The life of a busy entrepreneur can get chaotic fast! A few stickies here and a notebook full of barely legible scribbled notes can quickly add up to a headache. What is the solution? Find a system that works for you and use it. The first stop on the “getting organized train” is to find a project management system to use in your business.

What is a project management system?

According to Study.com, “A project management system is a means of managing a project by planning, organizing, and managing its different required aspects. Depending on the sophistication of the project management system, it can include:

Estimation activities
Scheduling
Cost control and budget management
Resource allocation
Quality management
Risk management
Change control
Decision-making managing

So now that we know what a project management system is then the next question to answer is how do you choose one that works best for your business?

There are many options to choose from like, Trello, Basecamp, Asana, Active Collab and ClickUp to name a few. The challenge is figuring out which tool will work for you.

Determine your specific needs - According to Hive.com, “The first step to finding a project management tool is identifying the current problems in the way your team works.” The team can be a team of one. Do you need help with organizing e-files, a to-do list, customer management?
Once you are able to determine your needs then it is time to start shopping - There are many sites that can help you compare different tools like Capterra.com or GetApp.com. I like the idea of picking your top 3 choices and digging more into the details of their features.
Is it secure? We all know how vulnerable we can be to a data breach. It only takes a minute for some nefarious person to try to steal your information. One of the best practices out there is called GDPR which is short for General Data Protection Regulation which has been adopted by the EU and is widely acknowledged as a best practice for protecting data. If your project management tool adopts these regulations within their software that is a good sign to move them to the top of the heap.
Determine the cost - There are so many choices out there and along with them come some pretty hefty price tags. But do you really need all the bells and whistles? It is time to take a look at your top 3 choices and figure out which has the features you need the most like, managing your to-do list, goal setting and client management then figure out the costs, simplicity of use and make your decision.

Running a business can be an arduous task. You can be your own hero by getting organized and implementing an easy to use project management tool that will help you to focus on the core part of your business which is delivering your special brand of awesomeness to your customers.

What are you using right now to manage different aspects of your business? Share in the comments below.

Keep IT Sunny!