The following may apply in general, or only to specific products.

Are project management tools always the best solution?

A project management tool is a good investment to ensure efficiency and transparency in project and portfolio tasks. However, there are risks and problems associated with the use of project management tools. This should be considered carefully before the introduction of the tool.

Lacking support of planning in project management

Planning is often neglected when using project management tools. Many tools will show you a Gantt chart as standard view, which automatically makes the user tackle the planning of deadlines too early. This way, identifying delivery amounts and activities, usually as a structural project plan, easily takes a back seat.

Deficient support of the applied planning

The procedure cannot be covered sufficiently by the tool. As an example, when using incremental and repetitive procedures, the support through traditional tools is deficient. Often, a company does not just employ one standard procedure, but there are different methods used depending on project content and customer. In this case, a single tool frequently cannot support all applied methods.

No support for the entire project management process

Some tools support planning only, others, on the other hand, concentrate on the cooperation within the team. Tools, which cover the desired aspects in all subareas, are very expensive. Frequently, not all requirements are known or they are contradicting, depending on which project leader is asked.

Many unnecessary functions

The manufacturers would like to please everyone. This leads to an abundance of functions that are often not required by the user and that are overwhelming. A longer learning curve or even the refusal to work with the tool can be the consequence.

Lacking clarity

If you are primarily using a time schedule in the form of a Gantt Chart for planning and control, you easily loose the big picture in the all the details. A time schedule or structural project plan on a big wall offers a much better overview to the manager.

The tool as a means for communication

Communication and collaboration features are usually present in particular in web-bases project management tools and even local teams like to use them. These means for communication, however, should never replace personal communication.

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