What problem is the vendor trying to solve?

May 4, 2009

The general catagory of project management tools contains a huge variety of applications, from those focusing on time tracking to workflow management to file and document collaboration. In the end, many vendors offer similar features, but layered on top of very different applications – understanding that base the vendor started from, be it a spreadsheet, Microsoft Project, or online content management, is key to selecting the right kind of online project management tool to meet your team’s needs and current skill set.

For a quick primer, take a look at the next installment of our Buyer’s Guide to Online Project Management Tools, called Understand the Roots: What Problem Did the Vendor Try to Solve? An excerpt:

Taking a look at vendors who use spreadsheets as a root: Oh, Excel, how we love and loathe you. Probably the most extensively used application for project management today. Vendors such as Smartsheet count on the broad familiarity with spreadsheets, wrap them in powerful collaboration tools and useful templates, and deliver a useful project management experience with a minimal learning curve. The focus may not be on deep file and document sharing, time tracking, or on delivering a set of professional client-facing project portals (though often some bit of those features are included). But for smaller teams looking to to quickly and dramatically improve on their current ad-hoc use of Excel for project management, these kinds of solutions may be the ideal fit.