Sep 7, 2006
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Why Project Management Software is Not a Commodity - Part 2
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.
There are of course those that approach project management software for an academic level, designing a product to assist in complex and very large projects. The key here is realizing that most people and most groups find this type of software just too feature and function rich for the average person. The software is too deep and advanced for anyone who is not a PMI expert. If a project management software solution takes a minimum of two weeks to just to start to understand it’s basic functions, this is not going to be an effective solution for your average business person. The shameful fact is, a large number of products on the market are just these types of advanced solutions. So when you consider purchasing a product, make sure the feature set is not too deep for your application.
The next level of project management philosophy is what I have subscribed to whole heartedly for ten plus years. The key to successful project management software design is a strict adherence to the idea that most people doing project management are not project managers, and these people need the right tool. This tool should be easy to learn, and make sense for anyone doing a basic project work.
The most popular project management tools today, MS Word and Excel, are not really project management tools at all. Yet they are being used everyday for project management because most designers, programmers, marketers, financiers, do not know that there exists an easy-to-use project management tool designed specifically for non-project management experts. These properly designed PM tools have been known to bring about 35% + increases in efficiency overall, with sometimes 60% + time savings for non-project management experts. In other words, once we stop using the wrong tools for project management; hardcore solutions, Word, and Excel, then the rewards can be immense.
Ultimately, when you start to look for a new project management solution for your business, examine the philosophies behind these products. Ask the sales people who their product is designed for, and what brought about their decision to build a project management tool in the first place. Finally, get a demo account for those software products that look like a good fit and put them through the paces. Second to why they built their product, is the idea of how the actual features work. Anyone can put together a feature list that looks good, but do the features work well, and do they work with in harmony with the various components of the tool.
Not all project management tool are the same. There are very large differences from company to company, but by using these guidelines it should make the search a little less confusing. Don’t be afraid to ask the real questions, and listen carefully to see that the answers make sense for you. Until next time.
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