Whether you are a solo entrepreneur or manage a team, choosing the right project management platform is the most important step to being productive and reaching your goals. You have many choices in cloud-based platforms that are easy to use and low-cost. ClickUp Project Management is one of the most popular platforms today. This ClickUp review will explore what it can do and how it compares to other popular project management platforms.
Basics of ClickUp
ClickUp project management software is a popular choice because it is scalable and does more than a simple task manager. You can use it to run your solo business, teams, or an entire company. Once you understand how to use ClickUp, you will see how it can streamline your business and help you reach your goals by giving you an overview and keeping you on track.
ClickUp can help you with:
- Process management
- Task management
- Time management
- Collaboration and reporting
Project management vs. task management
One of the concepts that you must understand is that there is a difference between project management and task management. Of course, every project can be broken down into a series of tasks, but this is where the differences start. Task management refers to a long list of tasks that need to be done.
- You can assign priorities to tasks, but if you do not have them associated with a certain goal or outcome, it is possible to be busy all the time and feel like you are not getting anywhere on your bigger goals.
Project management takes it a step further. Each task is assigned to a project, which allows you to distill which tasks are the most important, in what order they should be done, and by whom.
- Many cloud-based management software is nothing more than a to-do list on a Kanban board. An example of this is Asana. When you compare Asana vs. ClickUp, Asana is extremely easy to use and is scalable, but it is not as robust for project management as ClickUp.
ClickUp allows you to view tasks in many different ways. For instance, you can view the phases of the project and whether they are in process, completed, or yet to be done. You can also view them according to who has been assigned the task, which allows you to make sure that the work is distributed evenly, instead of clustered on only a few workers. It also helps you keep accurate time tracking for invoicing and can help you automate everyday content marketing tasks.
ClickUp project management pros and cons
Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of ClickUp.
Pros
- Allows different views that include calendar view, timelines, tasks by priority, and Gantt charts.
- Teams collaborate easily by adding comments and getting notifications.
- Able to manage remote teams with the ability to work on projects, complete tasks, and deliver projects remotely.
- Focuses on giving an overview of the entire project.
- Highly customizable tags and task categories.
Cons
- Steep learning curve due to so many features.
- Highly flexible, but you might not need all the tools offered.
- UI has empty spaces and the font can be difficult to read.
ClickUp might be too much if all you need is a simple way to check off completed tasks. If you have larger teams or multiple projects to manage, ClickUp has enough tools to make it easy. They offer a basic package, but you can find add-ons to make it do almost anything that you want to do. This means that you can choose the ones that you want most and do not have to pay for features that you do not think you will need. It also integrates with almost any third-party app that you can imagine.
ClickUp pricing
ClickUp offers four affordable pricing options. It offers a free version that is limited to 5 spaces and up to 100MB. This option might be perfect for solopreneurs and small teams. It also offers an Unlimited Plan for $5 per month and a business plan for $9 per month. Both these options offer unlimited spaces and unlimited space. The business plan offers a few more security features. ClickUp also offers an enterprise version that supports contracts, legal reviews, and has advanced security.
Getting started with ClickUp
Once you have chosen a plan and set up an account, getting started with ClickUp is easy. The goal of ClickUp is to become the one piece of project management software to replace the rest. It plans to allow you to do everything Zoom to Google Drive, GitHub, and many other work stack management programs can do. It is robust and more customizable than many other solutions you will find
ClickUp Projects
What is a project in ClickUp? The first thing you need to understand is that ClickUp is set up as a hierarchy. At the bottom are tasks, which are the individual work items that need to be done. These might be items like make a phone call, write an article, or create an accounting sheet. Next is the list which allows you to group tasks. You can compare this to a file folder of tasks. Lists might be something like the groups of tasks needed to launch the website, coordinate your self-publishing, or set up accounting.
ClickUp Folders
The next level up on the hierarchy is folders. These can be project phases, or they can represent different teams. They can represent different projects. At the top level are spaces, which can represent teams, divisions, departments, or other aspects of the business. To get the most out of ClickUp, you should first decide how you will structure your projects or business inside of this hierarchy.
Best Practices & Strategy
ClickUp best practices would have you plan your overall strategy and organization before you jump in and start assigning tasks. You should also decide how you will use the categories and color coding before you begin. You probably already have a list of tasks, and you should learn how to create tasks and lists as your first step. The user interface might look complicated, but it is well organized and easy to understand once you understand how ClickUp is organized.
The Dashboard
The first place to start is your Home Screen. This is the dashboard that you can use to access all other sections of ClickUp. On the Home screen, you will see icons for Notifications, Pulse, Goals, Favorites, Spaces, Dashboards, and Docs. This allows you to see a quick overview of all of the projects, and you can come back to this dashboard from any page with only one click.
Moving Ahead
Now, you are ready to start creating lists and adding tasks to them. You can create subtasks, descriptions, and place comments on tasks. Onboarding is quick and easy. It is suggested that you design the system first and get used to all of ClickUp’s features before you roll it out and start managing real projects. This will help to make sure that there are fewer glitches than you would have if you try to set it up and begin working at the same time.
Once you understand how ClickUp is set up and get used to the interface, you will find that it is a powerful and affordable project management tool. ClickUp Project Management is perfect for those who need a robust tool for managing anything from enterprise-level to a one-person business. The best part is that it allows you to see how you are progressing on bigger goals and how you need to adjust. This is a piece of software that every entrepreneur needs to consider to make their business grow this year.
