If the last four years have taught us anything, it’s that work, ways of working, systems for managing projects have to evolve constantly. That means that the best project management software in 2024 looks totally different from a mere four or five years ago.
Let’s dig into the biggest changes in our ways of working and the must-haves for the most modern and functionality project management tools.
Must-Have Functionality for Project Management Software
Chat & Video Conferencing Feature
First and foremost, you and your team need ways to communicate and share information. That means that you need a chat functionality AND a video chat feature. Both of these are incredibly important in a world where teams work in-office, hybrid and remote. In years past, you might’ve been able to get away with using chat or jumping into a Zoom meeting here and there, but now it’s imperative.
Note-Taking Feature
If you’re in a meeting, whether it’s remote or in-person, you’re likely generating work that needs to be done, or next steps that need to be taken. It’s also critical for note-taking capability to exist in any project management software in 2024 because of the various inputs and methods by which we receive tasks and next steps.
Just think about how much you use the Notes app on your iPhone. The best project management apps will have a Note taking functionality to power your projects and individual tasks.
AI Project Planning
The buzzwords of 2024 so far… “AI projects.” Everyone is trying to figure out the best/easiest/most effective way to fit AI functionality into the best project management apps. It’s not easy, but it’s possible if done right and intentionally.
You don’t want AI to be lurking around every corner at every moment while you work, but you want the assist and help when necessary. Hive has a great AI project builder and content writing tool that are available when you need them, but users aren’t forced into using them.
Multiple Project Views
Because team’s are working from different places, in different time zones, and with many different tasks and projects, everyone needs to have different project views. The best project management tools make it easy to toggle between Gantt, Calendar, or Table view and filter your data, save it, share it, and more.
As teams get larger, or responsibilities grow, you also want the flexibility to step into more complicated, longer-term project views, like a multi-year Gantt View. Having the option to access all of these views is critical for ensuring long term adoption of a project management software.
Integrations
The best project management software will absolutely have integrations and connectivity to your most used apps – think Zoom, Gmail, Office 365, Box, and more. Why is this so important? Because in 2024, the best project management tools should be the central location for your work and inputs. A tool like Hive will serve as the collection point for all incoming project news, updates, calendars, and more.
The best part about working in 2024 is that there are many ways to set up integrations, AI, and automations, which we’ll detail next.
Automations
Why do the busy work when the best project management apps can do it for you?? In 2024, we need to be working on big picture content and projects, not worried about the small stuff. Tools like Zapier are great, but bringing your automations into a great project management software make life much easier. As I mentioned above, a project management software should be a central collector for your emails, calendar information, projects, assignments, and more.
Automations can help all of these things connect to each other and flow coherently throughout all of your systems of record.
So What Are The Best Project Management Softwares?
Now that we’ve covered the must-haves for the best project management software in 2024, let’s dig into our top 5 recommendations for teams of all sizes.
1. Hive
Hive is actually the project management software that pioneered multiple project views in 2018, so they’re definitely on the cutting-edge of PM innovation. As Hive has grown, they’ve added additional views like Portfolio and List view, which are critical for managing larger projects over time.
Notes are another popular application inside of Hive that can be accessed from Hive Apps, and connects directly to a Zoom integration (bonus). This integration allows you to sync Hive Notes to your Zoom meetings, which can actually started from Hive Chat with a hotkey command – Hive really is the best project management software for teams really looking to consolidate and optimize their workflows.
Additionally, Hive’s AI capabilities can help you build out your perfect project or task in seconds, as well as write content for you and your team (perfect for all you marketing managers or content creators). Automations and integrations are other core parts of Hive’s DNA, making it one of the best project management softwares to try in 2024.
How to Get Started with Hive
Get started with Hive today and check out our 14 day free trial. Need a free project management software? Hive Free is there for you.
P.S. if you email marketing@hive.com and mention this article, we’ll give you an extra two weeks on your trial. Here are some customers that use and love Hive.
2. Asana
Asana has been one of the best project management softwares at the front of innovation for years. Specifically, they’ve recently innovated around goal-setting and AI, which are critical parts of the PM story in 2024 and looking forward.
Asana AI Functionality
The idea of their tool is to bring various departments together across an organization, whether you’re remote, hybrid, in person, or somewhere in between. Asana has also launched Asana AI, which helps predict work trends and more effectively manage your team’s workload.
3. Notion
Traditionally a simpler and more text-heavy tool, Notion has stepped up their game in a big way this year, cementing themselves as one of the best project management softwares in 2024. Built on Docs, Wikis, and Projects, Notion is a one-stop-shop for teams looking to integrate and optimize their workflows.
Notion AI Functionality
Notion AI, one of their newest innovations, has a Q&A, autofill, and brainstorm function that can help users create project plans or write content. Their integrations have also become a great asset for users of the tool, and include Slack, Github, and Datadog.
4. Miro
Think of Miro as your modern whiteboard. A designer’s best project management software and your creative team’s best friend. For the more creative PM, Miro is a great tool because it really allows for full “storyboarding” of actions and projects, which creates a clear relationship between your tasks, goals, teammates, and milestones.
Miro Integrations
Integrations with dozens of other tools like Jira, Zoom, WebEx, Teams and more help to power forward progress and connection between teammates and external users and approvers. They also have a great async collaboration system where team members can collaborate easily from different time zones and in their own workflows.
5. Quire
A simple but powerful tool that made our list of best project management software because of its ease of use. It’s a lighter option, but a great one for teams looking to both innovate and simplify. Nested lists, subtasks, and timeline breakdowns power Quire and help teammates stay on task and connected throughout a project’s duration.
Quire Integrations
Quire offers a great email integration that allows you to port the necessary action items cleanly into Quire, as well as a “Peekaboo” feature that hides the non-urgent tasks. Additional connectivity with Zoom, Dropbox, Office, and more help make this tool on of our best project management softwares.
In Conclusion
Project management software is only becoming more and more advanced, but that means that you need to stay on top of the trends and features that work best for your team. Some of the functionality that might be a prominent focus in one tool, might be the thing that you need the least for your team.
But overall, the advances being made across integrations, automation, AI, and customization in product management tools are absolutely moving industries forward and changing how we work.
