Many of us are mandated to use whatever project management software our company uses, or our PMO has chosen, or in some cases what your company has created with their own home-grown software. I started out with Project Workbench many many years ago, and then migrated to Microsoft Project as about 98% of all project managers probably did, too. But MS Project is expensive, no doubt about it, and other options are available now - many web-based and many are low-cost.
What PM software is your company using now? And why? What software have you checked out that you think you'd like to be using? What features have drawn you to this software of choice? And what PM software options have you found to be cumbersome or have steep learning curves that make them undesirable for your needs. There are hundreds of options out there now...let's discuss....I'd love to hear your responses...
What is your Project Management Software tool of choice?
Hi Begeland,
We are using Teamlab Office. Chose it because of 2 things: price and integration (I mean everything in one place, not as separate products as on Basecamp that we were using before).
The only thing that may confuse - CRM is quite simple, obviously, for SMB, not for big companies, though we are ok with it.
Which is also important about ANY PM software is documents integration, including real-time co-editing and management (sharing, storing). Not so many posess these features: Google Apps (well, Google Docs actually, I guess familiar to everyone), ActiveCollab, Zoho, Central Desktop and ThinkFree. Unfortunately, most of their document sections are very poor - that's what I faced.
Looking forward to hearing other opinions - the topic is a burning issue indeed!
We are using Teamlab Office. Chose it because of 2 things: price and integration (I mean everything in one place, not as separate products as on Basecamp that we were using before).
The only thing that may confuse - CRM is quite simple, obviously, for SMB, not for big companies, though we are ok with it.
Which is also important about ANY PM software is documents integration, including real-time co-editing and management (sharing, storing). Not so many posess these features: Google Apps (well, Google Docs actually, I guess familiar to everyone), ActiveCollab, Zoho, Central Desktop and ThinkFree. Unfortunately, most of their document sections are very poor - that's what I faced.
Looking forward to hearing other opinions - the topic is a burning issue indeed!
I'm using three packages on a day-to-day basis:
JIRA is a brilliant tool for bug tracking and control. Not only is it effective, my team of developers like using it, so bugs get picked up and fixed quickly.
Clarity helps with full project and programme administration and approval. It contains our project documentation, budgets, approvals and progress updates.
I've tried various other project management tools over the years and these are three of the best.
Cheers,
Duncan
- Project Planning = Microsoft Project 2007
- Bug Tracking = Atlassian, JIRA
- Portfolio Management = CA Technologies, Clarity
JIRA is a brilliant tool for bug tracking and control. Not only is it effective, my team of developers like using it, so bugs get picked up and fixed quickly.
Clarity helps with full project and programme administration and approval. It contains our project documentation, budgets, approvals and progress updates.
I've tried various other project management tools over the years and these are three of the best.
Cheers,
Duncan
I agree that MS Project is expensive and some of its features are a bit inconvenient. That is why we replaced it with Latitude project management software. One thing I liked about the latter is that its easier to manage than the former. From timesheets, reports, job/project tracking, file attachments, tasks management, to quotes and invoices. Client-job details and item relations are much efficient to do and track.
-
begeland
Can you tell us more about Tikkoff? Why is it so simple? Can it still handle some key reporting functions that are usually necessary for managing projects and project teams?
-
begeland
Adding to this discussion...how big of a role does price play in your PM software decision or search? What's the most important factor or, say, top 3 factors, when searching for PM software? Reporting, price, dashboard view, configurability, cloud vs. desktop S/W, resource management, cost tracking, etc? Thoughts?
And further...which ones have you looked at that shine in different areas?
And further...which ones have you looked at that shine in different areas?
-
begeland
Lots of views on this thread but not too many responses. Let's hear from more PMs and PM team members...what PM software are you using or have you used that you have opinions on...good or bad. Please share your thoughts/experiences with the rest of us. Thanks!
Brad
Brad