple Project Management Tool
Trello is a neat tool for smaller companies involved in small projects – it’s very easy to learn to use and very low cost. One of the best things about using Trello is the ability to integrate it with a wide range of calendar applications.
We also like that it has excellent mobile apps and windows apps and they offer a free starter version that lets you quickly decide if it’s right for you.
Other Questions About Project Management Software
What Project Management Tools or Software Are Best For Managing Many Projects With A Remote Team?
There is no project management tool to rule them all and project management for many projects will always be quite challenging.
However, there’s no doubt that some tools are better at helping you manage multiple projects than others and Asana and Basecamp are popular choices as they are among the most powerful project management software options.
How Do You Manage Project Teams Remotely?
The key to managing project teams remotely is to ensure you have solid team communication that leaves everyone on the same page.
In addition to having the best project management tool, you also want to have a team collaboration tool that promotes communication between remote workers and enables easy file sharing for virtual teams.
Can You Do Project Management Remotely?
Yes, in fact, many software development PMs have been managing projects with remote teams for years now. Even huge businesses like Microsoft, Yahoo!, Facebook, etc. have learned to work remotely with great degrees of success.
It’s not so hard to manage projects with a remote project team – it’s a question of applying the skills you already have and adapting them to the remote environment. Then you use software to support the way that you work as a team and your own project management preferences.
Final Thoughts
You choose a remote project management tool to serve your business and that means talking to all the stakeholders to find out what their needs are.
Sure, we’ve got some amazing recommendations for you here but they’re not all built with the same business or workflow in mind, fortunately as most of them offer free trials – it shouldn’t take too long to narrow down your options and settle on the perfect project management tools for you and your team, especially if you start with the list above.
