Project Collaboration Tools (software 2/3)

I will deliberately not make a ranking because this depends on how the priorities are set in the respective project. While the presence of a certain function in a project may be of great importance, this may play a subordinate role for another project under certain circumstances. I am therefore arranging the programs in alphabetical order. For the same reason, I do not list pros and cons because the way one looks at them can be very individual.

If a certain software is missing here, this should not be interpreted negatively in any way, but I am simply not that advanced. You could, however, help me by sending me an email and introducing your program. I will get in touch.

	Calendar	Milestones	Dashboards	Notifications	Time tracking	Open API*	JIRA Integration**	Google Drive Integration	Dropbox Integration	Discussion	Where to get it
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	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓				✓	Link
		✓	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	Link
	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	Link
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*	APIs are sets of requirements that govern how one application can communicate and interact with another.
**	JIRA is used for bug tracking, issue tracking, and project management.

The compilation of possible requirements and their characteristics is the first step in making a pre-selection of products. You quickly discover that, on the one hand, a large range of functions also means high costs and, on the other hand, even with very similar performance features, two products can have very different prices. To be able to make a qualified purchase decision, one must therefore carry out careful cost-benefit analysis. Since the selection of the right software is a very subjective criterion, I am holding back with an evaluation. Functions that may be important to me maybe totally superfluous for you. However, one thing is important to note.

In addition to all the functionality, user-friendliness is one of the most important points for me. If the software is too complicated and the users get the feeling that the new software is rather complicating and slowing down the work steps, then there will be no buy-in on the part of the users and the software can very quickly degenerate into a bad investment.

You have to find out for yourself, your team, and your project which functions are necessary, important, or rather unimportant. If the right product is carefully selected, the use of collaboration tools can offer great advantages for the project and can improve:

• Transparency, and project status and progress overview,
• Optimization of resource utilization,
• Cost control,
• Improved collaboration and communication,
• Improved work efficiency resulting in faster project implementation.

You should also consider the possibility of interfacing the software with existing programs. If you have working tools that adequately serve a certain area, why buy additional software with exactly this function? It is better to first use the existing programs to their full extent and then to see how both can be combined. However, caution is advised here too. If an IT specialist needs to interface the two and keep them running, this can quickly turn out to be expensive. Thoroughly consider and analyze the costs and expected benefits.