It’s a problem that’s nice to have - to be so busy with new clients that you’re having a hard time making sure all of your projects are running smoothly and on schedule.

Five project management tools for your company

If you’re in need of a project management tool, it’s important to assess the needs of your team and how they work. There are a lot of project management tools on the market and choosing one becomes easier when you’re equipped with a shopping list of features you need or don’t need. There’s no need paying $100‘s per month on wasted features.

Standard features for project management tools include:

• email notification and integration
• calendars and task lists
• enhanced communication via messages, comments, and file sharing

Helpful features to look for

• invoice creation
• time tracking
• collaboration capabilities with clients and team members

Below is a list of impressive project management software and their unique features. Used in many industries (including web development), these tools allow you to track activities and team members as they progress through their respective projects.

Active Collab is a basic project management app with invoicing and time tracking  capabilities. One great feature for web dev teams is that it’s 100% modular. Active Collab lets you write, share and sell modules you create, making it a tool that lives up to its name. It’s also completely mobile.

Redmine has all of the typical project management features and it’s available in 34 languages. The tool creates and updates calendars and Gantt charts according to issues start and due dates, automating the act of prioritizing for users.

JIRA is a customizable bug-tracking tool with advanced reporting features and workflow mapping in addition to issue and project organizing. Plug-ins are also available for full customization. It’s a popular tool among web development firms, even with its hefty price tag.

If you want JIRA to host your account, the cheapest plan is $299/month for 25 users. If you want to use your own server, you can download JIRA for $1200 for one team and $4800 for your organization.

Greenhopper Built on JIRA technology (workflow & permissions, OpenSocial gadgets and JQL)Greenhopper is a tool that can be added to any JIRA project to manage stories, requirements and development tasks. It utilizes index cards that are color coded and  posted on planning and task boards for easier prioritizing.

The fields on the cards are customizable. Greenhopper has features for teams practicing Scrum and can accommodate teams practicing Kanban, continuous integration, code review and pair programming.

Basecamp Brought to you by 37signals, Basecamp is the popular kid in the project management world. It’s used by a lot of businesses (big to small) across all industries. The three price plans are based on how many projects can be created and gigs of memory available.  

What project management tools do you have on your radar?  Leave a comment and let us know what’s out in the market. And if you think you’ve got the project management skills to help run a growing Drupal web development term, check out our careers section to apply for the project management position.