Ahhh, now we get to the fun part. At least, it seems like the fun part until you realize how many tools are actually available in the market. This is where your preparation will begin to come in handy.

One of the items that you are going to want to review is the software categories. You should already have a good idea which category (or categories) you want to focus on. Use this as somewhat of a litmus test to quickly discount tools that clearly do not fit. For example, if you are looking for a tool that can be used by your entire team or organization, then you can quickly discount stand-alone tools that have to be installed on your computer and are only designed for one user.

There are several methods of finding tools for which to do a more detailed evaluation. In this post, we'll talk about the most common: Internet searches. This means going to Google (or your favorite search engine), and searching for project management software. The most popular search term related to this is in fact "project management software". However, you could search for similar terms such as "project manager tools", etc.

Since you are reading this, there is probably not a big need to cover how to do this. Let me just emphasize that there are different types of information that you will find:

-Paid Search Results: most search engines have advertisements that will show up (such as the ads on the right of the screen when you search on Google). Understand that these are paid advertisements from vendors who pay to have their product listed there.

-Organic Search Results: these are the "normal" search results that are tabulated by Google (or whatever search engine you are using) and change over time.

-Directories: in both the paid and organic search results, you will find directories, which are lists of project management software. I'll give you some recommended ones in a subsequent post.

There is no magic to this - you will have to sift through the reams of information presented to you, using your preparation, to identify tools that may fit. I recommend making an initial list of tools that appear to fit in your category. I would also recommend a couple other "litmus tests" including a professional website, clients listed on the website, news releases from the vendor (i.e. there is something going on here that is worth talking about), and similar items. In other words, you probably don't want some freeware that some developer threw out on his website from his couch one weekend. You at least want the appearance of a company whose business it is to implement project management software.

But there are some other methods besides simple Internet searches. More on that soon...