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4 Tools for Better Organizing Your Business Activities

Martin Castilla            No comments            Apr, 30

Can you manage your team and your business without a specific tool in today’s day and age? Well of course you can.

However, can you manage it successfully without a set of management tools? The answer to that question is a little bit complicated.

If you’ve ever tried managing a team by email, you probably know that it’s nearly impossible to get things done without working extra hours.

Team members often get left in the dark, emails get buried in over-stuffed inboxes and as a result, project deadlines often get crossed. So it’s no wonder why only 33% of all projects get done on time and on budget (according to Standish Group).

Why So Many Projects Aren’t Done on Time?

To answer this question, we’re going to take a look at a recent Refresh Leadership poll, which examined what factors have the biggest effect on organization in the office.

According to the poll, around 73% of workers agree that disorganization is the biggest issue they have to deal with in their workplace. A quarter of respondents said that their teams actually became less organized since the recession ended.

Does all of this sound familiar? Is your organization facing similar problems? Since you’re reading this, it’s safe to say the answer is yes. And you’re definitely not alone on this.

A recent survey conducted by EEP revealed that more than 50% of business leaders lose up to 9 hours every week due to workplace clutter. So you realize why it’s so important for leaders all across the board to what’s causing these issues, ensure productivity is maintained and  make sure everyone stay organized an focused.

Issues That Impact Your Organization Most (And How to Solve Them)

In addition to organization, transparency and effective team communication are the keys to success. When every member of your team knows his objectives and how everyone’s work contributes to competition of the project, things get done (and delivered) on time.

Most people agree with this. As a matter of fact, according to a Clear Company survey, whopping 97% of executives and employees believe that a lack of alignment within a tem impacts the outcome of a project or even a task.

Naturally, you’ll need some tools to help you stay organized and help your team be more productive. But the problem is, there too many tools to learn to use effectively.

So in an effort to save you some time and the trouble of trying out every organization tool out there, we’ve made a short list of essential tools that every team leader should have in his metaphorical toolbox.

1.      Track How Much Time You Spend on Tasks with Toggl

So how much time you spend on your daily tasks? I’m sure you often wonder about this, so that’s why you need Toggl. This software can be setup to track any task, no matter how large or small it is. You just need to input the name of the project and hit start – there’s no more to it.

It also saves all of your time tracking session in your account, so you can have a chance to review them later. This will naturally allow you to look at certain habits, understand how you’re spending your time and ultimately improve your efficiency.

Toggle has a free version, but the paid plans start at $5/employee/month.

2.      Arrange and Structure Your Notes with Diigo

Writing down notes  in a Word file is one thing, but if you want save certain online resources, you’ll need a special tool to save you some time. If you need to arrange your ideas by highlighting certain passages on websites, add sticky notes to them and share with your team members, you need to give Diigo a try.

For instance, let’s say you see a website design you particularly like – with Diigo, you’ll be able to capture the page, mark it up, leave a few comments and share your thoughts with the rest of your team. And with the Outliner feature, you can also organize your references and links for easy access.

Diigo has a free plan, but paid packages start at $7/year for additional features.

3.      Separate the Relevant Data form the Irrelevant with OmniFocus

If you’re anything like the vast majority of business leaders today, your professional and personal lives often intersect. This of course, only complicates how well you can stay organized with your workflow at the office and at home. But that’s where OmniFocus comes into play.

This app can help you keep it all together and create a highly detailed task system that will keep you from getting distracted by data overload you face on a daily basis. It provides a context to all the information that you receive and separates the relevant from the currently irrelevant.

The software has a free trail but the paid plans for OmniFocus start at $39.99/year.

4.      Organize Your Teams and Projects with ActiveCollab

If you’re looking for an alternative to Basecamp – we have an app for you. ActiveCollab is a quite simple yet a very powerful project management tool that will allow you to manage your employees, projects and even track expenses and payments.

It’s a web-based tool, so the desktop version doesn’t require any downloads, and the interface is simple that every member of your team will be able to start using it instantly. All in all, it will provide a number of ways to track your team’s performance and projects and allow you to keep certain workers focused on a particular project.

The paid plans start at $25/month for five employees.

Final Thoughts

With the integration of all of these business tools, you’ll not only enable your team to be more efficient and save some valuable time, but you’ll also feel more inspired finish project quicker than ever before and ultimately, help your organization flourish.

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