No-cost program management tools: Conference line, PM platform

February 20, 2018 12:43 PM

Hello, I am working with a group of 4 individuals on a growing project. As we are getting further along in our work, we need program management tools. Does anyone have experience with a free conference line? We do not need video, but we would like webinar capacity and a conference line/number. Also, we will be anticipating the need for a program management platform for interactive management and archiving. This is a community-lead project, so free or low cost is preferred and appreciated. Thank you in advice!

I found Zoom online, but the service only allows for 40-minute calls for groups of 3 or more.
Bonus- it would be great if there is a way to record these calls for team members who can not participate.

program management platform
If there are no free programs out there, can you tell me which platforms you would recommend?

posted by Boyd to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

It's been a while since I've used it, but I believe freeconferencecall.com has the features you want. The only drawback is that the number you call for a conference isn't toll-free, but there was also no advertising or spam that I noticed.
posted by DrGail at 12:48 PM on February 20, 2018

I like Uber Conference.
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:30 PM on February 20, 2018 [6 favorites]

Jitsi Meet is excellent: open-source, encrypted, and free. If you add the Jitsi Meetings extension to Chrome, you can schedule calendar events and add Jitsi meetings, as well as join Jitsi meetings via your web browser (dial-in phone numbers and call-out capability is also provided). You can also start impromptu meetings and/or test it from here. I've been using it for meetings with one colleague for a while and we really like it.

Otherwise, for project-management software, I've tended to recommend Trello (super easy, free) or Redmine (requires more tech savvy).
posted by limeonaire at 6:33 PM on February 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh, and also, the free version of Zoom could meet your needs for a conference line, if your meetings don't exceed 40 minutes. It's superior to almost all other conferencing software I've used, and even the pro plan isn't necessarily prohibitive ($14.99 per month) if you do decide to scale up at some point.
posted by limeonaire at 9:00 PM on February 20, 2018

I didn't love Asana, but it has a pretty robust set of project management features. If you're comfortable rolling your own for the most part, I like Dropbox Paper for collaborative note taking and planning alongside regular old Dropbox.

For conference call solutions, UberConference is so good, and so free. Can call in from computer or phone, seamless and lovely, always reliable. And their hold song...it's pretty cute the first few times you hear it, I'll give them that.
posted by flipmodemedian at 8:44 PM on February 24, 2018