Project Management: From Old School to New School

When it comes to project management, I have always used the same time proof “software” that has been used for hundreds of years, pen and paper. Whether its work, academic work, individual work, or group work I have always kept track of my task and others task on a simple sheet titled “To-Do List.” I later upgraded this “software” and began using a Bullet Journal which was a much more creative and fun way to track progress on tasks and a Word Doc that could be shared with others when doing work in a group. Recently, however, I have found an even easier way to manage projects and make sure that I stay on top of my task, and that is software that is dedicated to project management. I explored a few of these software’s comparing each and weighing out what it was that I liked most about each and then settled on Asana. 

To someone like me, who has relied on to-do lists created using pen and paper, Word Docs, and a Bullet Journal to successfully manage projects, Asana is a whole new world. The software is extremely user-friendly, has multiple different ways to track and manage projects and goals, alerts that remind you when a due date or deadline is growing close, a way to categorize tasks by amount of effort/time, and the ability to break down projects into specific steps, making it easier than ever to track a project from start to finish. I immediately began using Asana after discovering it earlier this week, and it has easily taken the place of my old project management practices. So far, I have used it for day-to-day tasks, school assignments, and even set up an upcoming project to really test the full capabilities of the software. It allows me to stay on top of my own work and better manage my time when it comes to completing big tasks. The only downside that I can currently see with the software is the fact that in two weeks my free trial will end, and I’ll have to pay if I want to continue using the service. It is likely I will wind up paying to continue using the service, as I really do like its mechanics and feel it makes me more productive, and I also really want to see how it impacts group work and delegating tasks with future group projects.