Managing projects can be difficult and time-consuming, and without proper organization, the project can quickly become a tangled mess of disorganization. Managing projects using cloud services can be extremely beneficial as various cloud services provide many different useful services. Three of the most useful cloud services for project management are Dropbox, Evernote and Google Drive. In this article, we will look at the project management benefits of each of these cloud services, and how to combine the three to get the most of project management.
Evernote
Evernote is one of the most handy cloud apps, not only for project management, but for everyday activities. Project managers use Evernote to quickly jot down (or speak) ideas, take random notes, quickly store notable ideas or information from interviews and meetings, and much more. Evernote is used to snap photos, which can then be tagged with relevant keywords for easy searching at a later time. Using Evernote Web Clipper, researching ideas and information has never been easier. Evernote Web Clipper allows users to quickly snag articles or excerpts of articles from any web page as the user is browsing the internet. No copy/paste needed, just a simple click of the icon in your browser’s taskbar.
Skitch for Evernote is useful for quickly capturing a screenshot of any webpage. What sets Skitch apart from other screen capture apps is that users can use the selection tool to crop whatever part of the webpage they want to capture. This is much more efficient than a full page screen capture when you only need a small section of the page captured.
To-Do lists are one of the most important aspects of project management. If the project becomes disorganized because necessary actions are not performed, or required tasks are not completed, the entire project can be delayed or suffer serious harm. With Evernote’s To-Do lists, project managers can keep up with a list of all tasks that must be completed, and they can revise the list to add new tasks and check off completed tasks.
Google Drive
Google Drive is perfect for handling the main bulk of the project management. Any writing, composing, editing and finalizing drafts, contracts and other documents is done in Google Drive. Collaboration is an integral part of any project management and this is where Google Drive excels. Up to 50 users can collaborate on files and documents, make revisions, add notes and more simultaneously. This drastically cuts down on time and expenses if each user has to manually edit the file, then pass it around to colleagues for review.
Google Drive consists of a powerful suite of document creation, editing, sharing and storage tools. Documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more can all be created, revised, shared and stored in Google Drive. These files can be exported in various formats including Microsoft Word format. Since many project workers use Microsoft Word, this can be beneficial to the efficiency of the project. However, users must be online in order to be able to save files in Microsoft Word format.
Dropbox
Dropbox is the huge file cabinet where all files are stored. It is also the blazing fast app that shoots files across the galaxy in seconds, so that documents and files can be shared with anyone, anytime. One of the best features of Dropbox is that it keeps a copy of the files on the computer so it can be accessed even when the user is not online. This makes it easy to revise and edit documents in Dropbox, then as soon as internet access is established again, the files will sync to the updated copy.
Tying it all together
One of the problems about using multiple services for project management is that it can turn into a disorganized nightmare when you have files stored in multiple places. It can make searching for files a difficult task as well. But what if project managers could use all three cloud services, yet send all the files to one specific location?
CloudHQ is the powerful glue that binds these three cloud services together so that project managers can reap the benefits of all three services, yet store all the files in one organized location.
Perhaps the best method is to use Dropbox for storage, since it has no file size limits. Notes, documents, photos and audio clips, created and stored in Evernote, can be sent to Dropbox for storage using cloudHQ. CloudHQ maintains the structure (Evernote uses “stacks” as its organization feature) and once the structure is transferred to Dropbox, it will be organized in the common Windows file and folder format for more efficient organization.
Evernote offers no option to export Evernote notes and documents in PDF format, a format that is commonly used by project workers and managers. However, cloudHQ has the ability to export Evernote notes in PDF, Microsoft Word, or plain text format.
Documents and files created and stored in Google Drive can be sent to Dropbox as well. CloudHQ will sync the files, maintaining the folder structure. So now all Evernote files are organized and stored in Dropbox. All Google Drive files are organized and stored in Dropbox. If a specific file needs to be found, a simple search of Dropbox will find it quickly. And if any files need to be shared with other project workers or clients, all files are already in Dropbox, where they can be shared instantly.
One of the best features of cloudHQ is that it runs automatically and in the background. So when new files are added to Evernote, they are instantly replicated to Dropbox. If revisions are made to a file in Google Drive, the revisions are replicated instantly to Dropbox. And since cloudHQ runs in the background, it is invisible to the user, and the user can continue their work uninterrupted as cloudHQ continues to replicate and back up the files.
Project management doesn’t have to be a hassle. By using the benefits of cloudHQ, project managers can utilize the benefits of three important cloud services without giving up any organization or structure features. If you think cloudHQ can help you in your next project, sign up for the free 15 day trial period now.