free project management software

free project management software

The Evolution and Impact of Free Project Management Software

1. Introduction

This new ‘era’ is designed to attend another segment of users within the organizational environment – Should the project manager adapt to the software or should the software adapt to the project manager? Reducing the budget and the availability of time as the main factors for the success of a project made free project management software a good optional tool for small and medium-sized enterprises, which would thereby obtain competitive advantages to participate in the global market. Unfortunately, the version is directed to the great administrators of projects or, even if these small and medium-sized enterprises use the set of tools provided by the project management software, the small and medium-sized enterprises are left with a diminished situation in which several functionalities are disabled, selecting only the main functions for control. All of them are limited to ‘projects’.

Before the advent and widespread use of software, long-range projects either could not be done or, if they were, they were done by hand, which proved to be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to prepare and analyze the necessary historical project scheduling experience. Sophisticated computer programming was required for the initial phases of the microcomputer. The experts considered the project management software as their own domain under the lands. Today, project management is part of their own activity to computerize their knowledge in an excellent way for those who use desktop software, which require training and coins to a ‘certain maturity’ of understanding its operation and applicability. After the existence of the Internet, computerized project management software reached a new ‘era’.

2. The Rise of Free Project Management Software

Personal computing started nothing less than an explosion in work combining a previously undreamed-of range and scope. These were the first vehicles for digital project management tools. These, of course, quickly became the industry standard for project tasks of all types. To be precise, project management software saw a revenue boost after the internet fundamentally affected both the project manager’s role and how teams communicate, the standard on-premises vendors began buying up or, on occasion, just cloning web-based project management solutions. This began to change the way project management applications were developed. At first, these products languished as on-premises applications left free versions in the dust. However, they are of much higher quality. This vision was practical only because the economics of online service are so different from packaged software: the cost of distribution and development is spread over a large base of customers.

It’s remarkable just how recent the rise of freemium project management software really is. After all, software has been an indispensable part of project management work for decades. It’s a trend apparent everywhere you look, especially in those companies that prioritize tasks and outcomes over time and attendance. The rise of digital project management software has fueled success on a scale it’s hard to remember ever living without. Things certainly seemed to kick into high gear with the widespread adoption of personal computing in the mid-80s. This, of course, led to more and more software options. These on-premises solutions offered so many features that they became almost essential. That made them costly, and the need for support made them that much pricier. You didn’t just pay for the software; in many cases, licensing fees paid for itself (several times over) in support costs.

3. Key Features and Benefits

Document Sharing and Task Organization This is one feature that all project management software packages offer; however, it is still a key point of a free project management software. It enhances the flow of communication in the group, keeping all relevant materials and resources in one place. File sharing streamlines the work of a project by giving your teams, no matter where they happen to be, access to everything in one workspace.

One of the most important aspects of free project management software is that it offers some or all of the key features of paid project management software without any cost or ongoing subscription. It is ideal for the individual user looking to manage personal projects, small start-ups with a tight budget, and growing businesses and larger enterprises looking to add just a few users to their projects. However, one of the best features of a free project management software is its flexibility. Despite most free project management software being of a lighter weight than its paid contemporary, it offers many benefits that are essential to the productivity and efficiency of any team.

4. Challenges and Limitations

The two constant challenges encountered when using free project management tools are the pop-ups to convert it to the paid version and the limited or non-existent customer support. The other constraints that users tend to run into, depending on the type of organization or project they are running, can consist of a limited number of users or projects, limited or no archiving capability, authorization controls, and reporting. This makes free project management software unsuitable for larger teams and limits enterprises’ ability to manage effectively multiple projects that are either complex or tasks that need to be executed. On the other hand, repeatedly being interrupted by a pop-up becomes annoying fast and acts as a deterrent in the way you manage and execute your tasks, especially when the software started as a free tool, is classified as so, and suddenly only those who have paid an upgrade can relish the full experience.

While there’s no way one tool can be perfect or fit for every use case, nor should it attempt to be, choosing software because it’s free—even if it doesn’t fit your needs—can absolutely cost money and time, or just decrease your productivity. Also, keep in mind that you should expect free project management software to be slightly less intuitive and might provide fewer advanced options and features. For instance, the number of private projects and advanced features in Trello and Asana is limited unless you move to the paid version.

5. Future Trends and Innovations

Buyers-Driven Market & Bazaar Marketplace: The software industry is becoming increasingly focused on buyers, and several companies are shifting to offer project management SaaS to the end user rather than the traditional top-down purchase strategy of IT directors. The users are keen on response to the software that is sustainable, and the notion of the bazaar in the marketplace is that the users themselves may have suggestions, ideas, and contributions to construct and sustain a growing set of offerings.

Integrating E-mail, Time Reporting and Document Management: It is unlikely that project managers will be able to keep all their project management data in a single place. Organizations like IBM, Source Forge, and many other software vendors are recognizing that the integration of project management with other tools is vital and are leveraging their strength into these integrated offerings.

Since 1990, the project management software industry has grown to $1.1 billion in 2003 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.5%. The project and portfolio management (PPM) software is showing significant growth of 18.5% (CAGR) and is projected to rise to $2.3 billion in 2008. Here are some of the trends in the software industry.