Overview
Regardless of the industry and work process, one of the most critical parts of any task or project is its management. Depending on the size of the project, it is essential to find project management software that accommodates various features and organization needs. Project management software offers a one-stop solution for solving project issues such as team management and coordination, budgeting, and task management. In addition, it minimizes the risk of missing deadlines and resource misallocation. However, organizations make a few mistakes while selecting a project management software, leading to a waste of time and budget.
Top 50 Mistakes When Selecting Project Management Software
- No Prior Experience
Although project management software may seem easier to use, having no experience is one of the first mistakes organizations make when buying a project management system. They dive into using, let alone selecting, a project management software. Instead, try using the free version and various project management systems to find which system fulfills all your needs.
- No Estimations
Every organization has its budget. Therefore, before you dive into the purchase of project management software, do proper budgeting and estimations.
- Requirement Gathering
Requirement gathering helps organizations know what they need. First, sit with your team and brainstorm your priorities in terms of features, software type, templates, and user support. Once you know your requirements, then step into looking for vendors.
- Industry
Every industry has different ways and metrics to manage its projects. For instance, IT project management is different from construction project management. Therefore, ensure that your purchase of project management software fits your industry needs.
- Lack of Skills and Resources
Just as it is essential to have the right personnel to work on a project based on the requirements, it is equally essential to have skilled staff use the project management systems. It helps to reduce the time to have basic knowledge. Moreover, they can input what type of project management software they require.
- No Security
Every organization has to ensure the security of its clients and projects. Therefore, make sure the project management system you opt for is entirely secure and follows standard security practices.
- Business Process Understanding
Understanding your business process helps to cater to the right set of requirements. For instance, you might need just a basic task management system based on your business process, but you end up buying a system with extra features. Hence, you end up paying more.
- Stakeholder Feedback
Stakeholder involvement ensures that all the relevant and essential decision-makers of the organization are part of the process. Also, they have a much deeper knowledge of the business.
- No Complications
Project management itself is a tiring process. Therefore, you need project management software that is simpler and easy to use. Opt for an easy system to use and learn when going through options.
- Project Planning Capability
Project management software must allow people to make their project plans accurately. Therefore, select a project management software that allows you to prioritize/add labels & deadlines, estimations, and team management.
- Accessibility
With project teams being more inclusive around the world, ensure that the project management software you buy is accessible to differently-abled people. Make sure that everyone in your team can get the full benefit of project management software.
- Reminders & Notifications
In-app notifications and reminders help you track changes faster and more accurately. It further ensures that you are up to date with the latest changes in the project and what everyone on the team is up to.
- Customize Workflows
Every project has its workflows; therefore, your project management system must allow you to customize flows as per project and team requirements.
- Time Tracking
Time is a critical factor in any project management. Therefore, your project management software must also allow you to track time. Ensure that you can track time in months, years, days, and even minutes if required.
- Task Management Capabilities
Many project management systems are too straightforward and do not allow users to manage complex tasks.
- Customized Features
Depending on your organizational requirements, opt for a project management system that allows you to pay for your needs features. It is essential to be mindful of your investment and pay for what you use.
- Cloud-based or Desktop-based
A cloud-based system is a perfect option for organizations that need access to their project management system from anywhere at any time. However, at times organizations need a Desktop based system. Therefore, opt for the system that fits your project and organization’s needs well.
- User Support
Pay as you is one of the cost-saving methods when you opt for any software, including project management software. It is important to pay based on the users to save costs. This further ensures that you don’t pay a single penny more than you use.
- No Email Support
Email notifications are necessary if you have a large project and can miss out on notifications. Therefore, ensure that your project management software allows email notifications.
- Resource Management
Ensure that the project management software you opt for also allows you to manage resources and project allocations accordingly.
- Project Views
Multiple project views are necessary as it helps the team to understand and analyze the project from different perspectives. For instance, you might use a Kanban project management system. Therefore, you might need to check if your buying system allows all these different views.
- No Way To Store Document and Project Files
Having an all-in-one solution for your project management and project files, it is necessary to have a file storage system included. It makes the whole project accessible from anywhere at any time.
- Project Reports
Project reports help you understand the overall health of the project. Reports and various graphs give you a clear sense of direction and what can be done to improve overall team performance.
- No Tagging Feature
Every project task has a different assignee. Therefore, there is a need to tag more people on a task for mutual discussions. In such a scenario, tagging helps associate relevant people with a task.
- Integrations
You might want to integrate third-party tools for synchronized flows with your project management software. Therefore, before you make a purchase, make sure you can integrate other systems.
- Demos & Trials
Demos and Trials let you experience the system before you make a decision. Therefore, ensure that you buy a system where the organization allows you a demo or trial.
- Billing & Quotes
Depending on your industry, your project management system must allow you to share quotes and bills with your customers. Hence, make sure you have such capability or integration with some payment system.
- Calendar Integration
Calendar integration further ensures that you and your team reach deadlines on time. In addition, it ensures on-time notifications even when you don’t have access to the system or your email.
- Team Dashboards
Team dashboards lead to better team collaboration and project understanding. They also help the team know team performance within minutes without communicating with the team.
- Customer Data
At times teams and organizations need customer data to understand the overall project health and client requirements. Hence, ensure that you can share customer data with the concerned bodies of the organization.
- System Documentation
At times you need more than video training or in-person training for the project management system you use. System documentation can help you understand the system in-depth and improve overall project organization.
- Project KPI Dashboard
Project KPIs are essential for any project management. Financial KPIs or team performance KPIs help teams to know their performance or overall spending on the indicators important to their organization.
- Automated Invoicing
Automated invoicing creates a stress-free environment for payments for clients or other project personnel. Hence, having an automated invoicing process is a good feature of your system.
- No Milestone Tracking
Milestone tracking helps you track various project deadlines. With multiple project deadlines, milestone tracking can let all the team members and external project entities know about project deadlines and the dependencies of these milestones.
- Ease of Use
What’s the use if it is not easy to use? It is vital to ensure that the project management system is easier to use for all project resources.
- Setting Unrealistic Expectations
No matter which project management software you go for, all have pros and cons. Therefore, make sure you set the right expectations from the system by knowing your requirements accurately.
- Customer Support
Strong customer support is necessary for a project management system involving internal and external resources. It would be great if the system had 24/7 support.
- Compliance
There are some rules and regulations for project management in all industries. However, they vary from industry to industry. Therefore, ensure that the system you opt for complies with the industry you are working in.
- Design User Roles
Most project management systems come with pre-defined user roles. Hence, opt for the one that lets you design different user roles.
- Client Management
Project management software often onboards clients on the project to give them a closer look at the team working. Therefore, ensure that your project management system lets you have the client on board and provide them customized access as required.
- Value for Money
Don’t be quick in deciding, as you can end up with a system that does not give you enough value for money. Do complete research before making the final purchase.
- Data Forecasting
Many project management software do have a reporting and graphical interface. But they do not forecast data in any way. Therefore, go for a system that allows you to forecast data to help you predict team and project performance in advance.
- Team Communication
Opt for a project management system that integrates communication apps like Slack and Ms-Teams for team communication. If the system allows sharing any important comment from these communication channels directly, it’s a plus point.
- SMS Alerts
SMS Alerts can be a lifesaver if you are far away for some reason and still need to be updated with the necessary details of the project. Moreover, it ensures that the user is up-to-date with project information at all times.
- Administrative Process
Although every system has a superuser, having one administrative user for the project can make the overall project management quite efficient.
- Paperless Model
Ensure that you have a project management system that supports paperless models by letting you have all reports or information available. Also, it should allow easy sharing of this information.
- Import/Export Data
Reports and graphs are viewable for the relevant users. However, the team must import/export data when required without any hassle to ensure easy access to everyone.
- Understand The System
Every industry is different; hence project management is different. Therefore, ensure that you understand your industry and its project management standards to have a clear understanding of the system.
- Productivity and Efficiency
Your project management system must be so smooth to use that your overall team productivity and efficiency increase. If it is the other way around, you need to look into the system again.
- Project Grooming
Go for a project management software that lets you have a separate system for task and project grooming, so that team can be onboarded when tasks have more clarity. Moreover, it makes the overall project management process smooth and organized.
Conclusion
Project management software is a necessity of any project management as it is aimed at increasing team efficiency and productivity. However, making a wrong decision without a clear sense of direction can make this process painful. Therefore, ensure that you spend adequate time on requirement gathering, budgeting, organization needs, and involving the stakeholders in the process. An efficient and feature-rich project management system can improve the team’s overall performance by a significant percentage.