EnterPlicity Project Management Software & Resources

There are a lot of different strategies employed to implement project management software (or software in general). Here are a few that I have seen.

1. The "If We Provide It, They Will Come" Strategy

The theory behind this strategy is that if you put a project management system in place, people will use it. Or they will use it if it's good or easy enough. I am sure that there are instances where this has worked, but I cannot think of a single time I have personally seen it work well. If people don't have to change and there is no pressure to do so, why change? It is human nature to stay the course. This is usually the type of organization that comes back later and indicates that "no one is using the software".

2. The "Let's Do It All Now" Strategy

This strategy is employed when there is consensus to setup project management software, and everything is done at once. Forget phased approaches or initial goals and milestones...let's overhaul all of our processes and implement as much change and features as we can right away. It sounds great, but like most projects that start with the "wild enthusiasm" phase, disillusionment often times follows from trying to bite off too much at once.

3. The "We Can Wing It" Strategy

Why employ project management to implement project management software? What fun is that? Yet that often times happens. Project management software is implemented without someone overseeing the process and / or without good project management principles being employed. The implementation of project management software can have a significant, positive, strategic impact on an organization, and it should be planned with that in mind.

4. The "Let's Get Consensus" Strategy

Consensus is an interesting word, especially when applied to project management software. Don't get me wrong, consensus can be good when applied correctly. But all too often "consensus" is the goal when both selecting software and determining how to implement it with the right processes...instead of what is best for the organization. What happens? You guessed it. Nothing. Everything languishes waiting for "consensus" and for someone to make a decision. It is good to get feedback from the people that will be using the software and from folks that understand the business objectives. But like everything else it should be balanced.

Have you experienced one of these scenarios in an organization you have been a part of, or have you yourself gone down one of these paths? What other types of scenarios have you seen? Share them by emailing blog@teaminteractions.com and if we get some interesting ones, I'll post them.

We'll also begin to explore some real strategies on how to properly implement project management software.

We have completed our review of the various project management software categories in the market. If you missed any of the posts, you can go directly to them below:

Project Management Software Categories: Introduction
Project Management Software Category #1: Simple / Stand Alone Tools
Project Management Software Category #2: Collaborative Tools
Project Management Software Category #3: Mid-Size Tools
Project Management Software Category #4: High-End Tools
Project Management Software Category #5: PPM Tools

Let's wrap-up this discussion. First of all, why do it in the first place? Three reasons.

One, many people that are researching project management software do not know where to start because there are so many tools out there. Hopefully, this discussion will help them begin to understand what to look for and the type of project management software tool they need.

Two, other people are trying to fit the wrong tool into their organization. They hear or read about a tool, or know the company that developed the tool, and they go for it. It is important to understand the nature of these tools. An organization with 15-20 people is most likely going to be overwhelmed by a high-end tool.

Three, still other people are simply not aware of what is out there today. They are pre-disposed to use a "standard" project management software tool such as Microsoft Project, and are not aware of the breath of possibilities that can really have a significant impact on their organization.

Is this discussion meant to convince you that one tool or category is better than another? No! As I have stated in these posts, you need to evaluate the tool categories and characteristics and map those to the needs and makeup of your organization. That is probably the most important step that you can take to make this a successful effort for you.

So where do you go from here? In subsequent posts, I'll cover topics such as specific steps to take as you begin your search, how to prepare your organization for a project management software implementation, and other practical considerations.

If you have topics that you would like to see addressed, post a comment or send them to blog@teaminteractions.com.

There is a fifth category that needs to be addressed. First, if you missed our earlier posts, click below to access the previous posts in this series on project management software categories:

Project Management Software Categories: Introduction
Project Management Software Category #1: Simple / Stand Alone Tools
Project Management Software Category #2: Collaborative Tools
Project Management Software Category #3: Mid-Size Tools
Project Management Software Category #4: High-End Tools

The fifth category has been getting a lot of press lately, and that is the Project Portfolio Management (or PPM) category. In some ways, I am reluctant to put this into a separate category. Why? Because it really moves beyond project management and gets into a concept called portfolio management. We may address that in a later post, but for now our focus is strictly on project management. However, I include this in its own category because when organizations are looking for project management software they may be specifically looking for these types of tools.

One more note on the categorization is that these tools are almost a hybrid in that some of them are mid-sized tools and some of them are high-end tools, with the characteristics and drawbacks that come with the associated category. It is my belief that a lot of these are turning into higher-end tools because there can be a lot of complexity that comes with the concept of portfolio management.

Because of all that, characteristics of tools in this project management software category are a little harder to define. They may include characteristics of tools in the mid-size category, or they may include characteristics of tools in the high-end category. You will have to look back on those posts to analyze where a particular tool fits.

The defining characteristic of this category is that these tools include a focus on portfolio management. A definition and discussion of portfolio management, especially from an IT perspective, can be found in many places, such as Wikipedia. In short, you can think about managing portfolios of projects as you would manage a portfolio of investments. Projects are systematically managed in "portfolios" for better governance. The tools in this category support that process.

The primary benefit of this category is that they support the process of portfolio management, which may be important to a company that is heading in that direction.

The drawbacks of this category are two-fold. First, there is an inherent complexity that is added because you are now going beyond project management, and that must be represented in the tool. Second, many organizations struggle with getting their basic project management straight, much less trying to handle portfolio management. These tools may not be a good fit in that case.

What that means is that you should consider tools in this category if your organization is mature enough for portfolio management, you already have well defined project processes and discipline, and portfolio management is a strategic initiative for your organization.

Next time we will wrap up our discussion of the project management software categories.

The fourth category is the high-end category. If you missed our earlier posts, click below to access the previous posts in this project management software series:

Project Management Software Categories: Introduction
Project Management Software Category #1: Simple / Stand Alone Tools
Project Management Software Category #2: Collaborative Tools
Project Management Software Category #3: Mid-Size Tools

This category has been around for a longer period of time than the mid-size tools. In fact, prior to the emergence of the mid-size tools, an organization that needed a comprehensive system was pretty much limited to tools in this category.

Characteristics of tools in this category are that they are very powerful, highly customizable, loaded with lots of features, require lengthy implementation times, and tend to be much more complicated.

These tools are used to manage the project management functions of some very large organizations so they have to be powerful with lots of features to support the needs of organizations with thousands of users with complex requirements. Customization is important because the needs of large organizations vary, although customizations often times mean literally customizing code for an individual company.

These points make it inherent that the implementation of these tools tend to me much more time consuming and resource intensive than some of the other categories we have looked into, and these tools by nature are complex.

The benefits of this project management software category are fairly obvious: power, power, and more power. Organizations that need that level of power will want to look in this category. These tools are highly scalable and can support those large organizations. In addition, these tools tend to have more brand recognition because this category has been around longer.

The drawbacks are related to the complexity inherent in these tools. These are not the type of tools that you turn on and start using. There is a high learning curve and long implementation cycle. That means a much higher cost as well. Often times, outside integrators and consultants are needed to supplement in house expertise to implement these tools properly.

When should you consider tools in this category? As I have said before, there is no one best category, it depends on your organization and its needs. If you have a large organization, let's say more than 1,000 projects or 700 users, you should look at this category. Likewise, if you have some complicated requirements that may be somewhat outside of the norm, you also will want to look at this category.

Next we'll look at the final project management software category...

I had to take a step back before plunging forward with additional blog posts. This was due to a lengthy vacation and getting the resources in place to do this correctly. I'm back in the saddle now and ready to continue our blog series and launch into some new ones as well.

Would you do me a favor? Leave a comment with some project management software topics that you would like to see addressed or email blog@teaminteractions.com. After our current series, we'll hit some of those topics of interest.

On we go...