OK, it's time for part 3 of where organizations struggle when it comes to project management software. I do not mean to oversimplify the scenarios in which organizations find themselves, but these are generalized scenarios that I have found.
In Part 1, I commented on organizations that have virtually no project management tools. Part 2 covered organizations that rely on simple or stand-alone tools, such as Microsoft Project, spreadsheets, email, etc. The third scenario is the organization that has a tool or set of tools in place but finds that the tools are too complex to achieve any kind of significant value from them.
Am I saying that higher-end, complicated tools are bad? No, just different, and they need to be utilized in the right scenario to meet the right needs with the right organization. For example, if you have a large organization of thousands of users and you need to centralize project management software into a single, comprehensive system...you need a high-end complicated tool. However, most organizations do not need this level of complexity, and it can in fact be detrimental.
How do you know if your software is too complex? That's not quite so easy. The simple answer is to evaluate usage. If people in the organization are not using the software, that may be a sign it is too complicated. However, that can really be oversimplifying the situation because there may very well be other root causes. For example, people may not have received enough training, or they have received too much training (you heard that right...more information than what is needed for them to do their job), or there may be a culture that does not have the discipline to use a more formalized tool.
Another factor to evaluate is how much time are you spending administering and doing mundane tasks in the system. If a lot of time is spent on administrative maintenance, that may be a sign that the system is more complicated than what you need.
Yet another factor is the flexibility available in the system. These systems can be very "customizable", but often require consultants or integrators spending a good deal of time to make it so.
What can you do if you have an overly complicated system? After all, it is difficult to move in another direction after making a significant investment of time and money. However, there are some tips and practices you can employ to help out. But...I'll cover that in a subsequent post.
Next, we'll switch gears and look at the various options available in the project management software market. That may seem obvious, but most people are confused by the breadth of tools available on the marketplace. I will simplify this for you by helping you organize them into five categories, and help you identify the category (or categories) that best fit your organization.
After that, we'll look at some strategies and tips to actually implement software and gain strategic advantages from it.