You want to decide which project management software to try, and there are dozens of options. You have to narrow down the field, fast. How do you do it?
I’ve seen three main approaches used at different times:
- List all the features you are likely to need, and see what software checks the most boxes.
- Get as many references as you can, and see what is “best.”
- Create a list of must-have criteria, a prioritized list of “nice-to-haves,” and go from there.
I’ve seen all of these used at different times. I don’t recommend approach 1, because you end up spending way too much time on features that don’t matter, and too little time on what’s most important. References, item 2, are definitely important; but they need to be credible, and they need to show you comparable situations. That’s why I recommend starting with option 3.
All project management software has a few standard must-haves, for example: security, APIs and connectivity, usability, and costs that are within your budget. Depending on your level of experience, you may also need support materials, training, or consulting.
For the rest, I strongly recommend working out the likely use cases for your situation, seeing what is likely to work in your situation, and then testing it out. Here are some of the kinds of use cases you might want to explore:
- Management ability to effortlessly see what’s happening at a glance and what’s being done to make the situation better.
- Ability to predict credibly what resources are needed, when.
- Ability for project managers to respond quickly and effectively when things go wrong, preferably without moving their commitment dates.
- Ability to have your project teams work together to create team-based schedule projects.
- Ability to manage tasks and task tradeoffs collaboratively, so that people can apply effort where it is most needed.
- Ability to combine both agile and dependency planning, so that you can be predictable and effective in managing large software development projects.
Whichever use cases apply to you, here’s a critical warning to keep in mind: all your use cases are going to be connected. For example, if you want the full gamut of good portfolio, project, resource, and task management, you will need credible project plans. Otherwise the tasks management system will fail, and the portfolio and resource data will be meaningless.
Good luck!
