Managing projects and collaborating effectively within a team can be challenging, especially as organizations grow and tasks become more complex. To address these challenges, project management tools like monday.com have gained popularity. In this review, we’ll explore monday.com, an all-in-one work OS that offers a range of features designed to streamline workflows, enhance communication, and boost productivity.
We’ll cover its features, pricing structure, pros and cons, use cases, and more. By the end, you’ll have a thorough understanding of monday.com to help you determine if it’s the right choice for your freelancing needs.
What is monday.com?
Monday.com is a cloud-based project management tool that serves as a centralized hub for team collaboration, project tracking, and task management. With its intuitive interface and customizable workflows, monday.com allows teams to streamline their processes, improve communication, and stay organized.
The platform offers a visual approach to project management, allowing users to create boards, timelines, and Gantt charts to track progress and deadlines. It also supports integrations with popular tools like Slack, Jira, and Google Drive, making it easy to sync and collaborate across different platforms.
Primary Features of monday.com:
- Customizable Boards: Monday.com provides a flexible workspace where teams can create and customize boards to match their specific workflows. Boards are visual representations of projects or tasks, consisting of columns and rows that can be customized with various data types, including text, numbers, dates, and more. Users can add, update, and prioritize tasks, assign responsibilities, and track progress in real-time.
- Automation: One of the standout features of monday.com is its automation capabilities. Users can create custom automations to streamline repetitive tasks, saving time and reducing manual effort. For example, you can automate task assignments based on specific triggers, send automated notifications and reminders, and create workflows that trigger actions across different boards and teams.
- Collaboration and Communication: monday.com prioritizes collaboration, providing features that facilitate effective communication within teams. Users can mention team members, leave comments, and attach files directly within tasks. The platform also offers a built-in chat feature, allowing real-time communication and reducing the need for external messaging tools. By keeping all communication centralized, monday.com ensures that important information is easily accessible to team members.
- Timeline and Gantt Views: monday.com offers a visual timeline and Gantt chart views, enabling users to plan projects and visualize dependencies. These features help teams track project milestones, allocate resources efficiently, and identify potential bottlenecks. With a clear overview of project timelines, teams can make informed decisions, adjust deadlines, and keep stakeholders informed.
- Integrations and App Marketplace: monday.com integrates with various popular tools, allowing seamless collaboration across different platforms. Integrations include communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, project management tools like Jira and Trello, cloud storage platforms like Google Drive and Dropbox, and many more. Additionally, the monday.com App Marketplace offers a wide range of apps and integrations developed by third-party providers, enabling further customization and extending functionality.
What I Loved Using monday.com
Visual Project Views
Monday.com offers a versatile range of project visualization options, such as Kanban boards, Gantt charts, timelines, and calendars. You can effortlessly switch between these views to get a big-picture overview or a detailed look at daily tasks. Custom views allow you to gather all the essential project data in one place, making project management flexible and tailored to your preferences.
Built-in Time Tracking
Unlike most project management tools that charge extra for time tracking, Monday.com includes it at no additional cost with their Pro plan or above. This feature provides valuable insights into task duration and project timelines. You can easily turn the time tracker on or off or manually log time, and it’s accessible via the mobile app, ensuring flexibility and convenience.
Abundant Integrations
Monday.com seamlessly integrates with various business tools and apps you may already use, enhancing your project management efficiency. These integrations enable workflow automations, reducing repetitive administrative tasks and automating notifications. It syncs effortlessly with popular tools like Slack, Zoom, Shopify, Google Calendar, and many more.
Customizable Templates
Creating project management processes from scratch can be time-consuming, but Monday.com offers a wealth of customizable templates for various purposes. Whether you’re handling a single project or multiple ones, Monday.com provides templates for project portfolio tracking, campaign planning, customer onboarding, and more, saving you time and effort.
Custom Automations
Monday.com takes automation a step further by making it customizable and user-friendly. You can set up automated sequences with a few clicks, like moving tasks from one phase to another, assigning team members, and sending notifications via email or Slack. These automations save time and ensure adherence to processes.
User-Friendly
Project management software should simplify your work, not complicate it. Monday.com ensures a smooth learning curve, with your team up and running in less than an hour without the need for extensive training. A comprehensive knowledge base and video tutorials provide further support, and the 24/7 live chat support is there to assist with any issues.
Flexible Dashboards
Monday.com offers highly customizable dashboards that allow you to see essential project data at a glance. Whether you need a budget overview or project status updates, there are 15 pre-built widgets to choose from. You can create private or public dashboards based on your sharing preferences.
Effective CRM
While primarily a project management tool, Monday.com also excels in customer relationship management (CRM). It simplifies managing customer-related data, making it especially useful for small businesses. It adapts as your business grows, providing a strong CRM solution for sales teams.
Robust Communication Tools
Monday.com’s guest view feature facilitates seamless sharing of vital information with both internal and external collaborators in real-time. This promotes teamwork, organization, and efficiency, ensuring everyone stays on the same page.
Industry-Specific Sign-Up
Monday.com allows users to customize their experience based on their industry from the moment they sign up. This tailored approach streamlines task management and communication, making it a valuable tool for teams of all sizes.
Student Program:
Monday.com offers a Student Program that provides college students and educators with a free account featuring selected Pro features. This program eases task management, team collaboration, and workflow organization for students and educators, helping them excel in their respective fields. As an educator giving students and opportunity to test your software increases adoption and likeliness to use later on. Kudos.
What I Didn’t Love About monday.com
Task Dependencies
Monday.com lets you set up task dependencies, which is cool. But here’s the catch: you can only set them up using dates. So, it’s not as flexible as what some other tools offer. Plus, if you’re a small business or watching your budget, this feature is available only on the pricier plans.
Feature Access
On the topic of features, Monday.com kind of keeps the good stuff on the top shelves. Things like Gantt charts, calendar views, time tracking, and integrations? Not available on the basic plan. A lot of other platforms include some of these as standard. Of course, you can upgrade with Monday.com, but you’ll have to decide if it’s worth it for your budget.
Support Speed
They’ve got 24/7 live chat, which sounds great, right? But some folks mention that the response time can be, well… slow. Like, wait-for-an-hour slow. In our fast-paced world, that can feel like an eternity. If you’re in a rush, maybe check out their knowledge base instead.
Pricing Details
Here’s where it gets a bit tricky. Understanding Monday.com’s pricing isn’t a walk in the park. If you’re new to their platform, pinpointing the right plan and features can be a puzzle. You might even end up on a more expensive plan just for that one feature you need, and then realize you’re paying for stuff you’re not using. So, keep tabs on what you really need, and don’t be shy to scale back if you have to.
monday.com Pricing
Monday.com offers different pricing plans to cater to various team sizes and needs. The plans include:
- Free: Up to 2 seats
- Basic: The Basic plan starts at $8 per seat per month, billed annually. It includes essential features for small teams and basic project management needs.
- Standard: The Standard plan starts at $10 per seat per month, billed annually. It includes advanced features, such as timeline and Gantt views, and offers more customization options.
- Pro: The Pro plan starts at $16 per seat per month, billed annually. It includes additional features like time tracking, private boards, and additional integrations.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan offers custom pricing and advanced security and support features tailored to larger organizations. It provides enhanced control, security, and collaboration options.
Is monday.com right for you?
In my conversations with different people who use monday.com the experience is overall positive for them all and we have found that it works best for the following uses:
- Project Management: Monday.com is an ideal tool for managing projects of any size. Its visual boards and customizable workflows allow teams to plan, track, and collaborate effectively, ensuring projects stay on schedule and within budget.
- Task Management: Whether you’re managing personal to-do lists or team tasks, monday.com provides a robust task management solution. Assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress in real-time, improving accountability and productivity.
- Team Collaboration: With its built-in communication features, monday.com promotes collaboration within teams. Members can easily share updates, provide feedback, and access project-related files, fostering a cohesive work environment.
- Event Planning: Coordinating events involves managing numerous tasks and deadlines. Monday.com’s visual timeline view and collaboration features make it an excellent choice for event planners, helping them stay organized and ensuring every aspect of an event is managed efficiently.
- Agile Development: Agile teams can benefit from monday.com’s flexible boards and customizable workflows. It allows teams to track and prioritize user stories, manage sprints, and monitor progress, enabling efficient software development cycles.
Is Monday.com Worth It
Monday.com is a feature-rich project management tool that offers a range of benefits for teams and organizations. Its customizable boards, automation capabilities, collaboration features, and visual project planning make it a versatile work OS suitable for various use cases. While pricing may be a concern for larger teams or organizations, the platform’s extensive integrations and app marketplace provide additional flexibility and customization options. With its intuitive interface and robust functionality, monday.com empowers teams to streamline workflows, improve communication, and boost productivity. The test run I gave monday.com was great, pricing can be a hard pill to swallow but it could save you money in the long run.
My Rating:
And that minus star is primarily due to price.
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