“I run a nonprofit that doesn't mix of our own work and fee-for-service work and I'm juggling lots of projects with lots of consultants.
I'm looking for tips on free tools, software and approaches for managing projects deadlines and teams. I'd really love to know what people do, what you use and how you manage - both key milestones but also all the little tasks.
As a typical nonprofit person, I do strategy, management and also a fair amount of execution so I need to be as organized as possible and work as smart as I can in order to get everything done and keep everybody on track.
Any and all ideas and practices welcome. I'd love to know how you stay sane.”
As recommended by PSP members:
Agile
ActiveCollab
Website
Cost: $25-$300
- “kinda specific to advertising/design/web industries, though.”
Asana
Website
Cost: free for up to 15 people, then $8 per month
- “I don't know about nonprofits per se, but for editorial calendars I've been on teams using Asana.”
- “Not sure if there are fees, but both Basecamp and Asana can do this.”
Basecamp
Website
Cost: $29 per month for internal teams or $79 per month with clients
- “[also] kinda specific to advertising/design/web industries, though.”
- “I also vote for basecamp.”
- I've used the usual suspects - Basecamp, smartsheet, etc but find them all a little clunky.”
- “Not sure if there are fees, but both Basecamp and Asana can do this.”
Hipchat
Website
Cost: free, then $2 per month
Inmotion
Website
Cost: contact for a quote
- “I've recently found inmotion. Anyone heard / used this? It takes some set up but seems to be a great product. Very customizable and great for creatives (ie user-friendly).”
Microsoft Project
Website
Cost: one time charge of $170 to $550 depending on needs
Jira
Website
Cost: $10-$75 per month, depending on number of users
- “Traditionally If you have a BUNCH of work that follows a consistent workflow.”
- “I use Jira for work”
- “i by far prefer using Jira, mostly b/c it's easy/intuitive to use and does what you want, works well for keeping track of work projects.”
Slack
Website
Cost: free for small teams, then varies $7-13 per month, depending on services and functions
- “For keeping a group of people always on the same page. Free for your use cases.”
Smartsheet
Website
Cost: free for individual collaborators, then varies $10-15 per month depending on number of users, services and functions
- “Our company uses Smartsheet to manage all projects. It's easy to use, not too expensive and allows a large network of colleagues to access the info (we work with a lot of international contacts and it's the easiest way to get them info and make sure they're up to date on deadlines). I've used basecamp as well, which was also very helpful. Hope that helps and good luck!”
SugarCRM
Website
Cost: $40-$150 per month depending on number of users, services and functions
“I really liked using Sugar CRM which is completely customizable.”
TimeFox
Website
Cost: $5-15 per month depending on number of users, services and functions
- “I'm recommending TimeFox which is customizable to any type of business you have. I found the setup challenging and time consuming because you want it to be unique to your company but once that's done, it's easy to use and the customer service is excellent. There's a free demo on the site and the customer service person I worked with gave me a 1.5 hour tutorial over a period of 2 years BEFORE I even subscribed to the service.”
Taskray
Website
Cost: $23 per month
- “If you're looking to track projects which have a specified format and process, Taskray for SalesForce might be a good fit if you are already using SFDC.”
Trello
Website
Cost: some services are free, then $9-21 per month
- “For a more visual approach, make boards and track work that way.”
- “Trello is a very easy-to-use, bare-bones board based system but it lacks any kind of meaningful reporting. If you've got multiple teams working on many projects and you need metrics, trello falls short. We're currently trying to transition from a combination of trello and a jira kanban board to Asana, although I'm not 100% on-board with it yet (I find the UI to be confusing,) I've used basecamp before with some success.”
- “I use Trello for a non profit org.”
- “I don't know about nonprofits per se, but for editorial calendars I've been on teams using Asana, and Trello is pretty popular.”
- “Trello the website crashes on me a lot? i'm not sure why. Also i find the boards visually nice to look at and easy/intuitive to use, but it seems lacking when it comes to ordering and prioritizing? i'm not sure why i think that tho, i haven't thought it thru that well. maybe it's bc i'm a new Trello user.”
Wrike
Website
Cost: Free for up to 5 users, then $10 per month
- “Wrike - For a good project management solution that helps you ensure your critical path is always on track, and Free (for up to 5 users).”
Workflowy
Website
Cost: Free
- “For a simple way of brain dumping. It's a shareable, infinite depth outline form. Share a portion of your workflowy with a few people that matter, and work from one doc.”
Other useful advice from Park Slope Parents:
- How to Stay Organized and Get Focused
- Increasing your Productivity
- PSP's Guide to an Awesome Resume
- Parental Burnout
- Setting up an LLC
