Top 10 Agile Project Management Tools to Master in 2024 [Updated]

What is Agile Project Management?

Agile Project Management is a functional, iterative approach to project management that originally emanated in the 1990s. The methodology is primarily used in software development and is used to build large projects incrementally. 

It is attributed to breaking down projects into smaller achievable tasks known as sprints, initiating ways for continuous testing, and reassessments of projects. Then it is further given out for delivery in sections which is the opposite to what is done in a traditional methodology where a project is delivered together as a whole at the end of the process.

This methodology is used with the purpose to complete work faster for quick delivery and to optimize the workflow so it is efficiently done with complete perfections.

Its ever-changing nature of the business makes the workflow easier and quicker. Its responsiveness to changes with every feedback taken from customers only guarantees a high-quality product to customers before it is sent out for delivery.

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Importance of Choosing the Right Agile Project Management Tools

According to the important values of the Agile manifesto that it states, is the “constant interactions between business people and developers and convey information to and within a development team.” So, with this context, Project Management tools are essential to keep a streamlined or a defined flow in the Project Management process and have continuous communication over processes in the team. 

How are Agile Tools Serviceable?

As Agile projects are very dynamic and fast-moving, so, coordinating with each other can be a challenge especially with distributed teams. So, the tools help the team or an individual to carry out the steps of project management effectively and efficiently. And it helps everyone to be informed at every point in the developmental phase of the project.

With time and when new tools are developed, both old and new tools could be incorporated into the system. So, adding more tools in the process is only making the work process more sustainable and following the Agile style helps to deliver the best work and with great efficiency. Therefore, effective tools are required. 

Criteria of the Features and Functionality Every tool Should Fulfill

1. Simple to use: the tools you need should be suitable for your project. So an organization will need to find a tool that has a good interface, user-friendly, and most importantly a tool that can increase work productivity. 

2. Customizable: the tools must be easy to configure according to the need of the organization. Every business changes its patterns with the change in events. So before adopting a new project management approach, adapting to the new structure is required before starting with the practice. So, having a tool that can easily be customized is all that a company requires, and that would essentially, be an added benefit for the quick functioning of the processes. 

3. API integration: Tools with API integration enabled allows for smooth connectivity amongst the team. And with that integration in every tool would make the sharing of data and applications between devices much easy and convenient. 

4. Collaboration: Project Management tools must be allowed for collaboration so the whole team can work and support each other to accomplish their goals and objectives. Collaboration makes the tasks easier to complete and increases the productivity of the project.

5. Risk Analysis: Risk analysis tools helps to identify, analyze, and respond to the risk quickly and efficiently. It needs to capture all the details of the risks, their impact, the probability of occurrence of the risk, and risk responses and tracking them throughout the project life-cycle. 

6. Real-time reporting: Real-time reporting enables the access of data at different locations of the project management. One can access data at any time about the project’s current status. This will help in having a real-time update about the project status to the stakeholders of the project. 

Why Should one Complete a Project Management Professional Certification?

Project Management Professional Certification is mandated to obtain to be certified to handle a team and direct the team towards a project goal. Project Management Professional certification is offered by a Project Management Institute.

The Benefit of Being PMP Certified

PMP certification gives you an added advantage over others who are not yet certified. It can boost your career growth and make you eligible to apply for the best roles in the top organizations around the globe.

However, one needs to stay abreast with all the new technologies that have been developed and be in-network with other certified colleagues of the same field.

How Does a PMP Certification Program Help?

The PMP certification program will help participants to acquire the competencies that are required for a leader to lead and manage vast and complex projects effortlessly. You will be trained in everything about the latest trends and practices necessary for Project Management professionals to succeed.

With the certification in hand, it will open more opportunities to achieve higher positions in diverse sectors such as Manufacturing, IT, Finance, Healthcare, etc.

Who all can Apply for PMP Certifications?

If you have always wanted to manage projects, and are comfortable to lead a team – then, you have the attributes to be a leader. However, it comes with many challenges and if you are open to that, then you are a desired candidate for PMP Certification.

The role of a team leader is to make sure that everyone is working in harmony with the team and are able to give their best in their responsibilities.

To be PMP Certified, Candidates Must Fulfill These Educational and Professional Experience to Enroll in the PMP Certification Program:

• 36+ months of Professional Project experience
• Have work experience of leading or directing projects for 4500 hour
• 35+ hours of Project Management education

Now we know what is Agile Project Management and the importance of implementing the right Agile Project Management tools. It’s critical to be adept with newer tools to help in the advancement and progression of the process.

Top 10 Agile Project Management to Master in 2021

1. nTask: The list starts with this nTask tool which tops the list and is the most versatile tool that exists. It comes with no price and is a complete all-rounder and does all the work for Agile project management. Its built-in features are exactly just like in Gantt charts, milestones tracking, budgeting, scheduling, and task management and manages every aspect of Agile projects smoothly.

It works on Kanban methodology and is a perfect blend of good features at lesser-priced that no tools can be compared to or offer the same deal as the other tools that are used for Agile Project management software. 

Main Features:

• Affordable price
• Super features like Gantt chart, Kanban boards
• Easy to operate and to navigate
• Better integration with Zapier, Zoom, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and many more.
• Project planning, scheduling, tracking, and management
• Task management
• Issue tracking
• Time tracking and timesheets
• Meeting management for scrum and sprints

Price: 

• Free Basic plan 
• The Premium Plan starts at $2.99 per user/month
• The Business Plan starts at $7.99 per user/month
• Custom enterprise plan

2. Monday.com: Monday.com tool continues to stand as the best tool that is used in project management as it is accompanied by many flexible features allowing you to manage all aspects of businesses using the templates and the forms that can be automated and customized to fit your needs.

The dashboards allow you to see your company’s overview or per department overview of all the projects that you have completed, keeping track of the progress you and your team are making in any activity streams or any such vital information that you can see and work in real-time. 

In addition to that, this tool can be integrated and collaborated and can link to have your data like Emails in one place. It has a Google Calendar integration as well as a whole host of integrations for time trackers.  

Main Features:

• Better security
• Packed with features like Gantt Charts, Timeline
• Can create user stories and plan sprints
• Excellent collaborative features
• Easy to visualize tasks, brainstorming, and planning are always on the go with any number of projects on Monday.
• Colorful interface with sleek design aesthetics.
• Non-intrusive notifications to help you maintain your focus on work.
• Integration with mobile, other project management tools, and 3rd party apps is a nice add-on experience.
• UI is simple and clear

Price:

• Free (trial)
• Basic Plan: an annual subscription of $79/month/10 users. 
• Standard Plan: an annual subscription of $99/month/10 users. 
• Pro Feature: annual subscription of $159/month/10 users  

3. Asana:  To naturally adapt to changing market conditions and improve the agility and workflow, Asana is another project management software tool that is popularly used that comes with more built-in features of Scrum implementation such as sprint planning, daily scrum, or standup, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.

It works better and is mobile-friendly. It is well structured with high-quality task management software to help to improve the workflow of the teams and make the tracking of tasks much easier across the project team.

You can view all project data you need in one place from the dashboard. You can easily track backlog items through Kanban boards to get quick notifications on priorities and on tasks that are completed or at risk, and to keep an eye on the team’s workloads and project schedules.

Asana remembers your report structure. Once you update your status, every project member gets an inbox notification to continue the discussion from where they left. 

Main Features:

• Kanban boards
• Project timeline
• Built-in project templates
• Backlog management
• Conference management
• Track status
• Support Scrum
• Workflow Management
• Dependencies, and milestones tracking
• Template Management
• Incredible Task Management
• Gantt Charts 
• Easy Progress Tracking

Pricing:

• Basic is free for 0-15 users who are beginners in Project Management
• Premium Plan includes Custom fields and Priority support for $10.99 per user/month, annually
• Business Plan includes Advanced Integrations and Priority support for $24.99 per 100 users/month
• Enterprise – the plan is customized for large organizations

4. Trello: This tool is the most recognized tool known for its flexible features, useful for organizing and prioritizing the tasks all with the help of the boards, lists, and cards. The tool is very interactive, super-fast, and super easy to use. You can see what everyone is up to and who is working on what. 

It’s made up of list that you create on a board, keeping an end number of lists to keep track of everything you need to do or remember. The boards can be shared with co-workers, family, and friends. It helps to organize information and tasks and see what’s getting done. All of this you can sync on a computer, phone, and tablet. You can have all you need in one place and keep the boards organized with your teams.

 Main features: 

• Interactive Kanban cards
• Easy, drag and drop editing
• Progress Meter Checklist
• Smooth Editing
• Easy file uploads from Dropbox or Google Drive and Local Devices
• High Security Standards
• Easy data searching techniques for a quick overview of front and back cards
• Automated email notifications for every update in the team and deadline alerts

Pricing: 

• Basic – free for 10 MB/ attachment and 10 team boards
• Business-class annual subscription: $9.99 per user/month 250 MB/ attachment, unlimited team board
• Enterprise version annual subscription: $20.83 per 100 users/month 250 MB/attachment, unlimited team board

5. Wrike: Wrike is the ultimate solution for mid-sized teams and is majorly used as an Agile project management tool. It has terrific viewing options and can easily view your current project from any angle. It is designed to equip any team with great features that they can leave highlights on images and pictures, or any videos that need to be edited or improved. Dashboards, workflows, request forms can be customized according to your needs. Files, tasks, and reports can instantly be shared with the teams. The features are robust and are easy to collaborate to boost their performance and customer experience.

Main Features:

• Collaborative editing
• Efficient work management
• Flexible Workflow
• Real-time reporting
• Interactive Gantt Charts
• Time Tracking
• 400+ app integration
• Visual proofing
• Asset Publication
• Organizes tasks with Kanban boards
• Project Portfolio Management

Price:

• Free Basic integration plan: 0-5 users
• Professional Plan: $9.80 of annual subscription per user per month for 5, 10, 15 users 
• Business Plan: $24.80 of annual subscription per user per month for 5-200 users 

6. MeisterTask: The next best tool is the MeisterTask tool which is beautifully designed for an agile project management team providing smart automation for an excellent and efficient streamlined workflow.

Having Kanban boards makes the process more productive. There is also a quick email and phone support that makes it easier for new users to seek some assistance at any event or when in need.  

Main Features: 

• Seamless workflow
• Flexible project boards
• Backlog management
• Options to view the progress of your project and reports with Gantt charts or a timeline view
• Request and resource management
• Status tracking abilities
• Team management
• Workflow management
• Kanban boards
• Milestone tracking

 Pricing: 

• Basic for up to 3 projects with unlimited project number and 20 MB attachment size is free
• Pro Plan with unlimited projects & unlimited number of tasks and 200 MB attachment size at $8.25 per user/month      
• Business Plan with unlimited number of projects and tasks and 200 MB attachment size, priority email +phone support + security restrictions at $20.75 per month

7. Teamwork: This software is a cloud-based project management solution that helps in the management of group activities all from one organized place. 

Its task lists, time tracking, file uploads, and messaging features help the teams with their different operations of a project with flexible communications to establish business processes. You can assign tasks to every team member so everybody knows their responsibilities.

The panoramic view you get help to see where all your projects stand and everyone gets notified about all schedules to follow to keep the work moving.

Every work is organized into projects and with each goal you set is a milestone to achieve. And the Time tracking feature helps you to track and bill clients for their projects accurately. 

Main Features:

• High-Quality CRM
• Help desk software
• Risk register
• Easy time tracking
• Collaborate more efficiently
• Save time on project setup
• Optimize team resources

Pricing:

• For 0-5 users with 100 MB file space is free
• Pro version 5-50 users with 100 GB file space costs $9 per user/month
• Premium plan with 250 GB file space for 5-10 users costs $15 per user/month

8. Basecamp: Basecamp is an easy-to-use app all in one place and is accessible on phones, laptops, or desktops. The tools in the app let you set up your to-do list, schedule dates and days to complete tasks of projects, assign tasks to team members.

Let you chat and message with your clients, colleagues, and the team; check-in regularly with your group in real-time. You can create and upload documents and files and share in the group or keep it only for yourself to view. 

Another interesting feature of it is that it allows users to add clients in the group with limited viewing and editing permission, but make them an integral part of the project team. 

Main Features:

• Easy to use
• Various third-party integrations
• Settings for the to-do list
• Comprehensive project calendar
• Ensure security and privacy
• Campfires and pings for the chat platform
• Reports who’s working on what 
• Hill chart to check the progress
• Separate notification inbox

Pricing: 

• Personal 0-20 users with 1 GB storage space is free
• Business plan for unlimited users with 500 GB storage space costs $99 per month

9. Jira: Jira is a Project Management tool and is used as an Incident management tool and a bug tracking tool. As a tool, Jira is widely used by the Agile project management teams for Scrum including customizable Scrum boards, custom filters for backlog management, and other visual project reports, and has a UI feature. 

For it, everything is in the form of an issue and helps track issues in the process. The issues can be a story, a bug, a task, or a subtask.

If there is anything that needs to be constructed, assigned, tracked, documented, processed, or completed Jira is the perfect tool. Jira allows users to do their job with minimal distractions. It helps break up large amounts of work into smaller pieces, and is used for building stories for software teams. 

 Main Features:

• Agile reporting Rich toolkit for developers
• Bug tracking 
• Mobile application 
• UI feature
• Customizable Scrum boards
• Powerful progress reports
• Backlog management
• User stories mapping
• Bug and issues tracker
• Time tracking
• Customizable dashboard
• Sprints management

Price:

• Free forever for 10 users (2GB storage with community support)
• Standard Plan $7 per user/ month (250 GB storage with 9-5 standard support) 
• Premium Plan $14 per user/month (unlimited storage with 24/7 premium support)

10. Microsoft Project: As a project management software tool, Microsoft Project tools are designed to allow users to develop a schedule, assign resources for task distribution, track work progress or workload status, and manage budgets all through the project. All its projects have visual task boards that support Scrum, Kanban, or custom workflows. And you can choose whatever methodology you need for your project: agile, waterfall, or hybrid.

Main Features:

• Simple to use
• Effective monitoring 
• Easy communication
• Enhanced decision making

Pricing: it’s a cloud-based solutions 

• Project Plan 1 an annual subscription of $10.00 per user/month with Managing projects via a web browser features
• Project Plan 3 an annual subscription of $30.00 per user/month with a fully updated project and desktop application 
• Project Plan 5 an annual subscription of $55.00 per user/month can evaluate project ideas from anywhere in the organization

FAQs

Q-1. What is PMI?

Ans. PMI is a professional organization that recognizes certification for project managers. PMI offers training and develops skilled project managers across the world.

Q-2. What can a PMP-certified professional do?

Ans. They lead projects anywhere around the globe with no geographical boundaries. And with the constant network with other certified colleagues of the same field – they have better chances to come across the best project prospects in the country and other countries.

Q-3. What will you learn from the PMP training program?

Ans. You will learn all the effective strategies to develop a process efficiently by way of executing, managing, and concluding projects. 

Every Agile Project Management aims at delivering the best product and strives to improve and advance throughout. With new tools comes the requirement for efficient Project Managers to lead projects.
So there is a great demand for Project Managers with PMP skills. People who are PMP certified have experienced the scope of being a certified professional. Not only do you have better growth opportunities, but also have the opportunity to earn 20% more salary when compared to a project manager who is non-certified.