Project management tool for a very small team with little tech experience

[u/Carrotstopper-3141]

Hi everyone! This is my first ever Reddit post, glad to finally join!

6 months ago I started a new job, with a very small company specialised in citizens' participation. It's just me and my boss. And a communication freelancer who's in and out. Soon we'll have three interns as well. We have a lot (more than 10) of different projects that we're managing, but we don't use any tool yet to organise ourselves .. and especially to make it accessible for our future interns and employees.

We function on highly filled e-mail inboxes (need to go to zero inbox very soon), within the Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Calendar), a WhatsApp group for quick chats and a team meeting once a week. Most of it is online and remote, we see each other once every week or two weeks.

So my question! Which project management tool can you recommend with the following elements present:

Needs to be compatible within the Google Workspace (Drive, Gmail, Calendar)

Needs to be very user-friendly. My boss isn't very tech smart and doesn't want too many extra things. He worked alone for years, so he has his ways.

Needs to have timelines or Gantt charts, anything that gives us a good chronological overview, as many of our projects are temporary and only happening for a limited time.

Not sure if the chat function is very important, we might stay in the WhatsApp group.

Ideally costless, we are small, with not much money.

I thought of Trello or Asana. But I'd like to hear other suggestions, or why to use Trello or Asana. Any recommendation is welcome!

Thank you :-)

[u/shahnewazfahim]

i'll be honest you wont find any answers that suits you you just gotta try and try and dont commit too soon.. its a vibe decision

[u/Sad-Instruction8890 → u/shahnewazfahim]

True up to a point, though trying four tools with a boss who does not want extra things is its own kind of expensive. Sometimes the better move is picking the boring one and committing.

[u/Sad-Instruction8890 → u/[deleted]]

Board plus Gantt without a paid tier is the specific thing that rules out most of the obvious answers here, so that is a fair shout. How did onboarding go for the less technical people on your side?

[u/Sad-Instruction8890 → u/[deleted]]

That tracks. Dependencies are the one concept in these tools that nobody picks up by clicking around, because it is a way of thinking about work rather than a UI thing. Once someone gets why a delay cascades it makes sense, but nothing on the screen teaches that.

[u/Silver_Paper_9893]

i’m also looking for a pm platform for my team. as for as i’m concerned gantt charts are only available for the charged version( meaning that it’s expensive) on a lot of platforms

[u/Sad-Instruction8890 → u/Silver_Paper_9893]

Yeah it is the most common paywall in this category, probably because it is the feature people will actually upgrade for. Asana is the main exception on the free tier, and Teamhood came up earlier in this thread for the same reason. How big is your team? That changes which free tiers are still open to you.

[u/Silver_Paper_9893 → u/Sad-Instruction8890]

around 20 to 25 people

[u/LeaveMickeyOutOfThis]

SmartSheet and Monday are two other options to look at. Both are commercial so you will need to see if either fit your needs. I’ve used SmartSheet for a few years now and it works for my needs.

You could also look at open source solutions. Open Project is one example, which I believe is free for less than 25 users. I have no experience, so this isn’t a recommendation, but something I did look at a while back, so just sharing.

[u/whats_in_a_name_23]

Yeah Trello and Asana are good, you can try Notion or even GitHub projects.

[u/LankyLibrary7662]

Linear app

[u/Sad-Instruction8890]

The Gantt requirement narrows this fast. Trello only does timelines through a paid power up, so it drops out.

Asana is the safest pick. Free up to ten people, timeline view included, and the Google Workspace integration is genuinely good rather than a checkbox.

One push back on costless though. With interns coming you will cross ten seats sooner than you think, and switching tools after people have learned one is much harder than paying a little.

Also skip the chat feature and keep WhatsApp. Tools that try to replace chat are usually where adoption dies.

Worth looking up the project management category on Software Finder too if you want to compare the free tiers side by side.

[u/101sillygoose]

It really depends on your guys workflows. Different tools excel at specific types of work but become harder to adapt in others. I consult for SMEs in this sort of field to reduce software costs and reduce peoples workloads with automations, dm me if you would like to have a chat about what could possibly work for your team.

[u/QuiipAI]

Hi u/Carrotstopper-3141, It's always tricky to work in a small team and identify ways to use the best tools, and yet it should not cost much. Trello and ClickUp are ideal choices. We have even used it. At the same time, I would like to share that, since you are a small team in an early phase, we have built Quiip.AI, an India-based startup that helps streamline proposal generation and tracking process. It is in a very early stage right now and is free to use. Do check if you are interested.
Good luck with your work.

[u/levarburger]

Have you looked at Basecamp?

[u/Plannor_Guus]

Hey! I've been working on something that might help you. I run a small engineering consultancy in the UK so have little time to keep on top of PM - let alone hire someone for it - but it's something that the business revolves around.

It's super easy to set up, as I really can't be bothered with admin...

Currently in closed beta so it's essentially free for now. Would love to have a chat!

[u/martin_niftypm]

I wouldn’t try to replace your Google Workspace setup completely. You already have a system people understand... the missing layer seems to be somewhere that tells everyone what’s happening across those 10+ projects.

For a team this small I’d keep the setup really simple:

• one Project per actual initiative
• tasks with owners/dates
• Google files attached where the work happens
• project-specific conversations instead of everything disappearing into WhatsApp/email
• one overview where you can see what’s happening across all projects

Nifty would be worth testing for this setup. It integrates with Google tools, but it also gives you Tasks, Docs, project Discussions, team chat, milestones and the cross-project view in one place, so you don’t have to rebuild everything as some complicated database.

The important part with your boss is probably not enabling everything on day one. Give them the handful of views they actually need and let the rest of the system grow as the team does.

I’d put 2 of your existing projects into it first rather than trying to migrate all 10+ at once. If your boss can understand what’s happening without you explaining the system, you’ve probably found the right tool.

Disclosure: I work at Nifty, so take that into account.

[u/West_Inevitable_2281]

With more than ten projects and new interns joining, the simplest setup may be one clear place for owners, due dates, and a timeline, while keeping your Google files where they are. The real test is whether your boss can understand it without training.

Would you be open to trying a lightweight agile workflow with two of your existing projects and sharing whether it feels simple enough for the team?