Thinking about buying collaborative project management software?

Have you outgrown Basecamp or are you looking for a replacement to Basecamp or a Basecamp like tool?

Here is a review which compares Basecamp to Vertabase Pro. It also provides a framework in which to evaluate Basecamp against other online or web-based project management solutions.

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Hiro Nakamura from NBC’s show Heroes has done the truly remarkable. The man from Yamagato Industries has broken all rules in project management and set new boundaries. Sure he can move time with his mind, bend the space time continuum and teleport. But yesterday he did something even more remarkable.

He executed a project using a comic book as the project plan.

Most project managers plan projects using some form of project management software or a Microsoft Project like tool. Even those that don’t use any project management software will, at least, use a spreadsheet like MS Excel to list all their tasks and keep note of their status. (These can get pretty complicated -as complicated as some project management software, with a variety of Excel Macros and built-in MS Excel functions set to automatically track and calculate the overall health of their projects.)

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Here is a rough translation of an internal memo to Hiro Nakamura (from NBC’s new television show Heroes). It is from the project management office of Yamagoto Industries.

While the PMO has been enthusiastically trying to recruit Hiro for a project management job, the memo points out two areas where Hiro needs to improve his project management skills.

These are lessons all project managers face.

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Thinking about buying collaborative project management software?

If you are benchmarking or comparing Microsoft Project to newer web-based project management software (like Vertabase Pro), here are 3 key factors to consider when reviewing this type of project management software.

1. Difference in Philosophy.

Microsoft Project’s philosophy keeps the traditional project management paradigm but patches the tool with collaborative features. It has many robust project planning and resource allocation tools. However, it is very much a project manager’s tool. It is geared towards people with training both in project management methods and in using Microsoft Project project management software itself.

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Collaboration is a word that is thrown around a lot when it comes to web-based project management. Understanding the types of collaboration out there and knowing what you are looking for, can help you make a better selection when it comes to buying project management software.

Since projects are about people working together to get things done, its natural that web-based project management software facilitates people working together- collaborating. This is one of the most significant innovations of web-based project management software. It is also one of the most casually used buzzwords. Here is a quick guide to help de-code what people are talking about when they say collaboration in project management software.

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DM News online recently published an article by the General Manager of Intuit’s Quickbase. The article is Five Steps to Simple Marketing Project Management.

There are two crucial requirements for project management software which she left out. (While aimed at marketing departments, these apply to IT departments and others, as well.)

1) Scalability. Marketers can deal with a large number of on-going projects involving multiple teams, clients or project portfolios. Make sure your project management software can scale, easily and out-of-the-box, to handle that level of complexity. Report should give you clarity into your projects, helping you get a handle on everything that’s going on. Functionality should be skillfully crafted so that the software remains easy to use no matter what level of complexity you are dealing with. If not, managing the software can become a job in itself -creating more work than its worth.

2) Training and Support. Implementing project management software takes a degree of formalizing workflow. For creatives and other professionals (like software developers) this may be a bit of a change. Your project management software vendor should have a committment to hands-on training and ongoing support to make this process as easy as possible.  They should help you map out the process (afterall, they should have experience doing this with other customers before). They should be easily accessible, to hold your hand, as it were, throughout the process. And remain friendly, accessible and supportive throughout the relationship.

She is right on when it comes to simplicity and trying out project management software. If you are looking for reasons to try online project management sfotware, see our earlier post.

According to my industry insider, many companies in today’s project management space originally created a project tracking solution for themselves, based on their internal processes and for their business, and then decided on one fine day that their software could be used by others, and could possibly make them some money to boot. I call these types of software producers it worked for me, so maybe it will work for them.

This is perhaps the lowest level of software producer. They have no aspirations, no true philosophy of software design, and when it comes down to it, they are only in it for the cash. This is in contrast to real software artists that are inspired to create for sake of a great purpose, while the money aspect is secondary.

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Why Project Management Software is Not a Commodity

The person on the other end of the phone line is a new buyer and he keeps saying to me that buying project management software is a confusing and difficult process because all these project management products look the same. I answer saying that I agree on the surface that it looks that way, and that it is frustrating because everything does seem to do the same thing. I continue to explain that I understand their pain and then my real job comes into play.

That is when I pause for a moment, take in a deep breath, take off my sales hat and with a flare toss on my teachers hat. My teachers hat looks just like my sales hat, but I assure you, here too, there are significant differences in intent and approach even if they look similar.

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You can tell a lot about the target market for a project management software based on what they call planning.

a) If the tool doesn’t having planning, it’s a tool for helping keep things in order.

The target is probably smaller organizations, teams or individuals who may or may not interact with other people as part of the project. The main goal of this type of project management software is to help individuals be more organized or to give some structure to the way people interact.

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Behind the buzzwords of Web 2.0 and web-based software, there is a specific approach to ease-of-use and friendliness. Its reflected in the way the software is designed and, in the best cases, in the company’s attitude towards users. This approach makes a compelling business case for web-based software.

These should resonate loudly with buyers of project management software. In this space, buyers face a crowded market. And a lot of people have been burned or turned-off by other types of project management software in the past.

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