January 22, 2024
In the dynamic world of startups with scarce resources and lack of time, effective planning is crucial for success. With a whirlwind of unstructured tasks, meetings and deadlines, it is no surprise that founders need tools that can help them organize their workload, collaborate with team members and stay on top of their goals.
The issue here is not to buy the latest shiny software as if we were in a big and rich multinational. The point is to seek what's available out there that is both powerful and offering a generous free allowance for one or more users until a start-up becomes profitable. In this post I share what do we love and use here at Pantar.ai.
Asana
Asana is the master software here: it is the starting point of every day and every week, and we cascade planning activities from there to other places. It is free to use in its basic version that is full of functionalities and can absolutely be effective already without the need to upgrade. It has no time limits.
Asana is a popular choice among startup founders due to its comprehensive features and user-friendly interface. It offers a variety of tools for managing projects, including task lists, kanban boards, calendars, and timelines. It also integrates seamlessly with other productivity tools, making it a versatile option for managing your entire business workflow.
Nice to have features, such as building specific rules to keep project pages tidy, can de added by paying.
Linear
If in Asana we do the full planning around sales, marketing, operations, engineering/coding, talent management, with a big picture view. Depending on the subject, we then cascade down the nitty & gritty details to other places. For example, when we talk coding software, the individual tasks and specific projects that we need to run are recorded and tracked in the beautiful Linear.
Linear allows you to create interactive roadmaps, visualize sprints, and track progress with Gantt charts. Linear is particularly well-suited for engineers, as single tasks can be connected directly to GitHub for example, and for agile teams in general, as it fosters collaboration and transparency throughout the development process.
Miro
Planning is great when things are clear. It is less straightforward when things are still confusing and messy. The tool that we use to record initial messy thoughts and creative ideas is Miro.
Miro is a digital whiteboard that empowers teams to brainstorm ideas, collaborate on designs, and facilitate workshops. Its flexible canvas, sticky notes, and built-in tools make it ideal for visualizing concepts, generating ideas, and bringing creative visions to life. Startup founders can use Miro to gather feedback from stakeholders, refine prototypes, and bring their ideas to market more efficiently.
Miro is such a powerful software to jot down creative inputs. I use Miro to record mind maps, including new business ideas to take care of.
Trello
Trello is a popular kanban board tool that provides a visual representation of your workflow. Its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to move tasks between columns, assign deadlines, and track progress.
I have used it in the past. It is so easy to set-up and flexible. The kanban-only visualization has been great to brainstorm and download everything from my mind and add graphics, but I started to lack focus when boards were becoming too big to manage with too many things and too many colours. Then, I swtiched to Asana.
Still, it might work well for you.
Notion
Notion is a powerful tool that combines note-taking, project management, and wiki-style documentation. It allows you to create and organize notes, tasks, and projects in a variety of ways, making it a versatile option for both individual and team work. Startup founders can use Notion to capture ideas, manage to-do lists, collaborate with team members, and create knowledge bases.
I happily use Notion to jot down structured notes on specific activities, meetings, concepts that need to remain in the "memory" of the start-up. It is the engine that we are putting behind the knowledge base of the company. While it is less about planning the day to day, my recorded insights on Notion work as the backbone context to move to the next step in the list of tasks and activities.
Conclusion
Effective planning is essential for startup success, and the right planning software can help you streamline your workflow, collaborate effectively, and achieve your goals. At Pantar.ai, we do general and day-to-day planning by starting with Asana, move the COding details to Linear, record mind maps and creative thoughts to develop on Miro, and finally record our knowledge base on Notion.
Bring it on!
Let us know what's your approach to planning: hello@pantar.ai
