Project Management Tools

Introduction
Project management is complex work, and usually the domain of specialists as a result. Modern project management relies on sets of tools that can help project managers scope out a project, outline the critical pathways, and then manage the workflows within the project. The different elements of project management demand different sets of tools, for conceptualizing the project, for task management within a project, and other tools that can help to evaluate the results of a project. The tools that project managers use will often cover the basic functions of project management, such as project charters, work breakdowns, scheduling, risk management and cost management (Desmond, 2014).
Tool Options
Jira/Aha is one tool that can be used for project management. This is typically used for software development. This SaaS tool is has a few critical benefits. The use cases for a project are outlined, which provides needed context for the developers to understand not just what they are building, but how it will be used. Further, there can be input from a variety of teams across the organization, because Jira is built on a model of high collaboration. Management can monitor the progress of each project, and the tool can be used to manage multiple different software projects at the same time. Jira is an easy tool to use as well. One of the key differences versus a more traditional project management tool like MS Project is that its ease of use allows people who are not PMPs to contribute to the active management of a project – updates can be given by everyone due to the platform's relative simplicity (Bradley, 2013)
There are, however, a couple of downsides to the tool. While it is great for the people who are building the project, it lacks some of the functionality such as risk management and financial management that a more complex tool might have. It is a great tool for managing work, but is not a complete project management solution. It is favored mainly in software environments, and would not be powerful enough to manage a large, complex project such as those in construction.
Another software tool that can be utilized for project management is Asana, which has become quite popular. The strength of Asana is with task management. When broken down into team tasks, elements such as financial and risk analysis can be incorporated into the project. Aspects of the project can be held on a need-to-know basis as well. Asana's main benefit lies with the visibility, and with its ability to incorporate different aspects of the company. It has integrations with, for example, Instagantt, that helps to apply more traditional project management techniques to the task. This helps it be a powerful tool in terms of managing workflows (Marvin, 2016). Another strength is with the collaborative nature, again a major benefit of the SaaS architecture.
There are downsides as well. For one, and this is a downside that is shares with Jira, is that Asana struggles to manage more complex projects. With increased project complexity, Asana is less capable, as it is better as a task management system. Further to that, the software is unable to create effective links between things like risk management and budgeting. So even with the Instagantt to create workflows and critical paths, Asana cannot handle things like complex risk analysis – that math has to be done somewhere else. Further, costs are not built into the different tasks, so the entire financial aspect of managing a project has to be done somewhere else, and if there is no native integration into any accounting system, there can be significant disconnects between Finance and the other departments, as shifts occur in how the project is executed that are not reflected in the financial controls until much later. Creating those links would improve the value of Asana, as it would allow more fluid financial controls on a project, such as increasing or decreasing budgets for certain things.
A third project tool, one that is highly-rated, is Wrike. Wrike contains a number of features that address some of the weaknesses in other tools. As with other SaaS products, it performs well on collaboration, task prioritization and task management, and allows for the development of critical pathway analysis (Financesonline, 2018). Workload management, easy GANTT charts are also facets of Wrike that make it a solid choice. It has probably stronger security than some of the other platforms, which is another positive attribute, a strong mobile app, and a real-time newsfeed, which users of other software will often use Slack of MS Teams for conversations. In that sense, Wrike is a more complete tool, and maybe better for distributed teams.
There are fewer overt drawbacks to Wrike. It is designed more with the PMP in mind, than some of the other tools, which allow people who are not project managers to play that role. One of the issues is that it is not the largest company in the space, so the product may lag in development, integrations and support versus some of the other tools that are in use.
Decision-Making Criteria
To choose from among a range of project management tools requires understanding the context. Some of the key contextual factors that will be taken into account are the cost of the product, the use case, the size of the project, and the experience level of the people trying to manage the project. A PMP is likely to have very different specs in mind than if a team needs a project management tool for smaller projects that will be run by front-line managers and small teams. Whether the team is distributed or not may matter, though most SaaS applications allow for real-time collaboration and communication. If, however, the team is not distributed, that might allow for a more traditional project management tool to be used.
The comfort level of the team with multiple tools might also matter. In some industries, it is better to utilize one complex tool that covers all critical project management functions, but in other industries or companies it might be possible to cobble together project management around a set of tools. While there is the risk of stack sprawl, in many younger companies this is not something that would bother the workers much.
Decision
The decision here is to use Asana. The reason is that unless the project is very complex, Asana functions fairly well. There is the downside of needing to work with other tools, for example to cover risk management and accounting, but many smaller operations do not do much of that anyway, and the key purpose of project management is simply to organize tasks and workflows. Assuming that this is not needed for construction or some other complex task, then most off-the-shelf SaaS solutions will be adequate. But the communication, collaboration and the ability to develop GANTT charts to identify critical pathways makes Asana a fairly solid choice for simple project management tasks.
As with any decision about tools, one needs to know precisely what the job is, so that one can choose the best tool for the job. So this choice is dependent in part on assumptions about the nature of the projects being managed, who will be doing the managing, and about what sort of budget the organization is working with. Many of these are based more on the fields in which I am more familiar, and may not be applicable in other contexts.
Conclusion
Project management tools have undergone considerable evolution in recent years (Svejvig & Andersen, 2015). SaaS tools that emphasize collaboration and communication have become exceptionally popular, and are used in many industries to perform project management tasks. In a sense, they have demystified project management and allowed for the application of project management techniques in many companies that might otherwise lack in those. A tool like Jira that incorporates principles like scrum and Kanban is interesting because it is developed for specific types of projects. For more broad-based application of project management principles, something like Asana works because many different types of teams can use it, and because it still builds in just enough project management functionality.
Not considered in this analysis were more traditional, enterprise-level project management tools, because those are not where the cutting edge of project management lies. Those can still be incredibly powerful tools for project management specialists, but for most companies I favor the approach of using tools that get everything thinking at least a little bit in terms of project management principles. There is still a role for the more cumbersome project management tools, as the modern SaaS applications are highly unlikely to help manage large, complex projects with multiple deliverables and shifting deadlines. They are simply not built for that. Ultimately, however, for most companies an analysis of the current pick of top SaaS project management tools has more value, in helping companies choose a solution that will work for smaller, leaner, more agile teams.


References

Bradley, T. (2013) Aha! Streamlines development with cloud-based project management platform. PC World. Retrieved May 12, 2018 from https://www.pcworld.com/article/2046545/aha-streamlines-development-with-cloud-based-project-management-platform.html

Desmond, C. (2014) Project management tools. IEEE Engineering Management Review. Vol. 42 (4) 11-12.

Financesonline (2018) 10 best project management tools. Financesonline.com. Retrieved May 12, 2018 from https://financesonline.com/list-10-best-project-management-software-tools/

Marvin, R. (2016) 7 Asana jedi tricks to become one with business workflows. PC World. Retrieved May 12, 2018 from https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2499129,00.asp

Svevig, P. & Andersen, P. (2015) Rethinking project management: A structured literature review with a critical look at the brave new world. International Journal of Project Management. Vol. 33 (2015) 278-290.