Development agencies need software development project management tools to boost their productivity and also find the right balance between management and organizational units. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at the best project management tools for software development agencies.

Each successful project relies on a well-functioning management system. When a project starts growing up, several project requirements come into place. A great project plan must consist of the following requirements in order to provide a healthy project life cycle for development agencies:

• Project start & finish date,
• The scope of each project,
• Project resources,
• Deliverables,
• Estimated budget.

If clients’ requirements are understood well by software development agencies, creating successful projects will be on their way. As development project management software brings transparency, software development teams can see what team members are currently working on. Project managers can also assign each member for the projects depending on their expertise level. 

What Does a Project Manager Do in Software Development?

Software development is a long-running process. So, project managers take an active role in this project management process to run smoothly. Traditional project manager defines the project requirements, creates a project team that consists of software engineers, provides clear communication, assigns tasks, monitors each activity, sets goals, determines the scope of projects and much more. 

Project managers for software development agencies must plan every single detail from start to finish if projects need to be successfully delivered on time. Once assignments and deadlines are outlined, they must put them in a row by using a Gantt chart or Kanban board. This helps to see the overall project plan, each member’s assignments and deadlines. Getting help from Gantt charts is also essential for agile project management as they help visualize the software development project.

What Is Software Development in Project Management?

Software project management focuses on planning, scheduling, allocating resources and budget, monitoring progress and delivering successful projects to clients. It contains the practices of a project management tool to streamline managing software-based projects.

As each software development process requires different qualifications, it affects the concept of project management as well. So, rather than looking for the best project management for software development agencies, it would be better for you as a development agency to look for a solution that will best meet your needs.

To make this easier for you, we have put together the best project management software for software development agencies in order to give you a glimpse of their key features that are important to development teams and pricing structure.

Top 5 Project Management Tools for Software Development Agencies

• Productive
• Forecast
• Hubstaff
• BugHerd
• Teamwork

Let’s dive into the world of the best software development project management tools for agencies together!

Productive comes at the top of the best project management tools for software development for agencies list. The platform offers end to end agency management solutions for any size of software development project team. It aims to centralize all data from one place in case of any needs. Alongside essential project management features, Productive provides powerful budget management functionality. You can always be up to date on any kind of budget which can be fixed-price or hourly. 

At the management dashboard, agencies can show their clients projects within a list, calendar, board or table view. While they can track who is busy with what, they also manage the communication between each team member. This allows teams to collaborate on tasks and projects.

Productive’s extensive reporting capability lets agencies predict their next steps with each client. As the platform creates real time reports, it helps agencies make data driven business decisions without losing sight of any detail. 

Productive pricing starts at $12.50 a month / per user. 

Another great software development project management software for agencies Forecast offers solutions to keep the big picture in their focus. It is an AI-native platform that helps teams manage software development operations to scale efficiently. As it is powered by artificial intelligence, once the project is outlined the system automatically sets an estimated deadline. With the automated system, you can reapply this for other clients too. 

Forecast offers a rich dashboard for you to see the project each member of the project team is currently busy with. Getting an overview of the current status helps to determine the time when you can take new projects. If some of the steps of the project process face a problem, you can also interfere with it immediately. 

Keeping track of the software development progress prevents errors to minimize financial risks. With the tracking system, you can always monitor how and where you are spending the project budget. To maintain a successful project life cycle, you must make winning decisions. So, Forecast’s comprehensive reporting feature provides real time insights for both existing and future projects. 

Forecast pricing starts at $29 a month / per seat.

Even though Hubstaff is known as a time tracking tool, it offers extensive project management solutions for software development agencies. The management tool’s main focus is to track the time spent on software development projects. When the time spent is tracked accurately, it will make a significant impact on team productivity and so project effectiveness. Like other best project management for software development, Hubstaff helps send invoices to clients once the project is complete.

You can get a quick overview of projects and tasks at any time through the comprehensive dashboard. It provides a chart of who is completing each task and their degree of completion. The reporting feature allows you to stay updated on software development project progress. 

The time tracking feature makes Hubstaff slightly different from others. While keeping track of the billable hours spent, also makes client billing easier. Not only limited to this, but Hubstaff also prevents work overload. 

In addition to the key features, idle time detection, activity monitoring, smart reminders and more than 30 integrations are some of the features that come with Hubstaff.

Hubstaff pricing starts at $7 a month / per user.

One of the best bug tracking tools in the market BugHerd offers industry-based solutions for web development agencies. It offers a Kanban-style task board to track unlimited projects. The feedback management feature makes BugHerd different, as it allows you to get real time feedback from clients. 

Users in BugHerd can monitor their own tasks as well as customize their dashboards. The user-friendly dashboard offers to manage the feedback received from clients or team members. So, software engineers can easily collaborate both internally and externally. Even though they work remotely, BugHerd’s system shows what everyone in the team is working on, what is complete and what needs to be done. This helps increase transparency.

As BugHerd comes with bug tracking features, it allows developers to update bug information quickly from commit log messages. Combining bug tracking and feedback management features with project management functionality makes BugHerd one of the best project management tools for software development agencies. 

BugHerd pricing starts at $39 a month / per user.

Our last mention goes to Teamwork, another brilliant project management solution for software development agencies. By using Teamwork, you can plan, manage project-related tasks, track every billable hour and deliver each project on time and on budget. In order for each client to hit the project goals, Teamwork offers capacity planning, budgeting, time tracking, and more.

The management solution provides ready-to-use and customizable project management templates. If you are close to the launch of the project, the custom template lets each member collaborate every step of the way. So, you can market your project without missing any single point. 

With the real time reporting feature Teamwork provides, clients can stay on top of their projects. Reports allow you to monitor the scope of each project, time, budget, and progress at any time. While they help prevent errors, also give insights about projects’ overall status. 

Teamwork pricing starts at $10 a month / per user.

Last Words

Even if we have put together the best project management tools for software development agencies, the last word will be yours. As each organization has its own unique requirements, the extent of the best will be varied. 

Before choosing the best project management solution for your agency, it would be beneficial to clarify your needs first. Once you know what your needs are, your selection process will be easier.

Still undecided? You have a place to discover more of the best solutions for software development agencies that cover their project management needs.