Verified Document

Project Management Tools Research Paper

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...

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…

Sources used in this document:

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.


Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Project Management February J. 2014 a Project
Words: 2863 Length: 9 Document Type: Research Paper

Project Management February J. 2014 A project is a temporary group of activity designed to produce unique products and services or results. Typically, a project has a defined beginning and end and therefore having defined scope and resources. (Pierre, 2012). A project also has a specific set of operations to accomplish a singular goal. Examples of projects are as follows: Development of software to improve business process, Construction of bridge or building, Expansion of sales

Project Management Assessing the Role
Words: 2543 Length: 6 Document Type: Thesis

The use of Gantt charts for enabling interprocess integration and knowledge management in the A&D industry is a best practice for also managing process-intensive projects (Singh, Keil, Kasi, 2009). These include the development of new computer systems and advanced technologies where the project needs to capture the knowledge to fulfill its objectives. Project management's core set of tools therefore needs to be focused on how to augment and strengthen

Project Management Compare and Contrast
Words: 776 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

It did not however help to alleviate the confusion of software development. The order from AlphaTech had a much more galvanizing effect on the software aspects of the project, which still was significantly miscalculated as the company reverted to 80-hour work weeks to get the project done. Overall however the project management tools on the Jaguar project did change behaviour over time in that there were greater levels of

Project Management the Project I Was Involved
Words: 638 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Project Management The project I was involved in is in the IT industry. It involved a team of five individuals: a project manager, three developers and a tester. The final deliverable was the completion of a module of the larger application, namely a model that involved several calculations in Excel and the development of a set of charts and graphics. All human resources were involved at the time of development. Other

Project Management in the Oil
Words: 5052 Length: 15 Document Type: Thesis

(Braunschweig; Day, 150) Most of the current generation of project managers expects the project management tools to furnish them with almost real-time knowledge in order to facilitate their decision-making. Some of these tools like DOFF, "Field of the Future," "Smart Fields," Microsoft's "Oilfield Connectivity" and i-Fields are currently being examined by exploration and production oil companies. Some of these tools have the capability of generating information from apparently incongruent data

Project Management Technique
Words: 3561 Length: 12 Document Type: Term Paper

Project Management Project Information, History, Intent, and Life Cycle Gray and Larson, (2008) define project as "a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result." (p 5). Essential feature of a project is that it has a defined beginning and end often subject to time or fund constraint to achieve stakeholder's goals and objectives. Gray and Larson (2008) differentiate between project and program. "A program is a group of

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now