In almost every modern software project, a development teams will be working to build flexible software solutions based on specified customer requirements and business needs. To balance work done on daily tasks, incidents, issues, and enhancements, sophisticated software tools are used to track the progress of tasks and projects alike. In this review post, we want to take a deeper look at one such online software for project management, namely Wrike.

Coordination is the key

If you are used to working alone, tasks are as simple as keeping a neat list of to-do items, but as soon as work needs to be shared among several employees and cross-functional teams working on the same project, then coordination and task tracking becomes crucial. This is where tools for project management can make an impact — they are vital in keeping pace with the various developments in a project. Task management software can help teams organize their work, but more importantly, they can make collaboration more efficient.

With so much of the business world outsourcing labor nowadays, it is quite common that a project team might be located in the USA, while other teams or individual contributors might be located in Asia or Europe. This brings complexity to project communication as you have to contend with various time zones, national holidays, and cultural differences among team members. A project management software needs to be flexible enough to track and handle all these aspects of work involved in modern, and Agile, projects. The real-time workspace of Wrike is used not just in small to medium-sized businesses but also in large organizations to ensure work is done on time and under budget.

Web based solution and smartphone apps

To achieve various project needs, Wrike offers a full-fledged web-based project management solution that can be used on any desktop or mobile device with Internet access and can be customized further as needed. Native apps are available for both Android and iOS mobile devices, giving workers on the go a mobile-optimized experience.

Core features involve project timelines that allow you to visualize your project schedule on a horizontal axis of weeks, months, quarters, even years. These timelines —or online Gantt charts — aren’t the only project management service functionality that project managers and their development teams can make use of. Within Wrike, teams can be created with employees assigned to one or more teams for more efficient coordination and discussion around available tasks. Wrike supports different user roles for customers, stakeholders, or internal contributors.

Definition of tasks

Within any project, independent work items can be created. These are called tasks. A task always has a start date, a defined duration, and a task deadline or its planned completion date (due date). When tasks have been created within the project management software, users can be assigned to actually implement or fulfill them. Workloads are  transparent to all members of the team, and progress can be easily tracked by anyone. The key is to define tasks to be as simple as possible, but filled out with as much detail as needed for a person to perform the task well. Further details can be defined within the task description field of each task. You can even add attachments and required documents to a task so that no one has to search for the info they need to begin work. And anyone who has access to the task can easily view these files.

Progress notification

Within Wrike, configuration settings are available so you can customize how the software alerts you to changes or work done on a task. You can change notifications on the task or project level. By default, the service notifies each assigned team member on a task via e-mail whenever the task gets updated, or if its status has changed.

Conclusion

The project management software of Wrike gives you useful tools to make working with remote teams more efficient and goal-oriented, which is essential if you aim to reach your defined project milestones. Wrike’s workflows are entirely customizable, making it easy to fit with the process you use to work. Even remote work gets synchronized within the tool, making project management much easier. To top it all off, users can choose to work on whatever device they choose, be it on their desktops, or via their Android or iOS mobile devices. Overall, it is a powerful tool to use for managing work and collaboration no matter where in the world you work from.