A Never Ending Variety in Customizations

I have the pleasure of speaking to hundreds of people looking for project management software every month, and what I find amazing is the great difference in the way they are all working from one another. When I started speaking to people about their project management needs, I believed for the most part that everyone would basically be working in a very similar fashion. After all, we all put on our shoes basically the same way, brush our teeth, and walk upright as we move from place to place. But the more I spoke with potential customers, the more they kept asking me about very specific software functionalities. The first part of the question does your software do x and then y and then z, is followed by surprise when I answer that no, no one else has ever asked about that feature before. “Really?!” Is a classic response and they pause in disbelief.

Consider the surprising idea that most project management being done today is accomplished via MS Word and Excel. Many companies have developed elaborate processes around these tools, using them pretty much as tracking lists to keep track of projects. Unfortunately, using these products for project management is like using a Phillips screwdriver when you need a hex wrench. You are looking at a laborious and tedious process of arm wrenching sweat and toil. I have seen consistently profound time savings when people started to implement the right tool for project management and when I mentioned these right tools, I am not talking about a complex product like Primavera (which can be right for very complex jobs like the space shuttle).

In all the variety of approaches to managing project information I think the first step is admitting that the way you have been tracking projects in the past may not be the most efficient or logical. A lot of good minds have set about looking to make everyone’s life easier by creating tools to automate and make efficient the activity of project tracking. The other level of this admission is realizing that when you take on a new project tracking tool that you may be able to abandon the outdated manual processes of the past.

The great benefit to software is that it forces everyone do everything the same way. The obvious question then is does this PM software you are considering do it the right way? That really is the million dollar question in choosing a software product. Functionality lists are a great beginning to understanding what a particular piece of software can offer, but it is only a start. The real key is looking to see if the software does it the right way. It is not about what is in the software from a list standpoint, but rather, how does the software do that specific group of functions. Ultimately, will the tool do the job in the right fashion, and then will I be seeing tremendous increases in project efficiency and visibility.

Forget about manual labor and making more lists, that road is only a path to pain. An important first step when thinking about buying a new project management software tool is to consider keeping a very open mind, and understanding that you now have the opportunity to change the life of your company by accepting new approaches that in the end might just alter your group performance in a dramatic way. So toss out the old way, and test out the new way you can start to master your projects with ease.

          

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Project Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.