What is the best simple, streamlined project management software?

How much emphasis on collaboration do you need?

Want something that combines project management with CRM, expenses, and support, but allows users to collaborate on all of these aspects as well? WORKetc can save users a ton of time by centralizing every aspect of managing a small business into one application. Leads, projects, contact organization, invoices, expenses, support, and more.

You can see a feature by feature comparison here: http://www.worketc.com/compare

Teambox (http://teambox.com) will provide exactly the functionality you are looking for. Combine that with the low price tag (3 projects for free, 6 for $12/mo, 20 for $29/mo, and you have the best productivity tool your team can find.

Wayne,

We've been using Basecamp (http://www.basecamphq) for more than 5 years now. The folks at 37signals have developed what I believe to be the most agile web based project management tool available.

If you're looking for the (overwhelming) complexity of Microsoft Project this is definitely not a good solution.

On the other hand if you just want to get things done, drive adoption and collaborate with minimum hassle (and cost)... this is a fantastic platform.

We've handled hundreds of projects ranging from simple to complex in Basecamp and I don't have any complaints.

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Josh

My first dance with online collaboration was with Basecamp. I was not a fan of the workflow but it was loved by my IT department so we gave it a shot. It was never adopted by any of my peers or clients. It is good for the IT oriented, but many people do not like its UI and therefore do not use it.

We ended up with part of the work getting logged there and the rest getting siloed in email. I dropped it and never looked back.

Karl, I would say you have a bit of a bias given your role as VP of Sales & Marketing at Teambox. In interest of full disclosure; that would probably have been appropriate to mention.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgoldfield

Take a look at LiquidPlanner, which has collaboration features embedded quite deeply into the project management process. Unlike simpler products, like BaseCamp, it is a real project management solution. BaseCamp, and similar products, are fine as collaboration tools, but they are really not suitable for managing complex projects. For that purpose, you need the ability to create Gannt charts, manage resources, and create elaborate schedules that update and flow easily, as the project changes and evolves.

@Josh, it is easy to see who I am, as you did. I did not start out as the VP, I started out as a user. If you read the linkedin comments you will see I was a consultant for years. What led me to Teambox was that it was the first tool my clients adopted. I went from a user, to a consultant, to an employee. I actually walked away from my consultancy to become Collaboration Agent 001.

Bias, indeed, but I had it from the moment I started using it.

Karl, I'm not taking issue with the fact that you work there... this is in theory supposed to be a site for analysis. Disclosure of that type of information is critical to focus.com being a trusted resource for decision makers.

Oh, good to know. I will keep that in mind in the future, Here is some feedback from other users that posted in the last week.

http://www.ourhonestreviews.com/engaging-considerations-on-managing-project-m...
http://blog.thoughtspaninteractive.com/thoughtspan-now-with-more-teambox

Latest one looks to overloaded with stuff.
Take a look at teambox.com or http://www.redmine.org/ . Last one nice enough, it has time management tools, gantt diagrams, calendar, etc etc. Also it allows to tune project workflow.

It is web tools, and latest one require to be installed on your own server, while teambox can be used as saas.