I’m always looking for simple and cheap ways to help manage projects. Whether they’re spreadsheets, Post-it Notes or MS Outlook, tools make a difference.

Three core functions of managing web projects are task distribution and notification, tracking the amount of work performed and reporting progress or status. Ideal project management applications do all that and more, but they can be complicated and expensive. Blogs are simple, free and suitable for at least two of the three functions mentioned above.

By setting up categories useful to your situation, blogs can work very well to help manage tasks and issues and log project activity. They can also be a central repository for project information and related documentation. Here’s an example of possible category structure:

Project A
- Active Tasks
- Completed Tasks
- Active Issues
- Solved Issues
- Red Flag
- Status Reports
- Files

The Project Manager creates posts and team members use comments to communicate. Everything is ordered by date. When a post’s status changes, the PM simply edits it and moves it to another category. If your blog has RSS feeds they can be used for notification as tasks, issues and comments get posted. Some blog software products allow for membership so categories and posts can be hidden to certain users. Clients can even be folded into the mix.