Best Project management software for architects in 2022
We already explored in another article why it is a game change to use a project management software as an architect. Now we will focus on which one. 😁
Project management software is a mandatory element, that all good Architecture studio 📐 should have. Project management help to keep the project on track and within reasonable budgets. You can track all tasks to be done, see who is doing what at any moment, and finally have a global holistic view on the project.
We will describe a few options on the market, whether you want a project management software designed for Architects specifically or more options available for any kinds of industry.
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Bricks
Bricks is an agile project management designed specifically for Architects and by Architects. Bricks objective is to combine the goodness of Agile in construction : kanban board, sprints management, tasks prioritization. And the more classical, practical project management that any architects should practice to better manage their projects.
In Bricks you can create teams to manage the relations between the architects, engineer, BIM manager and project owner. On each team you can associate a different board, so by comparison with Trello, you can have multiple board for one project, which is quite powerful!
It has multiple visualization of the topics that are connected together. You can visualize tasks on a simple Gantt planning, an Excel like table, a kanban board, or just as a simple list.
Bricks is integrated with the BIM model, thanks to a handy IFC viewer. You can then associate tasks with a specific element of your 3D model, like a wall, as a stair...
Finally it supports BCF to exchange between BIM applications, and it is packaged with AEC specific templates like the RIBA plan of work, quite a time saver!
👉 Link to Bricks
Microsoft Planner
Planner is not a project management software designed for architects. But it has the big advantage to be included in the Microsoft collaboration suite and in Microsoft Teams. For those we are not familiar with handling their issues with a Kanban board, it is a good starting point.
It is rather simple, yet has some customization that come in a handy for more advanced users. You can have conveniently a board in planner associated to a teams channel, so the discussion in the channel can be structured in a more effective way and the tasks are not lost in the channel feed.
👉 Link to Microsoft planner.
Trello
Trello is a very popular project management software often used by architects who generally use the free version of it. It is a very good starting point for those who want to quickly manage their tasks on a Kanban board. As it is since a long time in the market, it is connected to many applications and have a very reliable mobile app.
Where it can fall a bit short, is when the project get more complex, as unfortunately most architecture projects end to become. And when the team members are not very experienced with Kanban board.
Indeed, as it is very easy to create some tasks, it is also very easy to get the board a bit full and de-organized if nobody in your architecture studio with more experience in project management can impose some rules.
Also, one board is mostly not enough as the topics get added, and generally to cope with this limitation you need to create several boards and find a way so that people don't get lost.
We wrote a detailed article comparing Bricks and Trello as an architect project management software.
Anyway apart from that Trello is still a very option to start with, if you love agile board for construction projects and simple and efficient UI.
👉 Link to Trello