Does Google Have a Project Management App?

Since Google is such a popular platform and a giant in the industry, most people just simply assume that Google must have its own project management app. The truth of the matter is, it doesn’t. Using Google Workspace apps like calendar, sheets, and email all integrated together can provide many of the same features as some project management software. In this way, Google does offer features that are similar to tools like MS Project.

Even though Google does not have its own project management app, Google Workspace is an all-in-one workspace which provides enough tools to help you through project life cycle. The elements of project management needed can vary based on the size of your company and complexity of your projects, so understanding that tools are available on the market can help you make the best choice to support your teams working on projects.

Google Calendar is a part of Google Workspace and is a very effective and easy to use tool when it comes to project scheduling. You can add tasks to your calendar and share the calendar with your team members to have everyone on board.

To get started create a calendar with the name of the project and share it with your team members. When you add deadlines on the calendar your team members will automatically know till when a task needs to be completed. If any team member is having any issue with a task they can let the team know about by adding it as a day entry on the calendar. 

You can even create a calendar for your clients so that they can stay in the loop and can keep an eye on the progress of the project. An additional feature of Google Calendar is that it is searchable. You can use hashtags to categorize different tasks and related activities and then easily search them by using those hashtags.

At Google they work in small teams and each team can use the software that suits its needs the best. Some of the commonly used programs at Google for project management include Google Sheets, Smartsheets and Trello. Google Sheets is similar to Excel but offers more features and sharing options that make it a better choice for project work. For more robust and complex project though, a project management software that centralizes project and collaboration tools will be more beneficial and easy to use.

A dedicated project management systems like Primavera, Asana, and Basecamp will ultimately provide more project-related tools in one integrated platform where you can also create professional Gantt charts and manage projects with different project management methodologies. 

Microsoft also offers a collection of products like MS Planner and MS Project that can be used for projects. Many companies choose MS Project over Excel due to the availability of more centralized features. MS Projects integrates with Teams so you can collaborate on projects as well. 

Google Workplace, previously known as G-Suite, itself comes with 12 apps that can be used in combination with each other for the purpose of project management. No matter what project management software or app you use, to do so successfully you will require some training in the basics of project management. 

Luckily for aspiring project managers, Google offers 100% remote online learning certifications, making learning new skills super easy and convenient. Google Project Management Certification does not require any previous experience in the field and teaches the basics of project management in under 10 hours of study per week. The best part about the certification is that it teaches both traditional and agile methods to manage projects effectively.

If you are a project manager with the basic knowledge of project management then you can easily make use of Google Workspace for project management. Although Google has no dedicated project management app, it provides enough project management tools as part of the Workspace.

Whether you want to create email lists, schedule meetings, create task lists, make impressive presentations, or collaborate in real-time with your team members, Google Workspace have got you covered. To get started all you need to have is a Google Account and you will have access to a number of amazing feature provided by different Workspace apps.

If you are using Google Workspace for your own self or you are running a small business it will be enough to use the free version. However, for mid-size or large businesses it will be best to go for other plans.

The Business Starter plan starts at $6 per user per month. It offers 30 GB cloud storage per user and allows 100 participants in video meetings. The Business Standard plan costs $12 per user per month. Using this plan, you can not only have up to 150 participants in video meetings but you can also record those meetings. The storage space allowed per user in this plan is 2 TB.

The Business Plus plan is suitable for large businesses and costs $18 per user per month. You can have as much as 500 participants in video meetings and along with the additional feature of video recording you also get extra features like attendance tracking. In this plan you also get Vault and advanced endpoint management. Moreover, the security features and management controls are also better.

If you are a large enterprise and would like more advanced features and increased storage limits and other capabilities, you should consider having an enterprise plan. There is not fixed cost for the enterprise plan, you can get a quote according to the plan you want by contacting sales and telling them your requirements.

With an enterprise account you can have as much storage as you need and along with getting a business email (available in all business plans) you will also get a S/MIME encryption. An S/MIME encryption makes your business email super secure by encrypting the message while sending which can only be decrypted by the user by means of entering a private key. As for video calling you can add up to 500 participants in a video call but unlike the normal business plans you also get advanced features like noise cancellation and in domain live streaming.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that although Google does not have a dedicated project management app, the apps included in Google Workspace are more than enough to practice effective project management.

Gmail and Google Meet are the tools that can be used for organizing meetings and collaboration. Google Drive can be used for data storage. Google Docs and Google Sheets can be used for entering and organizing data as well as performing data analysis. Google Tasks can be used to create task lists and Google Calendar can be synchronized with the other apps for scheduling.

You can also use Google Calendar to create projects and assign deadlines to different tasks within the project. The fact that all these tools are cloud based makes collaboration super easy across the organization. As long as there's an internet connection, you and your team can work together in real-time regardless of location.