8 questions to help you choose an IT project management tool
The problem of Project Management in IT
IT teams across the digital world are currently facing their biggest test yet. Ensuring that things are running smoothly when employees are working from home. And they’re doing a very good job at it. But, there’s always room for improvement right? If you’ve ever been a part of an IT team, you know the pain of jumping between multiple software tools, the effects of a broken down collaboration system and the struggle for visibility amongst team members. Not to mention, the economic costs of a project running overtime and over budget. What if you could solve all these problems with a single tool? How would you feel if you could manage your projects and your ticketing system on one platform? Read on to find out more.
We’re not here to tell you that it helps with better planning, that it provides a holistic view of all your teams’ projects or that it enables consistent collaboration between teammates. We’re not gonna wax eloquent about how having a single platform and greater flexibility in choosing your project methodology makes your life easier. No. We’re here to help you choose one and then let you decide.
8 Questions to ask before choosing your IT project management software
How would you go about choosing a project management tool that not only helps you plan better but also does so without encroaching on your daily activities like managing incidents, SLAs, workflows etc.? Here are the questions you should be asking yourself.
- Does the new tool enable better collaboration with my teammates?
Having a robust communication framework should be the top-most feature of your IT project management software. A shared workspace enables better visibility into what every team member is doing and it also doubles up as a place to link all project and portfolio related files, assets etc. A feature to @mention your teammates enhances contextual collaboration and provides a seamless experience. Having the right collaboration setup is the first step in your project management journey. - Can I choose the project methodology that I want?
Once you’ve established your collaboration platform, the next logical step would be to decide the methodology you’re going to use to execute the project. This could vary from Waterfall to Agile to Hybrid depending on the project requirements and the team preferences. Having the flexibility to choose your method gives your IT teams the freedom to manage and run their projects. This is beneficial to your team and also gives the project stakeholders an easier way to monitor progress and establish proper timelines for execution. - Is it easy to use?
This seems like a fairly obvious question. But, it’s worth mentioning here. If you’re an IT agent, you know by experience that features alone don’t make a product good. The end-user must be comfortable using the product daily. A lengthy onboarding process and a tool that has too many moving parts are the most obvious red flags you should be aware of. When you choose a project management tool, be aware of how the migration of data works. This will help you better prepare for a change. - Does it work well within my existing software ecosystem?
You might’ve found the best project management tool there is. But, it’s only as good as its ability to work with the other tools in your toolkit. Integrating it with your existing ecosystem helps in providing a smooth sharing experience of all your project assets. Plus, it eliminates the need to keep track of all your updates across different software. If you have a tool that integrates IT Service Management with IT Project Management á la Freshservice, you’ve got a winner!
- Can I customize it?
While this might sound like a ‘nice to have’ feature. It isn’t. Customizing a project management software ensures greater buy-in within your team and also enables widespread adoption of the product. Here’s an example scenario – Not everyone in your team has the same KRAs. An IT agent in your team might be in charge of commissioning or decommissioning IT assets while another agent might be responsible for periodic audits. If that’s the case, their workstyles differ and they would want the project management tool to be amenable to their needs. Having a customizable tool helps to democratize the solution and increases its usage within the team. - Does it scale well within the company?
What if your IT project management tool also helps other teams in your organization? This is beneficial on many fronts. With everyone using the same tool, it becomes easier to adopt the same processes. For example, a software development team following the agile methodology and an IT team following the hybrid model can use the same software. This makes the entire operation efficient and project managers across teams can also collaborate on improving the overall outcome instead of working in silos. - Does it have a reporting feature?
A reporting feature in your project management software is a must-have. Collaborating with fancy templates, integrating it with cool add-ons and adopting the tool across your company will be for nought if there’s no option for feedback. Reporting allows you to monitor your IT project efficiently and helps in mitigating any roadblocks along the way. A reliable reporting feature and the ability to schedule custom reports at specified times results in timely completion and increases the success rate of your IT team. - Alright, now what’s the damage?
We believe you now have an idea of what to look for in a good IT project management solution. It is also important to understand the pricing model of your tool. It makes no sense to pay a lot of dollars if not everyone if your team is going to use the software. Having a modest pricing plan that allows you to scale as your team’s needs grow should enable you to finalize a budget easily.
Now that you understand how to choose the right IT project management software, allow us to show you a quick sneak peek into how Freshservice excels as an IT project management software.
Flexibility in Project Methodology – Decide how to run your projects. Choose from Waterfall, Agile or even a hybrid method.
Modern views – Execute projects efficiently while team members can visualize, slice and dice tasks into multiple views.
Built-in modules – With modules for test case management and versioning built in, our task management software truly works out of the box!
Reporting and analysis – Create, schedule and customize reports while tracking all the important project metrics using our intuitive dashboard.
Freshservice is an intelligent, right-sized ITSM solution that delivers exceptional employee experiences with an intuitive, scalable, no-code solution. With its state-of-the-art AI and ML capabilities, Freshservice helps organizations ease an IT agent’s workload and improve their productivity by automating mundane tasks. In addition to its AI capabilities, Freshservice is flexible and scalable enough to be used by both: companies that rely on legacy systems in a hybrid cloud model and modernized organizations that run their IT operations entirely via the cloud. By deflecting repetitive requests, speeding up resolution times, and improving access to systems, Freshservice can streamline service management across all business lines in an enterprise. Learn more about Freshservice project management features here.
Design courtesy : Prasanna Bhupendran
