As if technology doesn’t evolve at a fast enough speed, I plan on discussing the progression of project management software for the up and coming. And by ‘up and coming’, I mean the next generation of people who will be managing and leading projects to help their companies move forward. I came into the project management (and software) world about three years ago and the change I’ve witnessed is hard to miss!
Of course, the important stuff, such as the back bone of what makes software functional and meet the requirements of the team that will be using it will always be a top priority.
Does it track time and expense? What about planned vs. actual costs? Or proposed costs? What kind of reports can I make?
Those questions will always be huge factors in finding the right project software for your team. One of my favorite things about software is that it’s never truly ‘complete’. It’s a product that will always change and improve as time passes. Features will be added (or removed) and it will change visually in many ways. Believe it or not – it can be exciting stuff! Once upon a time, I wrote a blog about project management and social media. At that point in time, I was pretty split in half. I could definitely see the pros and cons for integrating a more social media-like feel to project management software.
However, as I get ‘older’ and I see friends that I grew up with moving up into leadership roles, I can’t help but wonder - what will matter to us when we look for software? Sure, people can scoff at the scrolling and constant newsfeed in Facebook, but that’s what our future project managers might be used to. In other words, it’s what they will prefer. Maybe not everyone wants to see pictures of everyone who is currently updating tasks or projects at this point in time, but what if the next set of leaders want to see that in their software? For example, right now having a tabbed menu bar (i.e. Microsoft Office) seems to work and be popular. Who knows, that might change and navigating strictly from a side menu will be the top pick.
I’m not saying that everyone should switch up their roadmap and incorporate social media features into the near future. But I am saying that it is worth a second thought.
What do you think?
Janelle Abaoag, Project Insight
