Best Tools for Remote Workers

Asana

Asana’s Work Graph data model consolidates tasks, projects, goals, and portfolios into one unified interface. Customizable workflows are also available for an array of projects, including project and workflow management, team calendars, Kanban boards, remote team management, and agile management. 

Asana allows users to upload and share media (files, documents, and images), as well as feedback and status updates. Asana’s project management solution can also be used to create custom reports, foster problem-solving and collaboration, prioritize tasks, and map out goals. 

Key Features

• Customizable solutions for teams (marke ting, operations, sales, and product, etc.). 
• Customizable solutions for workflows (project/workflow management, Kanban boards, agile management, and remote team management, etc.) 
• Pre-designed templates for team goals and objective planning, team continuity, and other concerns. 
• App and tool integrations for a more comprehensive workflow. 
• Set strategic goals, build Gantt charts, and manage individual and team workloads with key features.  

Monday.com 

Customizable for a variety of solutions—including marketing, project management, CRM, and HR and recruitment—Monday.com facilitates collaboration and productivity. It also readily integrates with existing tools, such as Slack, LinkedIn, Hubspot, and Google Drive, creating even more effective workflows. 

Monday.com’s project management solution allows managers to track overall progress, manage budget approvals, and assign team members to different projects. This project planning software also easily integrates with Google Calendar, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Teams, helping users expand their ecosystem. 

Transitioning to remote work is made easier with Monday.com’s ready-made templates. Available templates include logs for one-on-one meetings, COVID-19 risk assessments, daily team tasks, and remote equipment checks. 

Key Features  

• Customizable solutions for HR and recruitment, project and task management, CRM, software development, IT, and construction, etc.
• Extensive integration with existing tools and apps. 
• Ready-made Monday.com apps.  
• Ready-made templates to simplify the onboarding process and workflows for remote teams. 

Trello 

Consistently ranked among the best task management software due to its intuitive interface and highly visual presentation, Trello allows users to manage projects using boards, cards, and lists.

Trello cards can be used to track individual projects, and each card can be populated with specific information, including project specs, assigned team members, and deadlines. Media—such as Google Docs, PDFs, and links—can also be attached to Trello cards, ensuring there are back-ups for all submitted work. Advanced features include timelines, calendars, and productivity metrics. 

Key Features  

• Manage projects and tasks seamlessly using Trello’s trademark boards, cards, and lists.
• Insert labels and project specs, and assign team members and deadlines, directly onto cards. 
• Create customized reports using Butler. 
• Customize cards further by adding checklists. Tasks are listed as items on checklists, and team members and due dates can be assigned to each task.  
• Customize rules and commands on your Trello boards using Butler.

Basecamp 

Designed for fully distributed teams, Basecamp consolidates all communications, projects, tasks, and roles into one user interface. Users are equipped with all the tools and resources they’ll need to assign roles and accountability, facilitate project development, and beat deadlines.

Executives and managers can significantly reduce their meetings and virtual check-ins by taking advantage of Basecamp’s auto check-in feature. By responding to queries like “What are you working on today/this week?” direct reports can keep their managers updated on their tasks and responsibilities.  

Key Features  

• Message boards allow users to post announcements, give project updates, and receive feedback.
• To-do lists allow managers to prioritize tasks and set deadlines. 
• Group chats foster internal communication.  
• Folders make it easy to upload and share documents, files, spreadsheets, and images. 
• Shared schedules allow managers to monitor milestones and beat deadlines. 
• Hill Charts keep projects on track and provide more context than Gantt charts (according to Basecamp). 
• Easy client access for heightened transparency.  
• Customizable reports.  

Proofhub

ProofHub is consistently ranked among the best project management software because of its ability to consolidate and streamline every aspect of the project manager’s workflow. Users can create discussion topics, allowing teammates to share their ideas, files, and documents in one place. Teammates can also leave comments, proof proposals and designs, and foster centralized collaboration inside discussion topics. 

The table view feature allows project managers to view their campaigns from a macro perspective, helping them determine progress, assign tasks, and communicate essential information to teammates. Kanban boards, meanwhile, allow managers to divide tasks into workflow stages and designate tasks to direct reports.  

Key Features  

• Simple, intuitive interface.
• Table view allows managers to organize projects based on their team’s preferences or needs. 
• Kanban boards allow projects to be broken down into various workflow stages. 
• Gantt charts allow the visualization of projects in a timeline view. 
• Customizable roles and access.
• Prioritize tasks with labels, deadlines, and estimates.  
• Centralized cloud-based archive where users can store different versions of files and documents. 
• Visualize progress with resource and project reports. 
• Timesheets to keep track of billable hours and productivity.  

Jira

Widely considered to be one of the best project management tools for software developers and agile teams, Jira Software allows every team member to plan, track, and launch software. Among other features, team members can take advantage of scrum boards, kanban boards, and project roadmaps to track and resolve issues, communicate with stakeholders, and release projects in a timely manner.  

Agile reporting is made easy with customizable reports that provide real-time, actionable insights on how a team is performing during each sprint. If that wasn’t enough, Jira also has an automation feature that seamlessly automates tasks and processes.  

Key Features  

• Scrum boards facilitate team collaborations, incremental delivery starts, and sprint planning.
• Kanban boards visualize workflows for agile and DevOps software developers. 
• Basic and Advanced roadmaps enable project managers to track projects from a macro level. 
• Different types of agile reporting allow teams to extract real-time, actionable insights on team performance.  

Github

Another great project management tool for software developers is GitHub. GitHub is a code hosting platform that facilitates version control and collaboration. It can be used for collaborative and secured coding, automated CI/CD testing, and team administration, among other tasks. 

Hosted for free in unlimited public and private repositories, software developers can record all stages in their coding and revert to earlier versions easily. Teams can also spend less time writing code thanks to GitHub’s extensive software package registry. 

Key Features  

• In-built tools facilitate secured and collaborative coding, automated CI/CD, team administration, and project management. 
• Automatically review every change to the codebase and identify every vulnerability before they reach production. 
• Use Team Administration to simplify access and permissions management across teams and projects.  

MySigrid

Designed for busy executives, private individuals, and fully distributed teams, the MySigrid Assistant app available on iOS, makes delegating recurring and ad-hoc administrative and secretarial tasks seamless. The business tool gives users access to subscription-based executive support from a team of highly trained and managed virtual assistants and specialists on their mobile phones. A web app for iOS/Android is coming soon.

The MySigrid Assistant app (iOS)

The app was designed with built-in features simplifying and structuring the delegation process. Users can communicate with the team via chat, voice notes, attachments, image snippets, and the innovative Quick Reply feature. The chat-per-task functionality keeps everything in one place, including all details about a task (i.e., agreed deadlines). In addition, the User can view all delegated tasks in one place and follow the real-time progress towards task resolution. This includes tasks delegated with the app or from the User's email.

You can say goodbye to endless email threads and hard-to-search chat conversations with your virtual assistant. Using the app, the users and their dedicated assistants can stay in sync and better support one another.

Key Features  

• Quickly capture tasks anywhere via chat, voice notes, attachments, image snippets, or use the innovative Quick Reply feature.
• Follow the real-time progress towards task resolution.
• View all delegated tasks in one place.
• The 'Chat-per-task' keeps everything in one place.
• Receive reminders about important dates & events, including status updates from your assistant.
• See if your VA is ‘On Duty.’
• Monitor subscription usage in real-time.
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The team services the client using the MySigrid VA platform

The team behind the Sigrid.ai remote, managed executive assistant service uses the MySigrid Platform to solve problems and complete tasks collectively, saving them more time individually. All requests from a client are converted into tasks in the MySigrid Task Management Component. These tasks are managed by the primary VA but may be delegated to specialists who have expertise in that particular area.

The clients' dedicated VA uses MySigrid to capture all the information they've gathered about a client, including their unique preferences in the Client Fact Book. So even if the primary VA goes on leave, another VA can step in and provide the same level of service with the same attention to detail.

Working across these sub-components is the Knowledge Base (KB). This is where artificial intelligence comes into play. The VAs document all of the clients' preferences, and the system remembers them. The team is constantly analyzing all of the communications and tasks that come in, and MySigrid then links them up with the appropriate preferences and recommendations stored in the central Knowledge Base. In that way, the users can leverage other clients' collective recommendations, enabling them to gain access to the best services and solutions.

Key Features  

• The MySigrid Communication Component - Centralization of all task communication. 
• Client Fact Book - Documentation of client-specific details and preferences. 
• AI-powered MySigrid Knowledge Base - guarantees task resolution according to client details and preferences. 
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Keep Your Remote Team Productive & Focused on Major Goals by Delegating Recurring Tasks to a Sigrid.AI Virtual Assistant 

Whether they’re working in the office or remotely, your team members’ primary goal is to crush their targets and deliver projects on time. To keep everyone focused on their main tasks, consider delegating administrative and secondary tasks to a Sigrid.AI personal assistant.

Sigrid.AI is a subscription-based remote managed virtual assistant service that combines the top 1% of virtual assistants and specialists with purpose-built technology. This allows us to deliver a vastly superior service to our clients.

Sign up for a free 14-day trial and you’ll automatically get five free tasks, plus support from a team of shared assistants and specialists. When your trial is over, you can buy more tasks or upgrade to one of our dedicated VA plans.

Once you’ve picked a plan, just pay for your first month and download our free To-Do-List mobile app (available for iOS). This app is custom-built for delegating tasks to our remote team. 

Not sure if a virtual assistant is right for your team? Check out our blog post on the five most common concerns clients have about hiring a remote executive assistant (you’d be glad to know that we’ve addressed each concern).

Are you interested in learning more about how to hire a Virtual Assistant? Read our guide 'How to Hire a Virtual Assistant: A Complete Guide'.

To learn more about our services and determine if we have what it takes to support your team, book a consultation.