I am regularly asked by clients to provide recommendations to help them address general to very specific operations issues, be it in a business, non-profit organization or educational setting.  Whenever I get the “What would you recommend for . . .?” question, unless the solution is fairly obvious (a fair number are!), I try to start by learning more about the client’s needs.  The first step is to ask “What are you trying to accomplish?”.  This is particularly critical for project management tools.  One size does not fit all!

Some of the more important questions to answer to better understand your project management needs include:

  • Is this one project or a series of individual or linked projects?
  • How complex are they? (Number of events and duration being two measures)
  • How many people will be participating in the project?
  • How many people will be managing the project? What level of project management skill and experience do they have?
  • Where are the participants and managers located? How will they need to interact with each other?
  • How will needed company information be accessed and shared with the project members?
  • How will the project status be shared with project members as well as project stakeholders and the broader organization to ensure success?

The last question is particularly important.  No project run in a vacuum can be successful.

Evaluating potential project management solutions

With answers to the above questions in hand, it is possible to wade into the vast range of potential project management solutions with the goal of selecting a particular tool that meets your immediate needs.  However, unless your company’s services are fundamentally based on project management (e.g. construction management) or unless you have a strong group dedicated to project management as a core competency, there is a major challenge inherent in this approach.

The challenge: Choosing a particular standalone project management tool that integrates seamlessly and effectively with your daily operations, is user friendly and can be scaled to meet your needs today and into the future can be a daunting task!  Why?  The harsh reality is:

  • Any single tool can be too complex (overkill) for some projects and not powerful enough for others
  • Your needs WILL change over time
  • Casual users will struggle to learn and stay current with an “add on” solution
  • Only a subset of your organization will use a standalone tool . . . typically only when they are forced to
  • It is more difficult to access and share documents and project status using a standalone tool
  • Keeping all interested parties informed of the project status is more complicated
  • With the wrong tool, project management will be viewed as “too painful” and will fall by the wayside

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