I wanted to clear up a point about when to do project management software demonstrations and trials. It is not appropriate to do them for every software system that you may evaluate.

If you have not already done so, check out our posts on the project management software categories or download our Project Management Software Buyer's Guide. These will provide you with a snapshot of the available categories in the market today.

I reference these because they are relevant for when you should do software demonstrations and trials. Here are some general guidelines:

Simple / Stand Alone Tools: you will most likely not get a software demonstration with these tools, but most of them will have a free trial.

Collaborative Tools: these tools will most likely have a free trial, and some may also offer demonstrations.

Mid-Size Tools: these tools often times offer both software demonstrations and trials.

High-End and PPM Tools: these tools almost always offer software demonstrations, but not always software trials.

I hope that clears things up and give you an idea of what to expect. I can see those poor stand-alone vendors now getting requests to give live software demonstrations!