Use THESE Project Management Software in 2024

Summary

The video discusses how poor project management can limit business growth, especially for agencies. It highlights the importance of having organized systems in place to manage client projects efficiently. The speaker reviews several project management tools—Airtable, ClickUp, Notion, Asana, and Monday.com—detailing their pros, cons, and suitability for different business sizes. Key features like automation, customization, and pricing are discussed, with ClickUp and Airtable emerging as top choices. The video encourages viewers to improve their project management systems to increase revenue and efficiency.

Takeaways

• 📉 Project management issues, rather than sales or hiring, are a common bottleneck for agencies struggling to meet demand.
• 📝 Many agencies lack proper systems to manage projects, leading to disorganization and lost revenue due to perceived capacity limits.
• 💻 Airtable is highly customizable and offers features like built-in forms, customizable dashboards, and robust data storage for project management.
• 📊 Airtable's strengths include data visualization through interfaces and storing large amounts of information, though it has a steep learning curve for non-technical users.
• 💡 ClickUp is ideal for teams needing agile workflows and offers features like spaces for departments, time tracking, and high customizability.
• ⚠️ ClickUp has limitations in automation and performance issues when scaling with larger teams, leading to lag and glitches.
• 💼 Notion is great for small creative teams or solo entrepreneurs but lacks advanced project management tools for larger enterprises.
• 📱 Notion has a strong mobile app, but its data reporting and automation features are limited, making it less suited for big teams.
• 💸 Asana and Monday.com are entry-level project management tools but are costly and offer limited customization and flexibility compared to other options.
• 🔧 Overall, ClickUp is the preferred choice due to its affordability, customization, and feature set, followed by Airtable and Notion for smaller or creative teams.

Q & A

What is a common issue agencies face that impacts their revenue?

Many agencies struggle with project management, which leads to bottlenecks, missed revenue opportunities, and inefficient use of time and resources.

Why is project management often overlooked as a cause of business bottlenecks?

Businesses may mistakenly believe that their challenges stem from sales or hiring issues, rather than recognizing that poor project management is causing inefficiencies.

How does poor project management create a perceived capacity cap for businesses?

Without proper systems in place, businesses may feel they can't handle more clients when in reality, they have the capacity but lack efficient processes to manage the workload.

What is one key feature of Airtable that makes it a strong project management tool?

Airtable has built-in forms that integrate directly into the software, making it easier for teams to track data like client requests, project updates, and employee submissions without using external tools.

How do Airtable's interfaces benefit businesses?

Airtable's interfaces allow businesses to visualize data in customizable dashboards, offering a high-level overview of operations and helping track things like employee workload and performance.

What are some cons of using Airtable as a project management tool?

Airtable can be difficult for non-technical users due to its complexity, can get expensive with multiple users, has limited mobile capabilities, and offers limited reporting features for data export.

Why does the speaker prefer ClickUp for their project management needs?

ClickUp offers features that are ideal for technical projects, like agile workflows, client-specific folders, and customizable task management, making it suitable for their DevOps agency.

What are the main limitations of ClickUp?

ClickUp's dashboards are limited in reporting, its performance can lag with larger teams and bigger projects, and its interface can be overwhelming for new users.

Why does the speaker no longer use Notion for project management?

While Notion is highly customizable and affordable for small teams, it lacks advanced features for larger teams, such as automations, data reporting, and scalability.

What are the key differences between Asana, Monday.com, and the other tools mentioned?

Asana and Monday.com are more entry-level project management tools with limited customization and flexibility, and they can become costly as teams grow, unlike ClickUp or Airtable, which offer more robust features.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Project Management Challenges and Solutions

The speaker begins by highlighting the common issue of poor project management leading to revenue loss in businesses. They emphasize that many clients struggle due to a lack of systems to manage client projects effectively. The absence of clear guidelines and priorities results in bottlenecks and wasted resources. To address these issues, the speaker introduces several project management software tools, starting with Airtable. They praise Airtable's built-in forms, interfaces for data visualization, and flexibility, but also point out its limitations, such as a steep learning curve for non-technical users, potential cost increases with team size, occasional clunkiness, limited reporting features, and lack of a mobile app.

05:00

🔧 The Power of ClickUp for Project Management

The speaker then discusses ClickUp, a tool they personally use for project management, particularly due to its suitability for technical projects and agile workflows. They describe how ClickUp allows for easy organization of client projects into dedicated spaces and folders, streamlining the process of managing tasks and assets. The pros of ClickUp include affordability, extensive integrations, and high customization. However, the cons are noted as well, such as limited reporting compared to Airtable, potential performance issues as the company scales, and an overwhelming initial experience for new users.

10:01

📘 Notion as a Versatile Project Management Tool

Notion is presented as a highly customizable and powerful tool for small teams and creatives. The speaker explains how it can be adapted for various uses, such as building a home Wiki, CRM, SOPs, and project management systems. They appreciate Notion's affordability, intuitive design, and all-in-one functionality, including a robust mobile app. However, the speaker also points out the limitations of Notion, such as limited data reporting, the 'jack of all trades' nature that lacks specialization, lack of built-in automations, and performance issues with large amounts of data.

📊 Comparing Asana and Monday.com for Project Management

The speaker groups Asana and Monday.com together, viewing them as entry-level project management tools with similarities. They mention the basic features such as task views, templates, and built-in automations, as well as reporting capabilities. While acknowledging that these tools are decent for beginners, the speaker finds them less flexible and customizable compared to others. They also note the higher costs and potential performance issues as significant drawbacks, especially when more data and team members are added.

Keywords

💡Project Management

Project management refers to the discipline of organizing and managing resources to achieve specific goals. In the video, it is highlighted as a key issue that agencies struggle with, impacting their revenue and operations. Effective project management involves systems to track tasks, assign responsibilities, and prioritize work, which many agencies lack, leading to chaos and inefficiencies.

💡Bottleneck

A bottleneck is a point of congestion in a system that slows down or impedes the flow of operations. In the video, the term describes the situation where a lack of project management systems prevents businesses from scaling or taking on more clients because employees are unsure of their tasks and priorities, resulting in reduced efficiency and revenue loss.

💡Airtable

Airtable is a project management and database tool that allows for customizable systems, including built-in forms, data visualization, and automations. The video describes Airtable as highly flexible and ideal for managing projects, especially through its ability to track data, organize tasks, and integrate with other tools, making it a favorite choice for agencies.

💡Forms

Forms are digital templates that allow users to collect and organize data input. In the context of Airtable, the video highlights the importance of built-in forms that streamline data collection from employees or clients, eliminating the need for separate systems and improving project tracking. Examples include end-of-day forms for employees and project requests from clients.

💡Interfaces

Interfaces in Airtable refer to customizable dashboards that allow users to visualize data and monitor project progress. The video explains how these interfaces give users an overview of their business operations, from tracking employee workloads to viewing project analytics, and can be tailored for different needs depending on the team's creativity.

💡ClickUp

ClickUp is another project management tool praised for its ability to handle technical workflows, especially in DevOps and agile environments. The video mentions ClickUp’s capacity for creating spaces, folders, and task lists to manage client projects effectively, making it a go-to tool for agencies handling complex, technical projects like AI applications and data visualizations.

💡Agile Workflow

Agile workflow refers to a project management methodology focused on iterative development, collaboration, and flexibility. In the video, the speaker mentions using agile workflows within ClickUp to handle the technical aspects of their work, emphasizing the tool's support for agile project management, which is key for delivering continuous progress on complex projects.

💡Notion

Notion is described as a flexible and customizable tool for smaller teams or creative professionals. The video explains that Notion can be used to build systems such as CRMs, content management, and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). However, it is deemed less suitable for larger enterprises due to limitations in automation, data reporting, and performance.

💡Automations

Automations refer to the use of technology to perform tasks without manual intervention. In project management tools like Airtable and ClickUp, automations help streamline repetitive tasks, such as updating records or sending notifications. The video notes that tools like Airtable excel in built-in automations, while ClickUp has more limited automation options, depending on the scope of the project.

💡Pros and Cons

Pros and cons are the positive and negative aspects of a tool or system, which the speaker outlines for each project management software discussed. For example, Airtable's pros include customizability and data capacity, while its cons include a lack of a mobile app and a steeper learning curve. This analysis helps viewers make informed decisions based on their specific needs and business size.

Highlights

Project management issues are often the silent destroyer of revenue within businesses.

Many agencies lack systems to manage client projects effectively.

Poor project management leads to bottlenecks and missed revenue opportunities.

The perceived capacity cap of a business is often due to bad systems rather than actual limitations.

Project management problems lead to wasted time and resources on unproductive tasks.

Airtable is highlighted as a favorite project management tool due to its flexibility and features.

Airtable's built-in forms are praised for their integration and ease of use.

Interfaces in Airtable allow for customizable dashboards and high-level business overviews.

Airtable offers high customizability and is cost-effective for storing large amounts of data.

The cons of Airtable include a steep learning curve for non-technical users and potential cost increases with team size.

ClickUp is recommended for its agility and suitability for DevOps agencies.

ClickUp's time tracking feature integrates with Clockify for efficient team management.

Notion is compared to ClickUp and Airtable but is considered better for small teams and creatives.

Notion's pros include affordability, customizability, and an intuitive UI.

Cons of Notion include limited data reporting and no built-in automations.

Asana and Monday.com are considered entry-level project management tools with basic features.

The video provides a free project management template for viewers.

The speaker's personal preference is ClickUp for its ease of use, automations, and affordability.

The video concludes with a summary of the speaker's ranking of the discussed project management tools.

Transcripts

ah project management man the silent but

deadly destroyer of Revenue within your

business generally when most clients

come to us and they're struggling to

keep up with demand it's not necessarily

a sales issue or a hiring issue but

instead it's a project management issue

and this is especially true with

agencies that approach us you'd be

surprised how many of these agencies

don't actually have any systems in place

to manage their clients projects nobody

knows what they're supposed to do when

they're supposed to do it by who they're

supposed to turn it into and as a result

these businesses are bottleneck because

nobody knows what the they're doing

and on top of that they have no idea how

to prioritize an ever increasing backlog

of items this leads to a few things

first and foremost the missing out of

Revenue due to the perceived cap of

capacity on your business this means you

think that you can't take on any more

clients but really your systems are crap

in simple terms this means you think you

can't take on any more clients but in

actuality you can your systems are just

bad and second it leads to significantly

more time resources and financials being

poured into pointless tasks

directionless meetings and just kind of

a whole bunch of hollow blue that looks

like that SpongeBob Meme where they're

just running all over the place with

that being said today I wanted to take

you guys through a few of my favorite

project management software that we use

for ourselves and for clients as well

and we'll kind of give you a few

examples of the different systems that

you can build inside of that software as

well just to kind of give you guys an

overall view so without further Ado

let's hop into it now the first tool I

want to talk about is air table this is

something that I bring up frequently on

the channel and with clients basically

and any of my content that you can find

on the internet but it's for very good

reason there are four main features that

I want to highlight with air table that

kind of make it almost the perfect

project management system depending on

who you are the first feature that I

want to highlight is they're built-in

forms they are directly integrated into

the software and this is huge especially

if you have team members that fill out

forms on a daily basis it's helpful to

have them integrated into the software

right there instead of having to have

them fill out a type form and then

trying to cross reference the two or

having to build out a separate

automation that populates them inside of

the software it makes it a lot easier

this makes it super easy to track things

like new contacts for your crms new

project requests from your clients wink

revision requests end of day forms for

employees the list goes on and on they

forms built into air table and it's

awesome just to give you a quick example

we have four forms that we use with our

air table CRM those are the end of day

forms for our Setter and our closer the

new contact form to add new contacts to

the CRM and a new deal form to add new

deals to the CRM and Link them back to

the original contact this leads me into

my second favorite feature which is

their interfaces now we can take all of

this data that's within our tables and

visualize it in One Singular place to

get a highlevel overview of our business

interfaces are basically these

customizable dashboards that can do a

whole lot of stuff from building basic

analytics dashboards where you again

have that high level overview of your

business to building out almost like

custom SAS functionality with buttons

profiles for each of your employees you

can see what their workload looks like

depending on how many tasks are linked

back to them you can create record views

for storing resources like Sops for your

employees as well the list goes on and

on there are so many uses for interfaces

inside of air table and really the only

limit is just how creative you can be

not to mention the flexibility with air

table you know you have tables and then

tons of different column types to choose

from and it just makes it super easy to

build a robust project management system

now it's time for pros and cons pros you

have a buttload of customizability again

you can basically build your own

internal software inside of air table

alone it's cheap debatably I'll touch on

that in just a second you have built-in

automations as well with the software

and then it stores a bunch of data and

when I say a bunch of data I mean more

than any other project management

software out there and for a fraction of

the price now let's talk about cons

first and foremost if you're someone

who's not very technical or you know you

find it hard to mess around with

spreadsheets air table is going to seem

like a foreign entity to you if you're

non technical there's definitely a

larger learning curve second con cheap

debatably again so if you have a smaller

team usually what we do is we just all

share One login to you know keep it on

that $20 a month plan but air table does

charge you know for each us user that

you add on to your team that has edit

permissions which means the price can

add up really quickly another con it can

be a little bit clunky at times it's

pretty ugly fourth I think this is

fourth I'm not quite sure but the

reporting features are pretty Limited in

terms of exporting those reports you can

build some cool dashboards but getting

them outside of air table is a different

story entirely and then finally their

mobile interface is basically

non-existent like they basically don't

even have a mobile app so uh something

to keep in mind at number two we have

clickup this is something that I

personally use for project management

and for a very very good reason

obviously we're a Dev Ops agency so

we're building a lot of technical things

whether it's like AI applications or

automated workflows or we're working on

you know data visualization for a

company a lot of these require technical

skill so clickup makes it really easy

for us to use agile workflow if you

don't know what that is I'll make

another video on it eventually but we

use agile and clickup makes it super

super easy but inside of clickup you

have everything you'd need from a

project management software from your

dashboards for reporting you know you

can create spaces for separate

departments and then lists inside of

those spaces create folders it just

makes it super easy to organize

everything inside of One Singular place

just to give you an idea of how we

manage our client projects we have an

entire space dedicated solely to client

success and inside of that space we have

separate folders for each client where

we store all of their assets all of the

upcoming tasks revision requests bug

fixes whatever the case might be it's

all inside of their folder and we can

see it All in One Singular place

whenever a client submits an improvement

request or a bug report as well it will

show up directly inside of their clickup

dashboard for us to work on later now

for pros and cons first it's cheap

there's tons of Integrations it makes it

super easy to collaborate with other

team members but most of all is the

customization you can really take the

base product of clickup and turn it into

something that is completely your own

completely personalized to your business

from task templates to list templates to

changing color schemes branding whatever

the case might be however your team

works you can change clickup to

customize it that way and then something

else that's pretty cool as well is the

time tracking feature they integrate

directly with an app called clockify

which is something that that I use to

track my time and my team memb time as

well now for cons the dashboards in

terms of reporting can be a little bit

limited especially when you compare it

to something like air table where you

basically have free rain and the

automations can be a little bit limited

as well granted clickup is not an

automation software second gone is

performance issues with bigger companies

especially once you really start to

scale and that backlog begins to build

up more team members come on to the team

it begins to lag a little bit sometimes

things will glitch templates won't be

applied to specific tasks tasks get lost

and the software becomes a bit buggy and

then finally it can be a bit

overwhelming at first especially if

you're not used to a project management

software like that you hop in there and

there's so much going on that you might

not really know where to start so don't

worry clickup video coming soon number

three we have notion so notion has often

been compared to clickup or air table

and kind of like the same realm but

there are a couple reasons I don't

actually really use notion anymore but

for small teams it's a phenomenal and

Powerful software notion just like air

table really has the ability to be

whatever you want it to be from building

a home Wiki where your team can navigate

to different pages you can build a CRM

inside of notion you can build all of

your Sops as documents inside of notion

you can build your project management

system as a conand view and then have

all of your Sops housed underneath that

you can set up all of your content

systems etc etc the list goes on but

really what I found is that notion is

honestly best for creatives not for

bigger teams or actual Enterprise siiz

companies notion in many ways is much

more customizable than apps like clickup

just because of the way that you can

customize and set up your pages but

really that's honestly where it stops

it's great for building databases and

storing information but that being said

I do have a few gripes about it so let's

hop into the pros and cons first and

foremost notion is incredibly affordable

if you're someone who's just starting

your business or you've got a really

small team notion is a great place to be

second you have your customizability

again it can be turned into anything you

want however you work it can be fit to

customize that workflow third it's got a

very intuitive design and easy to use UI

so it's it's pretty simple and

straightforward once you actually get in

there it's not very hard to figure out

there's no real learning curve another

Pro is that it's Allin one so you really

have kind of a bit of everything inside

of one software from you know data

storage to building out your crms your

content systems your Sops your Wiki your

team management everything is kind of

housed all Under One Roof and then

finally for the pros is the

crossplatform so notion has a very very

very good mobile app probably out of all

of the project management software I'm

covering today it has the best app to be

honest with you but now let's hop into

the cons first you have limited data

reporting there's not really any place

to build out a dashboard in notion uh

with for any kind of reporting unless

you're using an external tool which can

kind of be a little bit tricky and

there's not really any place where you

can measure you know productivity when

it comes to your team members or their

output the point is you can't really

visualize data without using a third

party software second con is allinone I

know I put this as a pro but it's also a

con for this specific reason notion has

the ability to do everything but it's

not particularly good at doing anything

if that makes sense it can do everything

but it's not really good at all of them

kind of a jack of all trade situation

third there are no automations built

into notion and normally this wouldn't

be an issue but if you're someone who's

not really technical with automations

this can be a bit of a caveat and even

if you are someone who's technical with

automations if you've messed around with

Notions API it can be a little bit

finicky at times to say the least and

then finally we have storage limits in

performance needless to say once you

reach a certain amount of data not only

does it get expensive but it also begins

to become a little bit clunky laggy at

times and overall it just doesn't

perform as well so that being said

notion is perfect if you're a solo

preneur you know you're a solo Creator

you're someone who's in some type of

creative field and maybe you don't have

a big budget or you have a very small

team and you're just looking for

something to get started just need to

get going notion is a pretty solid

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four and five you guys will have to

forgive me are Asana and Monday now I

kind of put these guys under the same

roof because really they're not

incredibly different now when it comes

to the two of them monday.com in my

opinion is the better software but

they're both pretty similar and they're

very entry level when it comes to

project management obviously you know

you have different views like your

canman view your list views for

different tasks you can set up task

templates um they do have built-in

automations like inside of the software

although it's incredibly limited and

monday.com doeses have some pretty

comprehensive reporting but if you've

tried any of the other project

management software I've talked about

today when you try monday.com and ASA

afterwards they begin to feel like the

light versions of the other software

they they feel like free trials

basically I could be wrong maybe you

have a different opinion let me know

down in the comments but if you're just

getting started and you're looking for

something to you know just get your foot

in the door you don't really know how

project management works you just need a

way to track tasks they're decent

options but with that being said let's

get into the pros and cons so for the

pros they have a decent number of

automations it's pretty easy to automate

things within both of the software

themselves you have some pretty decent

reporting although it's limited the

reporting should get you by it'll tell

you exactly what you need to know at

least from a project management point of

view you'll know everything that you

really need to which is really all you

can ask for and then finally you have a

decent number of Integrations as well

they're actually you know linked in with

a bunch of different software W whether

you're using slack or Gmail it's pretty

easy to use other tools that you might

use in your business all inside of that

software as well now let's talk about

the cons because they're pretty big

first and foremost the software are

costly they can get pretty expensive I

haven't checked on the pricing in a

little while but last I checked it was

pretty up there especially when you

begin to add team members and more and

more data and more and more features it

begins to rack up really quick and out

of all of these software that I've given

you today the cost to Value ratio isn't

really there in my opinion second con is

the lack of flexibility and

customization there's really not much

you can do in there like in terms of

customizability and making it your own

there's really not much you have you

know maybe you put one or two different

metrics on your your dashboard like oh

you can track one other thing otherwise

there's not really much it's just kind

of what the software gives you and then

finally it can get really laggy and

clunky as you add more data in again

these are just my opinions guys let me

know what you think about them down in

the comments below but I've yapped for

long enough now so what do I think of

all the software where do they stand on

my list obviously I'm a little bit

biased but my favorite is clickup it's

pretty easy to grasp once you actually

get in there there are tons of

automations tons of customizability and

it's pretty cheap as well I think we're

paying anywhere from $10 to $20 a month

like I'm really the main one who uses it

so it's pretty cheap it's affordable and

it doesn't really begin to break unless

you're a massive company my second is

air table again it's affordable

debatably and there's tons of

customizability only thing that really

gets me is the lack of mobile app

because that's pretty important

especially if you have a bunch of

employees that need to be on their

phones at all times and then also how

clunky it can be even on the PC but that

being said air table is a very big

favorite of mine then after that you

have notion again if you're someone

who's running a very small business

you're looking for something cheap

you're just looking to get into it

you're a creative notion is a pretty

solid option after that you have

monday.com and ASA these personally I

included on the list because they're

still decent options but I personally

wouldn't recommend them just from my own

experience but with that being said guys

if you want a free project management

template that I put together you can

click the link in the description or in

the first pin comment below and I'll

send that right over to you if you did

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another upload with that being said guys

I will see you guys later peace