Coming up with new ideas and seeing them through to fruition in the most efficient way possible is what we mean when talking about idea management. An idea management tool makes it easier to gather, arrange, and evaluate a broad range of concepts and ideas from staff members, which promotes more productive creativity inside the company.
Business owners come up with hundreds of business ideas. Moreover, the people who are working with them can also share their ideas. It is impossible for business owners to imply all the ideas due to a lack of time and resources. They need to identify the right idea and enforce it to get the desired results.
To help business owners in maximizing the potential of their ideas there is a need for idea management software and tools.
You need to motivate your staff to use the new idea management platform. According to MC Kinsey, 70% of change initiatives fail to complete their objectives. It is because of employee reluctance and inadequate management support.
What is an Idea Management Software?
An idea management software is the core organizing component of your idea management strategy.
This innovative software will help you in gathering, assessing, and prioritizing your ideas. Moreover, it will also help you in tracking them.
Making good use of idea management software can impact your success in a significant manner. Doing the right management of marketing projects is no doubt one of the most crucial steps.
For starters, it will aid in developing a company-wide innovation culture and environment. This will foster the development of original ideas from the inside. So, multi-featured idea management systems are necessary for effective idea management.
Idea Management Process
Here are some crucial steps in the idea management process:
- Set goals you want to achieve
- Create and organize your ideas
- Select which ideas to pursue and apply
- Determine who is managing the idea workflow
- Assign roles and responsibilities for each phase of the workflow
- Ensure accountability at each step in the idea management process
- Check the ideas and see what ideas have good potential
- Update your idea management processes based on what you’ve learned along the way
Here are some tools to identify the best ideas and execute them in your business
- Evernote
Evernote is a data organizing tool used to keep all the essential ideas and information together in one place. It is not for organizing notes only. You can add photos and files also.
Evernote integrates with the applications that you already use. It includes Google Drive, Slack, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, and Gmail. You can access your notes with ease on all your devices, even if you do not have an internet connection.
- Quip
Quip is an online workspace that allows you and anyone else you invite to create and edit documents in the same place.
The program also includes facilities for real-time communication. Like in-app chat, which allows users to communicate with one another immediately.
You can access a vast collection of file formats, such as:
- Word documents
- Spreadsheets
- Presentation slideshows
Quip encourages collaboration among team members, which contributes to your collective success.
- Trello
Trello is one of the best idea management platforms. It helps teams organize and manage their projects and tasks. It is a visual application that allows your team to handle any project, workflow, or task tracking.
You can customize everything to fit how your team operates in an efficient manner. Trello allows you to add files and checklists and even automate them.
A simple system of boards, lists, and cards allows everyone to see in a clear manner who is in charge of what. It also allows you to see the deadline of the task.
The board will also show you what you have already achieved and what is your next target.
It keeps the tasks structured and organized.
The list outlines the various steps involved in completing the task. You can make different lists highlighting:
- Tasks you have done
- Tasks you are currently working on
- Future tasks
It enables you to have a transparent workflow for idea management according to your team’s requirements.
The card describes the task that needs to be done and provides the necessary information to complete it.
- MindManager
MindManager facilitates the creative brainstorming process and helps in the interpretation of ideas. The use of MindManager results in increased productivity not only for individuals but also for entire teams.
Through the visual and dynamic working approach, it is possible to organize meetings and presentations.
MindManager is a popular tool for planning and managing projects and tasks.
Also, it provides a visual representation of all the information. MindManager is an excellent choice for small and medium-sized projects.
When it comes to company-wide business planning, MindManager is an excellent tool. You can get a comprehensive overview of the situation using MindManager while seeing every minor aspect.
- JIRA
JIRA helps to keep track of a project from beginning to its completion. JIRA allows you to assign tasks and keep track of deadlines and work status for you and your team.
You can change it to suit the requirements of any kind of project. Teams have the option of beginning with a project template. It will also allow the teams to develop their very own unique workflow.
You can divide big tasks into small subtasks. You can see your team member’s performance and the status of their jobs on the board.
- Airtable
Airtable enables you to design a database that stores the information relevant to your work. You can use that database to support the visualizations, processes, and integrations that comprise a custom application that is personalized to you.
It allows you to gather information from various sources in a single place. In this way, everyone can work from the most recent version. You can classify and reorganize your data to collect specific data you can share with your teammates.
Conclusion
Idea management tools are designed to make specific steps simpler, faster, and more intuitive.
Whether you using sticky notes, a shared drive, or even an Excel spreadsheet. Finding help to manage your idea flow will improve your chances of making successful improvements. moreover, it also maximizes the chances of additions to your company or business.
As you can see, there’s a wide range of tools to help you with idea management. It depends on your goal and the costs and features of the tools you will use.
We want everything to be as efficient as possible. So it should always be about finding suitable systems for YOU.
