If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.- Mark Twain
Okay, okay, I get it! I’m a management consultant, specializing in program effectiveness, so I shouldn’t really be a tool bigot. Let me adjust my train of thought and I’ll get on board.
So, you figured out all your key project management capabilities and you are ready to automate? Have you got methods and practices locked in for each of these?
- Scope definition
- Project planning
- Impact management
- Resource management
- Status reporting
If you have, then maybe it IS time to start reviewing automation. But remember, if you have not determined HOW do to these things, and your team has not yet mastered the process, don’t go shopping yet. Mastering the processes means, for example, on a status report your team understands what information is key to report, how to engage their stakeholders, and how to use predictive metrics. Getting them to fill out bad information in an automated tool won’t help anyone.
Ready, let’s shop!
If your team needs central storage to share and collaborate on documents, Microsoft’s SharePoint and Google’s Drive both offer great points of entry. Microsoft’s platform has evolved and offers an architecture that supports you building out your existing PM capabilities (i.e., dashboards, status, pipelines). SharePoint is now the underlying architecture of a suite of Microsoft offerings (e.g., knowledge base, chat); it is so much more than a repository.
No, no. I understand! Most of those organizations looking for a project management tool want more than a knowledge base. Have you determined what is core for your delivery team? Do you need:
- Time tracking
- Project planning
- Reporting
- Dashboards
- Portfolio management
Once you have established ‘what’ you want your tool to automate, you should assess your capabilities vs. the tools. Microsoft Project has been around for decades and keeps getting more and more sophisticated. It has advanced capabilities to enable your project leaders, but it takes quite a bit to set up and learn. If you have less mature practices and don’t need the sophistication of a powerhouse like Project, consider one of the “newer” players in the market, such as SmartSheet. If your environment is one where everyone is a project manager, and the tool is more about work management (task lists, collaboration, and user experience), Smartsheet may be right for you.
Scalability
Scalability of a project management tool is another key consideration. Workfront is an enterprise level platform that does everything from time tracking to project planning, and event planning to resource management. It’s built for large organizations and can integrate with a host of other software you may already be using. However, scaling a tool like Workfront can be expensive. The per person charge for this powerhouse may put it somewhat out of reach. And the features you really want may not be available in their entry-level pricing model. You may be able to scale up use for all your project managers but paying for the tool across the organization may be too costly.
On the other end of the spectrum, one might consider Wrike. Wrike offers lots of functionality (including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and personalized dashboards). It advertises the ability to integrate with over 400 other applications (e.g., Microsoft, Google, Salesforce). Paid plans for this tool start at under $10 per user per month.
Who needs what?
Another consideration before purchasing your tool should be organizational use. Is this tool for your project managers or the whole of the project team? Is the tool only needed for the specifics of how the Information Technology team runs their initiatives, or does the Marketing team need to leverage it too? If the tool is to be used across the entire enterprise, consider the following:
- What impact will it have on culture (standardization: one way for everyone)?
- What level of detailed project planning is needed (just milestones or down to the deliverable)?
- Do you need to record effort against tasks (can all your teams adjust to capturing their daily time in 15 or 30-minute increments)?
Unfortunately, I’ve been in organizations that bought a big enterprise-wide tool without carefully assessing impacts on the culture. PMs were not happy with the lack of flexibility to do detailed project planning. Marketing was not happy because not everything they did was a ‘project’ (but they were required to put all work in as such). Non-IT professionals were not on board with the idea of needing to record their time. And the CIO was not happy needing to carry a very large cost for a tool that was used for about 10% of what it offered.
There is a lot that goes into the requirements-based decision making for a project management tool. Make sure your decision is based on more than slick sales presentations and advice from only one or two user groups. It is more than just price one needs to assess. As philosopher Plato noted, “A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” If you need help with software selection, requirements development, or process improvement, give me a shout. TSI has proven practices to help you get the right solution for your need.
