As an agency or firm, building trust with your clients is critical to the success of your business. However, that trust hinges on consistent communication and timely delivery of your project. Because of this, thinking critically about your agency’s project management processes, tools, and methodology is one of the most important things you can do to keep and maintain business.

Of course, project management has plenty of moving parts, leaving many agency leaders overwhelmed. Whether you're looking to update current processes or completely start from scratch, this guide will help simplify and break down all aspects of project management for agencies.

By the end of this guide, you will be able to:

• Pinpoint which functions of project management need consideration for your agency
• Choose your agency’s project management methodology
  
• Choose effective tools for your agency
  ‍

Elements of project management in agency environments

The first step in getting project management right is ensuring that you’ve covered all of your bases. Project management can involve many functions or, in some cases, be very lightweight.

Understanding all the project management elements your unique situation requires is important for determining which camp you fall into. Let’s examine some of these functions so you can determine what your team needs.

Task management

Task management is project management in its most basic form. It typically occurs in a project management system, so for this part of the process, you will need a PM tool to record this information (see our suggestions below). Task management includes: 

Goals and objectives: Tasks are defined by their larger counterparts, goals, and objectives. Before defining what tasks need to be completed in a project, you’ll need to define the larger goals and objectives your team is trying to achieve. In agile project management, this is also called an “Epic.”

Task breakdown: Breaking larger objectives into smaller tasks clarifies to the team what needs to be done to achieve a larger goal. This makes resourcing, task assignment, and prioritization easier while ensuring no critical aspects of a project are missed. In agile project management, “tasks” are often referred to as “issues.” 

Deadlines and milestones: Setting clear deadlines and milestones to ensure tasks get completed when they need to be in order to keep the project on track and not block other team members.

Prioritization: Assigning priority levels to tasks based on urgency and importance ensures that the most important tasks get completed first and that “nice-to-have” tasks are identified. 

Assignment and ownership: Using your project management system, assigning tasks to team members, and defining ownership of the project helps ensure that you have the coverage to complete the project and that team members understand their responsibilities. 

Time or effort tracking: In agile project management, tasks (or “issues”) are often given what’s called “story points.”  Story points measure the size of the task relative to other tasks previously completed. This helps the team understand how much effort a task will require. Similarly, in waterfall methodology, sometimes projects are allotted a certain amount of time to complete. Note–many teams choose to forgo tracking either of these metrics. 

Quality assurance: Quality assurance (QA) is the final check before an aspect of the project is considered “complete.” This ensures deliverables meet the required standards. 

Documentation creation

Documentation is a key part of project management. Typically this may happen in a word processing software like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or Notion. Some of the most common documents for managing projects are: 

Project proposal: This is one of the first formal project documents most agencies will create. This will typically include a list of project objectives, requirements and scope, what services are included, the cost or estimated cost of the project, the project timeline, success criteria (ie., KPIs and metrics), and a plan for communication between the client and the project manager. 

Project overview: A project overview is a formal document outlining the project's objectives, scope, and participants. This may also exist as part of a project proposal. 

Project plan: A comprehensive plan outlining timelines, resources, tasks, and dependencies. In agile project management, this may include a roadmap to visually showcase timelines.

Meeting minutes: Meeting minutes are recordings of discussions, decisions, and action items from meetings. You may wish to send these to clients or share internally.

Final report: A final report consists of a summary of project outcomes, lessons learned, and recommendations for future projects. 

Reporting and performance management

Reporting and performance management is important for teams that have specific metrics to report to clients, are interested in improving their internal processes (ie., Scrum teams), would like to mitigate project risks, and more. 

Regular status reports and reviews: Status reports and reviews are weekly or bi-weekly updates on project progress, blockers, and next steps. 

In agile project management this may be a “stand-up”–ie., an informal in-person (or video) report of what’s being worked on and blockers. This could also be a regular sprint review, which clients are often invited to attend. In waterfall project management, this may be a regularly scheduled meeting internally or with clients or a formal email communication. 

Performance metrics: Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) helps clients and internal teams measure the effectiveness of the work being completed. For software teams, this could look like cycle time, lead time, # of bugs fixed, or issues completed. For marketing teams, this could be campaign performance metrics such as CPC, CPM, engagement rates, etc. 

For all types of agencies, metrics such as budget adherence, on-time delivery, and client satisfaction score (NPS), may also be appropriate. 

Dashboards: Visual tools to provide real-time insights into project health and performance. In agile project management, dashboards like Burndown Reports (Sprint Reports in Zenhub), Velocity Reports, Cumulative Flow Charts, and Lead and Cycle Time reports are common.

For waterfall projects, dashboards like Gaant charts, progress tracking charts, and budget allocation charts are common. Note–depending on which KPIs are being tracked, teams may have other dashboards and reports. 

Stakeholder management

Stakeholder management is an especially important consideration for agencies because it asks “who?”and “how?” those involved in a project will communicate with each other–including your clients. 

Identification of stakeholders: Stakeholder identification involves making note of all parties that are affected by the project, that are contributing to or approving of the project. This includes key points of contact for various departments. 

Communication plan: A communication plan is your strategy for keeping stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the project. This could include whether or not you’re using a messaging system (like Slack or Teams) and within what time period its appropriate to expect an email response. It may also include regularly scheduled meetings and progress reports.

Expectation management: In the services industry, setting realistic expectations as early as possible is important to avoid conflict.This includes ensuring that the client is understanding of the services provided, knows what outcomes are expected and which are not guaranteed, and understands what communications to expect. This should all be documented and clearly explained before a contract is signed. 

Feedback loops: Feedback loops identify where in the process your team is going to require feedback and who is going to be responsible for having the final say. This includes feedback both internally and on the client side. In some cases, feedback loops may lead to additional charges (ie., if changes to the project are required). Be sure to explain this to the client before the project begins so they understand accumulating costs. 

Time and risk management

In the business world, time is money. And, in many cases, tracking time is critical for billing, scheduling, or identifying if projects are at risk of not making deadlines. 

Time tracking: Time tracking is more popular in waterfall style projects, but it is also sometimes used in agile, such as in the case of tracking billable work. It involves monitoring the amount of time spent on tasks and activities. This could later be used for billing clients or providing estimates for future projects. 

Scheduling tools: Scheduling tools are software for creating and managing project schedules. This could include roadmaps, Gaant Charts, online calendars (like Google calendar), meeting booking software like Calendly, etc. 

Risk identification and mitigation: Risk identification and mitigation is critical both at the beginning of the project and during. Before a project begins, identify what potential risks or blockers could come up and be sure to schedule enough time to manage them. During the project, being proactive about identifying risks by using tools that can flag risks such as a live roadmap that can predict when deadlines won’t be met.

Resource management

Resource management involves ensuring that you have what you need to get a project done. Whether this is team members (human resources), equipment or tools–managing resources and the budget required for them is critical for most teams. 

Resource allocation: Resource allocation involves assigning resources (people, equipment, budget) to tasks and activities. This is most often done in a project management system. 

Capacity planning: Capacity planning ensures that team members are not over-allocated and can complete their tasks. For agile teams, the metric “velocity” is often used to determine the team’s overall capacity per sprint. 

Tooling and equipment: This function involves taking stock of the equipment and tools your team members need to complete a project. 

Budget management: Resources–especially team members–are the most costly part of any project. Tracking and controlling project expenditures help you and your clients stay within budget.

Resource optimization: Resource optimization involves making adjustments to optimize performance and efficiency. This might include moving people between teams or cross-collaborating. In Agile, a key aspect of optimization is the retrospective. This is where teams come together after every sprint to discuss what went well, what didn’t, and how they can improve. 

Project management checklist

Project management can involve many elements, but depending on your agency’s work and how you wish to engage with your clients, some may be more useful than others. We’ve put together a comprehensive checklist of all of the elements of project management to help you choose whether or not to include them in your process. 

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Optimizing project management with automation and AI

By now, you’ve probably thought to yourself, ‘Wow, there are a lot of elements to project management.’ You’re probably wondering how teams can a) have the time to track all this work and b) ensure that their project data is up-to-date. This is where AI and automation come into play. 

AI and automation benefits

• Enhance data integrity: Automations and AI have the potential to improve the quality of the data that is inputted into your project management system, making it more likely that the information you engage with in your PM system is reliable. 
• Speed up processes: Automation and AI can help to reduce the time spend engaging in common project management jobs-to-be-done. 
• Change user behavior: AI and automation can help to shape user behavior in a more positive way by making helpful reccomendations for the user to take suggested actions.

Examples of AI and automation in project management

Task automation: Task automation involves using tools to automate repetitive tasks, such as data entry and report generation. An example of this is Zenhub smart pipelines, which allows users to customize the flow of issues from one pipeline (column) to another based on the issues metadata (eg., Assignee, Sprint, Label). 

Predictive analytics: Predictive analytics involves using AI or automation to predict potential issues and outcomes based on historical data. Examples of this are Zenhub predictive roadmaps, which use a team's agile velocity to predict a project’s completion date. 

Using AI for documentation tasks: Generative AI is perfect for speeding up the documentation aspect of project management. An example of this in a PM system is Zenhub’s acceptance criteria feature. This auto-generates a set of acceptance criteria for a product based on existing issue data. 

Process optimization: Process optimization involves using AI or automation to identify inefficiencies and suggest improvements in project workflows. An example of this is Zenhub’s Insights and Recommendations, which uses your team's Issue completion data to suggest process improvements.

Project management methodologies

There isn’t just one way to manage projects. In fact, there’s dozens. The important thing is to agree with your team on one style of project management to follow. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll take you through two of the most common methodologies that agencies will follow: Agile and Waterfall.

Agile methodologies

Agile methodologies prioritize flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction through iterative development and regular feedback. Because of the incremental nature of Agile, its common in software development agencies where frequently publishing small releases (rather than waiting until all features are complete) is a beneficial approach. 

Scrum

^OVERVIEW
Scrum is a framework that helps teams build better teams overtime, while enabling the incremental delivery of a product. The framework structures work in cycles called Sprints, which are typically 2-4 weeks long. Each Sprint aims to deliver a potentially releasable product increment, allowing for continuous feedback and improvement.

Central to Scrum are three key roles: the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, and the Development Team. The Product Owner represents the stakeholders and is responsible for maximizing the product's value by managing the Product Backlog, a prioritized list of features and requirements. The Scrum Master ensures the team adheres to Scrum principles and removes obstacles that may hinder progress. The Development Team is a self-organizing, cross-functional group responsible for delivering the product increment.

Scrum involves several critical events that promote transparency, inspection, and adaptation. These include Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, Sprint Reviews, and Sprint Retrospectives. Sprint Planning sets the goals and tasks for the upcoming Sprint. Daily Scrums are short, daily meetings where the team communicates blocks and what they’re currently working on. Sprint Reviews are held at the end of each Sprint to inspect the work done and gather feedback. Sprint Retrospectives allow the team to reflect on their process and make continuous improvements.

^BENEFITS‍

• Quality and Customer Satisfaction: Regular testing, frequent releases.
• Team Collaboration and Morale: Daily stand-ups, empowered teams.
• Transparency and Predictability: Clear project status, consistent delivery.
• Risk Management and Adaptability: Early issue detection, quick response to changes.
• Efficiency and Innovation: Focused improvements, encourages experimentation.

Kanban

^OVERVIEW
Kanban is a visual project management methodology that emphasizes continuous delivery and workflow efficiency. Originating from Toyota's manufacturing practices, Kanban uses a visual board with columns representing different stages of work. Tasks, represented by cards, move across these columns from start to finish, allowing teams to quickly identify bottlenecks and areas needing attention. This visualization fosters a transparent and collaborative work culture, making it an effective tool for managing multiple projects.

A core principle of Kanban is limiting work in progress (WIP). By setting WIP limits for each workflow stage, teams prevent overload and maintain a steady work pace. This approach helps deliver consistent quality outputs and prevents burnout, ensuring long-term productivity and well-being. For individuals managing various tasks, such as content creation or marketing projects, implementing WIP limits can effectively manage workload and maintain efficiency.

Kanban also promotes continuous improvement through regular review and adaptation of the workflow. Teams periodically assess their processes and make necessary adjustments to enhance efficiency. This aligns with Agile principles and is beneficial in dynamic environments where priorities frequently shift. Adopting Kanban enables better handling of changing demands and maintaining a flexible, responsive approach to project management, leading to more consistent and predictable outcomes.

^BENEFITS‍

• Visual Workflow Management: Easily track progress and identify bottlenecks.
• Efficiency and Flexibility: Streamlined processes and adaptable to changes.
• Continuous Delivery: Steady, ongoing task completion.
• Improved Collaboration and Transparency: Enhanced team communication.
• Work-in-Progress (WIP) Limits: Prevents overload and maintains a steady pace.

Scrumban

^OVERVIEW
Scrumban is a hybrid project management framework that combines elements of Scrum and Kanban, designed to enhance flexibility and efficiency in managing workflows. It adopts the structured approach of Scrum with its defined roles, ceremonies, and time-boxed iterations, while integrating Kanban's visual workflow management and continuous flow principles. This hybrid method allows teams to benefit from Scrum's disciplined planning and review cycles while maintaining the adaptability and continuous delivery focus of Kanban. Scrumban is particularly effective in environments where projects require both structure and flexibility.

In terms of principles adopted from Kanban, typically Scrumban uses WIP limits and, of course, Kanban boards to visualize tasks. In terms of what’s adopted from Scrum, most of the events–including sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, and the focus on incremental delivery is all used in Scrumban. 

While Scrum emphasizes fixed sprint lengths and regular sprint reviews, Scrumban allows teams to adjust the length of their planning cycles based on project needs, promoting a more responsive approach to changing priorities. 

^BENEFITS‍

• Enhanced Flexibility: Adapts planning and review cycles to project needs.
• Optimized Workflow: Limits work in progress (WIP) to prevent bottlenecks.
• Improved Transparency: Visual management of tasks through Kanban boards.
• Continuous Improvement: Regular retrospectives and workflow adjustments.
• Balanced Workload: Ensures manageable and sustainable work pace.
• Increased Collaboration: Promotes team communication and coordination.
• Efficient Resource Utilization: Combines structured planning with adaptable execution.

Lean

^OVERVIEW
Lean is a systematic methodology focused on creating value for the customer by minimizing waste and optimizing processes. It emphasizes efficiency, continuous improvement, and respect for people. Lean identifies seven types of waste (overproduction, waiting, transportation, extra processing, inventory, motion, and defects) and aims to eliminate them to enhance overall productivity. By concentrating on eliminating non-value-adding activities, Lean helps organizations streamline operations and improve their responsiveness to customer needs.

Central to Lean is the concept of continuous improvement, or "Kaizen," which involves all employees, from frontline workers to top management, in the process of identifying and implementing enhancements. This collective responsibility fosters a culture of proactive problem-solving and innovation. By empowering employees to suggest and implement changes, organizations can achieve incremental improvements that accumulate over time, leading to significant advancements in efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.

Lean also places a strong emphasis on respect for people, recognizing that the success of any improvement initiative depends on the engagement and well-being of the workforce. This principle involves creating a supportive work environment, providing employees with the necessary tools and training, and fostering open communication. By valuing and respecting their contributions, Lean organizations can build a motivated and collaborative workforce, which is essential for sustaining long-term improvements and achieving operational excellence.

^BENEFITS‍

• Increased Efficiency: Eliminates waste and streamlines processes.
• Continuous Improvement: Encourages ongoing enhancements and innovation.
• Enhanced Quality: Reduces defects and improves product/service quality.
• Customer Focus: Ensures all activities add value for the customer.
• Empowered Workforce: Involves all employees in problem-solving and improvement.
• Reduced Costs: Minimizes unnecessary expenditures and resources.
• Improved Collaboration: Fosters a culture of teamwork and open communication.

Waterfall methodology‍

The Waterfall methodology is a linear and sequential approach to project management. It is characterized by its structured phases, where each phase must be completed before the next one begins. These phases typically include requirements analysis, system design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Waterfall is often visualized as a cascading sequence of tasks, where progress flows in one direction like a waterfall. This method emphasizes thorough documentation and planning at each stage, ensuring that all requirements are clearly defined before moving forward.

One of the key aspects of the Waterfall methodology is its emphasis on upfront planning and detailed documentation. Before any coding begins, comprehensive requirements are gathered and documented. This detailed planning aims to provide a clear roadmap for the entire project, reducing ambiguity and ensuring that all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the project’s goals and scope. Once the requirements are set, the design phase follows, creating detailed system architecture and design specifications. This careful planning helps to minimize changes and revisions later in the project, which can be costly and time-consuming.

However, the rigidity of the Waterfall methodology can also be a limitation, particularly in dynamic and fast-paced environments where requirements may evolve over time. Because each phase must be completed before the next begins, it can be challenging to accommodate changes once the project is underway. This inflexibility can lead to issues if initial requirements are not fully understood or if market conditions change. Despite these challenges, Waterfall can be effective for projects with well-defined requirements and a clear vision, providing a structured approach that ensures thorough documentation and a disciplined progression through each project phase.

Pros and cons of Waterfall compared to Agile

Pros:

• Clear structure: Each phase has specific deliverables and a review process.
• Documentation: More thorough documentation can be beneficial for future reference.
• Predictability: It is easier to define timelines and costs.

Cons:

• Inflexibility: It is difficult to accommodate changes once a phase is completed.
• Delayed testing: Testing only occurs after development, which can lead to more issues being discovered late in the process.
• Limited customer feedback: Limited customer involvement during development compared to Agile.

Project management methodologies & when to use them

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Best tools for agency project management

Now that you’re familiar with project management styles and elements, you’ll need some tools to help facilitate these functions. Remember what we discussed earlier…

1. Consider the functions of project management you need
2. Choose a project management methodology
3. Consider any performance metrics you’d like to track
4. Consider necessary communication channels

Best tool for task management and reporting

Zenhub

^{WHAT IT IS
‍}Zenhub is an AI-powered project management solution for managing software projects. Zenhub uses real-time data from GitHub to ensure that projects being tracked in Zenhub are an accurate reflection of the work being done in GitHub. This allows your clients to see progress in real-time on Zenhub roadmaps and for team members to be informed when projects are at risk of not meeting deadlines. Working closer to the code enables developers to stay focused, spending more time on billable work and less time context switching. 

^{TOP FEATURES}
Predictable, real-time roadmaps: Communicating with stakeholders is a breeze with real-time roadmaps. Zenhub roadmaps automatically update when changes are made in GitHub, and provide real-time project end-date predictions.

Project reporting: Zenhub automatically creates various reports based on your real-time project data, including velocity tracking, sprint reports (burndown charts), release reports, control charts, cumulative flow charts, and more. Additionally, Zenhub provides insights and recommendations based on your team's GitHub data and compares your team’s performance to the top-performing teams in GitHub. 

Native GitHub integration: Leverage GitHub issues directly on Zenhub boards, minimizing switching between tools and improving the quality of data in Zenhub. Make onboarding a breeze for developers, allowing them to keep working in GitHub.

Automation and AI: Zenhub’s automation and AI features built into the platform make managing work more seamless for tech teams. Automate tasks like work hand-offs

Best tools for design and development collaboration

GitHub

^{WHAT IT IT:
‍}GitHub is a leading platform for version control and collaboration, allowing software developers to manage their code repositories. With features like pull requests, issues, and integrated project boards, GitHub provides a comprehensive environment for managing software development projects. This makes it an ideal tool for software development agencies looking to streamline their workflows, enhance collaboration, and maintain code quality.

^{TOP FEATURES:}
Comprehensive version control: GitHub's version control system allows teams to track changes, revert to previous versions, and collaborate on code with ease. This ensures that all team members are always working with the most up-to-date codebase, minimizing conflicts. 

Collaborative pull requests: Pull requests in GitHub allow developers to propose changes, review code, and discuss modifications before merging them into the main codebase. This collaborative process helps maintain high code quality and facilitates knowledge sharing among team members.

Security and compliance: GitHub offers robust security features, including dependency vulnerability alerts, secret scanning, and code scanning. These features help ensure that your projects remain secure and compliant with industry standards.

Figma

^{WHAT IT IS:}
Figma is a cloud-based design tool that allows creative teams to collaborate in real-time on design projects. It’s ideal for creative agencies looking to streamline their design process, enhance collaboration, and produce high-quality work efficiently. With Figma, designers can create, share, and iterate on designs seamlessly, all within a single platform.

^{TOP FEATURES:}
Real-time collaboration: Figma enables multiple team members to work on the same design file simultaneously. This real-time collaboration ensures that everyone is on the same page, speeds up the design process, and reduces the need for constant file exchanges.

Prototyping and design: Figma provides robust design and prototyping tools that allow teams to create interactive and high-fidelity prototypes. These prototypes help clients and stakeholders visualize the final product, enabling more effective feedback and quicker approval cycles.

Integration with other tools: Figma integrates with a variety of other tools commonly used by creative agencies, such as Slack, Trello, and JIRA. These integrations help streamline workflows and ensure that design projects are well-coordinated with other aspects of project management and communication.

Best tools for team communication

Slack

^{WHAT IT IS:
‍}Slack is a powerful communication platform designed to streamline team collaboration. It is widely used in various industries to facilitate aychronous conversations, share files, and integrate with other tools. For project management, Slack allows team members to keep communications organized, such as by setting up channels specifically for project communications. 

^{TOP FEATURES:}
Channels for organized communication: Slack uses channels to keep conversations organized by topic, project, or team. This structure makes it easy to find relevant discussions, reduces email clutter, and ensures that important information is accessible to all team members.

Integration with other tools: Slack integrates seamlessly with a wide range of project management and productivity tools, such as Zenhub, Google Drive, and GitHub. These integrations allow teams to receive updates, share files, and manage tasks directly within Slack, enhancing productivity and collaboration.

Real-time messaging and file sharing: Slack supports real-time messaging and file sharing, enabling instant communication and collaboration. Team members can share documents, images, and other files, making it easy to review and discuss project materials quickly.

Zoom

^{WHAT IT IS:}
Zoom is a leading video conferencing and online meeting platform that facilitates communication and collaboration among teams. It is widely used for virtual meetings, webinars, and video calls, making it an essential tool for project management. Zoom helps teams stay connected, conduct productive meetings, and collaborate effectively, regardless of their physical locations.

^{TOP FEATURES:
‍}High-quality video and audio conferencing: Zoom provides reliable, high-definition video and audio conferencing, ensuring clear and uninterrupted communication. This is crucial for team meetings, client presentations, and brainstorming sessions, where effective communication is key to project success.

Screen sharing and collaboration tools: Zoom's screen sharing feature allows participants to share their screens, making it easy to present documents, designs, and other materials during meetings. Additionally, Zoom offers collaboration tools such as virtual whiteboards and annotation, enabling teams to work together interactively in real-time.

Meeting recording and transcription: Zoom allows users to record meetings and generate transcripts, providing a valuable resource for team members who couldn’t attend or need to review the discussion. This ensures that important information and decisions are documented and accessible for future reference.

Loom

^{WHAT IT IS:
‍}Loom is a video messaging tool that allows teams to communicate more effectively by recording and sharing videos. It’s particularly useful for asynchronous communication, enabling team members to explain complex ideas, provide feedback, and share updates without needing to schedule a live meeting. Loom helps streamline communication, making it easier to convey information clearly and efficiently.

^{TOP FEATURES:
‍}Easy video recording and sharing: Loom enables users to quickly record their screen, camera, and microphone. This makes it easy to create detailed video messages that can be shared instantly with team members, clients, or stakeholders. The intuitive interface allows for seamless video creation and sharing.

Viewer insights and engagement: Loom provides insights into who has viewed your videos, how much of the video they watched, and their engagement levels. These analytics help teams understand the impact of their communications and ensure that important messages are being seen and understood.

Integration with productivity tools: Loom integrates with various productivity and project management tools, such as Slack, Trello, and Asana. This allows teams to embed Loom videos directly into their workflows, enhancing communication within the tools they already use.

Best tools for time tracking and billing

Harvest

^{WHAT IT IS:}
Harvest is a time tracking and billing software designed to help teams manage their time efficiently and streamline the invoicing process. It is ideal for agencies and freelancers who need to track billable hours, manage project budgets, and generate invoices. Harvest simplifies time tracking and billing, ensuring that teams can focus more on their work and less on administrative tasks.

^{TOP FEATURES:
‍}‍Simple time tracking: Harvest offers easy-to-use time tracking tools that allow team members to log their hours with minimal effort. This can be done through a web application, mobile app, or desktop widget, making it convenient to track time from anywhere. Accurate time tracking ensures that all billable hours are accounted for.
‍
Detailed reporting: Harvest provides comprehensive reports that give insights into how time is being spent across different projects and tasks. These reports help managers monitor project progress, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions about resource allocation.

Seamless invoicing: Harvest streamlines the invoicing process by automatically generating invoices based on tracked time and expenses. Users can customize invoices, send them directly to clients, and even set up automatic payment reminders. This ensures timely payments and reduces the administrative burden of billing.

Toggl

^{WHAT IT IS:}
Toggl is a time tracking tool designed to help teams and individuals monitor their work hours and manage their productivity. It is particularly useful for freelancers, agencies, and businesses that need to track billable hours and analyze how time is spent on various tasks and projects. Toggl simplifies time management and enhances efficiency with its user-friendly interface and powerful features.

^{TOP FEATURES:
‍}Intuitive time tracking: Toggl offers a simple and intuitive time tracking interface that allows users to start and stop timers with a single click. It supports manual time entries and provides detailed tracking across different projects and tasks, ensuring accurate logging of billable hours.

Comprehensive reporting: Toggl generates detailed reports that provide insights into how time is allocated across projects, clients, and team members. These reports help identify productivity trends, monitor project budgets, and support data-driven decision-making.
‍
Integration with other tools: Toggl integrates seamlessly with a wide range of productivity and project management tools, such as Asana, Trello, Slack, and Jira. These integrations enable teams to incorporate time tracking into their existing workflows, enhancing overall efficiency and coordination.

Best tools for documentation

Notion

^{WHAT IT IS:
‍}Notion is a versatile all-in-one workspace that combines note-taking, task management, and database features to help teams organize their documentation and workflows. It is ideal for handling the documentation function of project management, offering a collaborative environment where teams can create, share, and maintain documentation seamlessly. 

^{TOP FEATURES:
‍}Flexible note-taking and documentation: Notion provides robust note-taking capabilities that allow teams to create rich, structured documents. Users can embed various media types, such as images, videos, and code snippets, making it easy to produce comprehensive and visually appealing documentation.

Database and knowledge management: Notion’s database features enable teams to create custom databases to manage tasks, projects, and resources. These databases can be linked and integrated with other documents, creating a cohesive knowledge management system that keeps all project information interconnected and easily accessible.

Collaboration and sharing: Notion supports real-time collaboration, allowing team members to edit documents simultaneously and leave comments. This fosters effective communication and teamwork. Additionally, Notion makes it easy to share documents with team members, clients, or stakeholders, ensuring everyone has access to the latest information.

Google Docs

^{WHAT IT IS:
‍}Google Docs is a cloud-based word-processing tool that enables teams to create, edit, and store documents online. It is widely used for collaborative documentation, allowing multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously. Google Docs is ideal for collaboration as it allows for easy sharing and control of editing permissions and has features like suggested edit mode and commenting. 

^{TOP FEATURES:
‍}Real-time collaboration: Google Docs allows multiple users to edit documents at the same time, with changes appearing in real time. This feature ensures that team members can work together efficiently, providing instant feedback and making collective updates to project documentation.

Easy sharing and access control: Sharing documents with Google Docs is straightforward. Users can control access permissions, allowing others to view, comment, or edit documents. This ensures that the right people have the appropriate level of access, enhancing security and collaboration.

Integration with Google Workspace: Google Docs integrates seamlessly with other Google Workspace tools such as Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. This integration allows teams to manage all their project documentation, data, and presentations within a unified ecosystem, improving workflow efficiency and organization.

Final thoughts

Managing projects in any agency environment requires careful consideration of the many needs of that organization and its clientele. Whether you have already existing processes you’re looking to elevate or are entirely new to project management, considering the elements, tools, and methodologies outlined in this guide should ensure more effective collaboration with your team and improve trust with your clients. 

If you’re evaluating your project management tools and are interested in learning more about the space, chat with one of our experts.