The Secret Weapon Small Businesses Overlook: Project Management Software”

If you operate an online business then using a Project management tool is pretty standard.

However this important system is predominantly overlooked in traditional “Brick and Mortar” type operations.

Maybe they don’t know it exists or maybe they haven’t thought about how it can be used in their business.

If you ever have those days where nothing goes to plan, things fall through the cracks or weren’t done to the expected standards or you’ve become the bottleneck in your business, you’re missing a foundational piece of your business’ framework.

The place where work actually happens. Your workflow or project management system.

But I hear people say – we’ve got a system for that. We have all our documentation stored in our Google Drive / Dropbox and we use email for all our team communications. So between the two – that keeps us organised.

Ok that’s a start however, it’s not really an efficient way to handle your daily operations, manage performance and client communications and set tasks and priorities for your team.

These activities are best managed through a centralised system which is the bridge that connects your docs and existing communication.

This centralised system is your Workflow AKA Project Management System.

I know people use spreadsheets and become creative with them however, they have their limitations when it comes to task management, due dates and reminders and overall goal setting in a way that is easily accessible by Team members.

And that’s because they’re designed more for data collection and calculations plus it’s clunky to have separate sheets connected in a user friendly way. You just end up with spreadsheets all over the place which makes team adoption of systems built this way a lot harder than it needs to be.

Project Management Software = the missing piece of the puzzle.

So in addition to  your current tech stack, I highly recommend you insert a Project Management System to complete the picture.

This is especially important if your have a team

In a nutshell – project management is simply the act of planning, organising and managing resources (people, money and things) to achieve business goals. And there are specific software applications that are designed to do exactly that.

Some of them you might have heard of already such as Monday.com, Asana, Clickup, Trello, Smartsheet. Teamwork and more.

Having a Project management system in place allows you to streamline your operations and run your business more efficiently. It ensures all tasks are done and your whole team is on the same page.

It’s also where most of your team communications take place. 

I’ve personally used Asana and can attest to how having this system in place in a “Brick and Mortar” service business really helped streamline things across the board and made my life so much easier.

The best thing about a Project Management app Such as Asana is that it is highly customisable to your business. This means you can set it up in a way that suits how YOU run your business.

Plus –  it keeps all the information you need to run your business in ONE place.

I used it For:

• Documenting and storing all the Company’s Role descriptions and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
• Managing and scheduling staff leave
• Social media Content Planning 
• Assigning tasks with due date deadlines
• Monitoring progress of assigned tasks
• Managing customer enquiries and follow ups
• Assigning tasks for myself with due dates
• Managing Staff performance and KPIs
• Scheduling and recording Team meetings and any required follow ups

Does this mean you can do away with Dropbox, Google files or Slack for communications?

No, not at all. They serve very different purposes however they can be easily integrated into your project management system so that you can access them directly from there. 

You’ll find that most project Management apps integrate with other popular platforms for this purpose.

So if your business has files and documents all over the place and you’re still using “sticky notes” for task reminders and messages it’s time to level up and integrate Project management into your tech stack.

I personally recommend Asana because as compared to other apps, it’s relatively easy to learn which means it’s more likely to be adopted across the team. 

This is a really important thing to consider when introducing any new software. Because after all, to be effective and reap the benefits you need to have your people actually use it.

At the same time Asana is  extremely customisable with some powerful features so you won’t be outgrowing it any time soon.

P.S: I’m not an Asana affiliate so I don’t benefit in any way by recommending it. It’s just that I’ve tried several other similar platforms over the years and the way they worked  didn’t suit my business at the time.