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I think the first question you should ask, before thinking about tools is: *What do I mean about project management?* - Are we talking about assessing the risk and cost of a project? If so you'll need some budgeting tools and a way to determine the risk for the project. - Are we talking about creating a time line and tracking hours worked on the project? If so you'll need to create a way to determine tasks, estimate project hours, and track the time on a project. - Are we talking about determining deliverables and creating requirements? If so you'll want to create a project charter that lists out deliverables and write a requirements document. I could go on and on, but I won't because it'll be boring. I'm actually working on notes for an article/blog post/presentation (I haven't decided yet) that discusses all of the different things you can/should/might do to manage a project, I'm willing to share the incomplete version if anyone is interested. I agree wholeheartedly with Gabe, you'll want to keep these things light. Each will likely need to be customized to meet the needs of the projects you're working on. I'm a HUGE fan of Google Docs and I've created a bunch of templates for most of the items I've listed above as well as for Agendas<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qQuQRYvJHRj5PK1576allEJdLhyYoBWikt0B7EqOGpk/edit>, Notes<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZ0U1MGHyBR8wmTUfnYiXETIQ2SuPezouW0mdtDjAP8/edit>, and bunch of other tools I have in my back pocket. What's nice about keeping these templates handy is that I can create one at a moments notice, so even if I'm in an impromptu meeting, I can take notes (as long as I have my laptop). Of if I'm in a kickoff meeting I can start working on a project one pager with the team in the middle of the meeting. So all of that stuff is great, but now I'm going to get on my soap box (obligatory disclaimer: I'm a project manager). When I talk about project management, I'm usually referring to ushering the project through to completion. Making sure that all the balls that are being juggled continue to stay up in the air. I think a lot of projects fail because they either worry too much about the tools and not enough about the juggling or they worry too much about the juggling and not about the tools. You need to strike a balance between the two. The number one tool that I would recommend for project management is a Project Manager. They can handle all the note taking, meeting scheduling, writing, pushing back, quality assurance, ticket writing, and anything else that stresses out the project team. This frees the team up to do the actual work that needs to happen on a project. And if you hire a good project manager, they won't get in the way and just be a paper pusher, they'll actually support the team, allow them to flourish, try new things, and think outside the box. Rosalyn On Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 8:27 AM, Jason Ronallo <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > On Thursday, February 23, 2012, Shaun Ellis wrote: > > > > Simple todo's beat > > > complex task management every time. > > > > https://trello.com/ > > > > We use Trello for some linear workflows, like digitization. I like the > model a lot for being simple and visual. > > Jason >