We move on to the third in our series of posts on the common project management software categories. Click below to access the previous posts in this series:
Project Management Software Categories: Introduction
Project Management Software Category #1: Simple / Stand Alone Tools
The second project management software category is the Collaborative category. This is a category that has emerged in the last 10 years or so with the advent of the Internet.
What primarily distinguishes this category from the simple / stand-alone category is that information is centralized. Other common characteristics are that these tools are often web-based, meaning you use a web browser to access them (often times over the Internet), multiple people can utilize the tools at the same time, and the setup and overall use is not as difficult as more complicated systems. These tools are typically focused on collaboration and thus do not have some features such as project scheduling, cost control, etc.
There are some clear benefits to this category. The fact that information is centralized is the primary benefit. The ability to view information in one place instead of in a lot of different project or spreadsheet files brings a whole new dimension to your decision-making capabilities (provided of course that the information in the system is accurate and timely). These tools tend to be fairly easy to use, in fact they are focused on really keeping things simple. That means that it usually is not difficult to begin using a tool in this category. Also, communication mechanisms are usually included with this type of tool, such as email notifications or discussion forums. This help to enhance communication.
There are some drawbacks to this category. First, you will sacrifice some features for simplicity. These tools are sometimes "too simple". For example, they often focus on simple task management without more advanced scheduling features. I have found that a lot of these tools don't have features such as a gantt view to enter dependencies and calculate schedules, or views to determine resource capacity. You manually enter tasks and give them due dates. Second, they lack sophistication for more "formal" project management. That just isn't what they are designed to be. We are talking simple, straightforward, basic management.
Do those drawbacks mean that this isn't the the category for you? Not necessarily. As I said in the introduction, you have to evaluate what is needed for your organization.
So when should you consider this category? If your organization does not rely on scheduling, this may be the category for you. If simple task management will suffice, this may suit you well. On the other hand, if you need to enter schedules with dependencies that rely on the tool to push schedules out without a lot of manual data entering, this is probably not the category for you. Also, if you have a technical or collaborative culture, you may want to consider this category. If your team members are used to being collaborative and using tools like this, then this type of tool may be a good fit with your culture.
An example of this category is Basecamp by 37Signals.
Next...we'll start to get into some more advanced tools with our third category.
