Project Management Software – What Project Managers really Use it For

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Project Management Software – What Project Managers really Use it For

As discussed in the last blog, people define project management differently,
typically based upon their immediate needs. They also use project
management software differently. Actually there’s a study on that
you should know about. Let’s take a minute to review it.

Besner and Hobbs completed a survey of 1,000 project managers (PMs) in 2004.
They had PMs evaluate which of 40 different tools that fit within the
project management umbrella, which ones they used the most and least.

Note: 55% of the PM’s surveyed worked in organizations of 1,000 or more,
70% worked in organizations of 200 or more, so this was a study focusing
on utilization in large organizations. 65% of the projects had a duration of
3-12 months.

Of all the different things you can do with or demand from project management
software, what do you think was included in the top 5 most used list?

It wasn’t tracking Earned Value. It wasn’t creating a project web site or resource
allocation… being able to simulate various if-then scenarios didn’t make it to the
top either.

In fact the number one feature is pretty fascinating. It was getting a progress
report. In case you’re wondering, here’s the top five tools/features PMs most
frequently used Project Management software for:

Small Projects – Under $1m Large Projects – Over $1m

1. Progress report                            1. Progress report
2. Kick-off meeting                          2. Task scheduling
3. Task scheduling                           3. Gantt chart
4. Gantt chart                                   4. Kick-off meeting
5. Scope statement                          5. Change request

Back to the #1 feature – progress updates. It’s interesting, but if you look
around you, you’ll find that the process of generating and retrieving
progress updates consume vast amounts of time at most work sites. They
are responsible for a high percentage of time spent in meetings, lots of
emails back and forth, and numerous phone calls.

In fact, most of us spend a significant part of our day chasing down
progress updates, and we don’t use project management software as the
primary resource.

But, it gets even more interesting when I look at all the organizations we work with.
Getting people to input progress updates into the system is usually the biggest
omission and downfall in using project management software. It quickly reduces
the value of all the previous planning and documentation effort spent in constructing
the project plan, holding the kick-off meeting and assigning tasks.

If progress updates is the biggest stated usage need in project management
software, why do so many people find themselves reluctant to input progress
updates… in project management software?

Maybe I should write that this way…

“Why do so many people find themselves reluctant to spend the time to type
a progress update, but will spend lots of time generating progress updates of
sorts on the phone, by typing emails, and in meetings?”

Partly it has to do with people, partly with design. Most project
management software programs do not incorporate a design that supports
the level of context provided by verbal interchange and emails, as they are
narrowly focused on a specific area of feedback, typically % complete or
number of hours or dollars expended.

I’ll get to the people side of the equation, or at least start, in the next
blog. However, as an example of progress update design, check out the
date stamped progress update feature in ManagePro. It’s an example
of a design that flexibly supports progress updates with context information
(“Now why are we only 55% done at this time and what issues are you
running into that you need help on?”) as well as supporting dragging and
dropping email into the progress update journal.

Bottom Line:

It seems that we’re all, whether formal project managers or not, drowning in
information, but starved for timely, informative feedback at our finger tips.

I believe the answer to the question has to do with the brain task involved
in creating progress updates, the process called “flow” and a lack of
“working smart” that permeates our culture. Let me pick that up in the
next blog, meanwhile I need to check on a couple more people because
I don’t have a progress update…