It's not easy being the boss. Whether you are in charge of a two-person team or you head a large department or office, it's a stressful job. Get a little help from technology to ensure you are doing things right.

From essential checklists to understanding and executing your duties, these apps and guides have it all. We made sure that the apps in this list have explicit privacy policies that don't sell your data to anyone.

And in case you're an underling, pay attention. Before you know it, you will be well on your way to becoming a project manager yourself.

1. Team Colony (Email): Daily Email to Find What Everyone Did Today

If you aren't using Team Colony, start right now. There is no reason to wait on this one. It's completely free and ad free and doesn't require any installations.

Every day, Team Colony will send an email to all employees at the end of working hours. They need to reply and say what they did today. The whole thing is turned into a daily report and emailed to you, the boss. Simple, right? There's more.

Along with the daily activities, team members need to add a hashtag of how they are feeling today. This turns into an emoji, which is plotted on the calendar. Eventually, you'll see a large calendar view of your team's mood, and you can take action accordingly.

2. Manager Checklist (Web): Daily Recurring List of Essential To-Dos

Being the boss comes with its own set of responsibilities. They can get overwhelming, causing you to forget the essential check-ins you should be doing. Teambit's manager checklist has your back.

There is a set of to-do items for daily, weekly, regular, and once-in-a-while tasks. It is a web page and you don't need to install anything. Check the box when you're done with an item, and move on.

Set it as the homepage in your browser, so that Manager Checklist pops up every day to remind you of what needs to be done. As Atul Gawande says in his book The Checklist Manifesto, it is far more productive to use a checklist than a to-do list.

3. 3sixty (Web): What Does Your Team Think About You?

Employees tend not to be fully honest with their bosses. It's natural, of course, since there is either fear of reprisal or an attempt to earn brownie points. How can you find out what your team really thinks about you?

3sixty is an excellent tool to get honest, anonymous feedback from your team. Add your objective your profile, so there is continuous feedback from employees on whether you are meeting your goals.

The app is free for up to four people, letting anyone create questions and get answers anonymously. Bosses can encourage others to pose questions too so that there's two-way communication without any blowback.

4. Weekdone (Web): An Excellent All-Round Tool

Weekdone is a single app to integrate many of the aforementioned tools. It's free for up to three users, but you'll need to pay if you are managing a larger team than that.

The project management tool lets you create a set of different plans, setting and assigning tasks to different team members. Weekdone also uses the simple hashtag to group items, thus using hashtags more effectively. As an individual team member, you can manage and add your own tasks, which can be kept hidden from others or shared publicly.

The app offers a built-in employee feedback system as well. If you have any ideas that you want an opinion on, put it out there and see what your team says. And yes, they can be anonymous in their feedback.

5. The Epic Guide to Employee Management (Free Ebook)

A lot of what goes into being a good team leader isn't about the apps you use, but the brain you use. You need to know what you should and shouldn't be doing. The easiest way to find out is to read free books.

Wagepoint's Epic Guide would be our recommended read. It is neatly formatted for reading online or as a PDF. The index will help you jump to whatever you need to tackle.

The guide includes communication basics, performance management, employee growth, and engagement. It makes it a point to also concentrate on your own career as a boss. Finally, Wagepoint also includes a few checklists of its own, which you might want to implement in daily life.

Download: The Epic Guide to Employee Management (Free)

What's the Best Book or Video for Bosses?

While Wagepoint's free ebook is great, the leadership field is full of other excellent resources. This includes best-selling books, documentaries, leadership seminars, and much more.

Which book, video, or other resource helped you be a better boss? What's the mantra that you lead your team by?