Project management

One of the challenging tasks in an engineering organization is project management. To build a scalable project management infrastructure, especially for software engineering projects, it is essential to have the right tool for the job. Unfortunately MS-Project, the default tool used by a lot of companies and with due respect to its capabilities still lacks the ability provide the view of the project to a person who is not a "real" project manager. While looking for some online tools, I came across some very nice online tools which apart from providing the project management tools also provide the necessary mechanisms to collaborate and present information in a intuitive form. Please find the links below and check them out. I will write about them once I review them in detail. I wanted to list them first before I forget the names/links ;-)

1. Clarizen : Clarizen provides on-demand, collaborative project execution software that allows businesses to easily manage all of their projects and resources in a single environment. Clarizen facilitates true team collaboration and project execution.
2. Basecamp : Basecamp is a project management and group collaboration tool. It was launched in 2004 as 37signals first product. The tool includes features for schedules, tasks, files, and messages.
3. LiquidPlanner : LiquidPlanner is online project management software designed to help teams of all sizes manage complex projects. LiquidPlanner is built on an innovative scheduling engine that gives users a project schedule even before they know how long it will take.
4. ProjectPier : ProjectPier is a Free, Open-Source, self-hosted PHP application for managing tasks, projects and teams through an intuitive web interface. ProjectPier will help your organization communicate, collaborate and get things done Its function is similar to commercial groupware/project management products, but allows the freedom and scalability of self-hosting. Even better, it will always be free.