Does your software development team employ multiple project management methodologies? Then ProjectManager may be your best bet for managing projects, as it was built with hybrid teams in mind. We will review ProjectManager in terms of its features, pricing, and pros and cons to help you determine if it can suit your needs.
After you finish reading our review of ProjectManager, be sure to check out our list of the Top 5 Project Manager Certifications.
What is Project Manager?
A quick trip to Project Manager’s homepage tells you that it is “Project and work management software for hybrid teams.” In other words, it was designed for hybrid teams that use multiple work styles or methodologies (Agile, waterfall, scrum) to deliver projects. Not only are hybrid teams catered to with this software in terms of its supported methodologies, but they can also use it to stay on track in hybrid work environments, such as a home or office, in the US or abroad, or on the go on mobile devices.
What are Project Manager’s Features?
How can ProjectManager increase your development team’s productivity and efficiency so you can deliver products quicker at lower costs? By offering the following features:
Dashboard
Complex projects can overwhelm you with all of their moving parts and data. ProjectManager’s dashboard lets you ingest all that data for instant transparency with a user-friendly interface, quickly accessible info, and easy-to-read graphs.
There is no need to rely on manual reporting and complex spreadsheets that make your eyes bleed and make it tough to spot issues before they spiral out of control. With ProjectManager’s dashboard, you can track your tasks via a single view that updates instantly as any changes are made or progress is achieved. Use the dashboard to see your team’s workload. Then, use the workload widget to view each team member’s progress. With red, green, and yellow color coding, the software spots issues and trends for you. Best of all, the dashboard requires zero setups and works instantly. You can, however, customize it via filters and colors to suit your needs.
Gantt Charts
Project managers can create a drag and drop Gantt chart in seconds with ProjectManager; the software has a cloud-based Gantt chart maker that rivals MS Project (read our Review of Microsoft Project), so you can create schedules and view milestones, critical paths, and task dependencies to manage your projects with ease.
Linking tasks and creating dependencies across projects is a cinch. Plus, when you update one task, the deadlines of any tasks linked to it update automatically.
ProjectManager’s Gantt charts promote team collaboration by allowing members to attach files, documents, and comments to task lines. And to ensure everyone stays on the same page, the software sends email alerts once a team member updates a task. The Gantt chart feature offers one-click reports, importing and exporting Excel and CSV files, and online sharing and printing to PDF.
Kanban boards
Development teams looking to use Kanban boards to boost productivity and catch bottlenecks will enjoy this feature’s inclusion in ProjectManager. You can use the traditional Kanban view of to do, doing, and done straight out of the box or customize columns to fit your needs.
With drag-and-drop functionality, card tagging, attachments, task management, and more, you should find ProjectManager’s Kanban boards among the best in the business.
collaborative
ProjectManager lets you generate team discussions, share files and project plans with unlimited storage, tag team members, comment on tasks, brainstorm, and more to take your collaboration to the next level. And if you want more collaborative features, you can get them via third-party integrations with Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, and more.
Looking to learn more about collaboration tools and software? Read our top product article discussing the Top collaboration tools for developers.
task management
ProjectManager offers multiple task management tools to allow team members to work with what suits them best, whether a list, Gantt, sheet, calendar, or board view. Use reports and dashboards to track task progress in real time. Add task details via unlimited storage for notes and files, plus task descriptions. Set priorities and task dependencies so your team knows what to tackle and when. Those are just some of the task management features ProjectManager provides.
portfolio management
Project Manager has a host of project portfolio management tools. It has portfolio dashboards featuring six key metrics, filters that let you customize what data gets presented, and lets you organize projects into folders so you can find what you need when necessary. The software also has a powerful project portfolio roadmap feature that collects all your portfolio projects and displays them in a single Gantt chart for ultimate visibility.
integration
While ProjectManager has enough well-rounded features on its own to keep your team happy and productive, you can extend its functionality even more via 1,000-plus integrations with apps you already use, such as:
Reading: Best Project Management Tools for Developers
reporting
It only takes a few clicks to create variance reports, status reports, and more with ProjectManager. The cloud-based reporting tool updates automatically, so your reports are never stale. You can also customize the reports to showcase only the data your team and shareholders need to make critical decisions.
Project Manager’s reporting tools include:
- One-click project status reports
- portfolio status
- Project plans
- Resource availability
- Task progress
- time sheets
- Workload reports
mobile app
Many software developers have moved to remote work, and ProjectManager lets you work in your home office and on the go with its mobile app for iOS and Android.
Some benefits of using the ProjectManager mobile app include:
- Receiving critical notifications on the go.
- Bringing up past conversation histories to gather essential details when needed.
- Collaborate with your team with the click of a button.
- Viewing your team’s workload for added transparency.
- Managing task details such as due date, assignees, subtasks, priority, etc.
- Time tracking for yourself and other team members.
How Much Does Project Manager Cost?
ProjectManager is priced in four tiers to suit different budgets and needs. Each plan includes every feature from the tier below it, plus added features:
starting plan
The starter plan includes:
- Free forever for up to three users.
- Lets you create basic project plans.
- Built for personal projects and very small teams.
- Three-project limit.
- Task management.
- collaborative.
- Kanban board, task list, calendar views.
team plan
The team plan includes:
- $11.50 per user per month.
- Made for managing more complex projects.
- Time and cost tracking.
- Project budget.
- Gantt chart and sheet views.
- Project management.
- File and document management.
business plan
The business plan includes:
- $20.50 per user per month.
- The most popular Project Manager offering.
- Unlimited project and portfolio management.
- Unlimited collaboration.
- Workflow automation with five rules per workflow.
- Roadmap view.
- Unlimited file and document management.
- Advanced custom reports.
- Time sheets and approvals.
- Custom workflows.
- A max of five guest licenses (view only).
- Resource management and capacity planning.
Enterprise plan
The Enterprise plan includes:
- Contact Project Manager for pricing.
- Enhanced security (including two-factor authentication).
- Single sign on.
- Workflow automation with unlimited actions and 20 rules per workflow.
- Customer user roles.
- Custom onboarding and implementation.
- A dedicated customer service manager.
- Custom integrations with API access.
- Unlimited guest licenses (view only).
As you can see, the four ProjectManager pricing plans differ significantly in what they offer. To get the most out of this project management software, your best bet is to skip the first two pricing tiers and opt for at least the business plan so you can unlock its true power and have more tools at your team’s disposal.
Reading: Project Management Software Guide
What are Project Manager’s Pros and Cons
Now that we have gone through ProjectManager’s features and pricing, it is time to discuss where the project management tool excels and where it needs improvement.
Project Manager Pros
Project Manager’s pros include:
- Easy to use with a minimal learning curve.
- Has the added perks of resource management and budgeting tools.
- Sufficient integrations to extend the software’s functionality.
- Flexibility with views, thanks to extensive filtering and customization options.
Project Manager Cons
Project Manager’s cons include:
- The two bottom pricing tiers are a bit light in their offerings, making you jump to the business plan to unlock ProjectManager’s true potential.
- If needed, you may find the support to be a bit on the slow side. Enterprise customers will not run into this issue, but that is the top pricing tier.
Project Manager: The Verdict
Is ProjectManager the right PM software for your development team? If you use multiple methodologies and run a hybrid team, the answer may be yes since ProjectManager offers plenty of flexibility in that regard. Before investing your cash, give the Free version a try. If you like it, know that the business plan is your best bet if you want to make the most of this software’s various features.
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