Managing multiple projects, planning activities and dividing tasks between team members, can seem quite challenging, particularly for small businesses. Maintaining to do lists in separate word documents and communicating with team members back and forth via emails is not only tedious but also lacks efficiency and puts a strain on productivity.

Fortunately, there are many project management tools to help small businesses meet their project planning needs. These project management tools make it easy to manage your tasks by providing a cetralised place to maintain your to do lists, allocate and share tasks with your team, and track your performance.

Here is a list of seven free web based project management applications that you can use to grow your business by improving your efficiency and increasing productivity :

1. Wunderlist

No matter what needs to be done, from shopping lists to projects and to-dos, Wunderlist can manage it all. Wunderlist makes it downright simple to organise your daily life. Just create a list and start filling it with things that need to be completed. It lets keep track of your more important tasks with reminders and notifications.

2. Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk makes managing tasks a fun and enjoyable experience. It was started so that you no longer have to write your to-do lists on sticky notes, whiteboards, random scraps of paper, or the back of your hand.

3. Asana

Asana offers shared task list facility for your team. It is a place to plan, organise & stay in sync. Asana  is FREE for teams up to 30 members. You can get notified of changes to the tasks and projects that matter to you. You can also add a coworker to a task and they will be able to access all relevant background information on the project.

4. Google Tasks

Google Tasks is another one of the many great free tools by Google. It lets you Keep track of what you need to do. It is a particularly convenient way to manage your tasks and projects if you already use Google apps or Gmail for your business.  Just click and type to add new tasks, set due dates or add notes, and check them off as they are completed. It’s a simple list that’s with you everywhere you go.

5. Team Box

Team Box is a tool that offers Project management from start to finish. It centralizes all your information so your team can make progress together without having to rely on emails.

Main features include:

Conversations for daily group discussions
Tasks for mid term planning
Pages to share your notes and documentation
Files for simple storage and sharing
Time Tracking to keep track of workloads

6. Wunderkit

With Wunderkit you can work on all of your projects from a single place, and gain greater control and focus over what you need to do. It offers a social way to work with others. You can watch your ideas get bigger and better by inviting your friends, family and colleagues to access your projects and collaborate.

7. Trello

Trello is a free project management tool for individuals or teams that can be used for pretty much any purpose.

It is a collaboration tool that organises your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you  what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process.

Bonus:

Although this list features free project management apps, I have decided to include one paid app below as a bonus due to its widespread popularity.

8. Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management app that lets you keep track of project discussions, files, and events from beginning to end—all in one place. It is an enterprise level tool packed with many features. It can save you valuable time and resources that you can use to market your business or manage other important aspects of your business.  However, unlike other tools on this list, it is not free and pricing starts at $20/month. A 30-day free trial is available.

What About You?

How do you manage tasks and projects for your business? Do you use any of the project or task management tools listed above? Perhaps you would like to suggest another tool for inclusion on this list. Please share your response by leaving a comment below.