Project Management Tools Observatory Panel

ETR Observatory Data Feedback Panel - Project and Work Management Tools

ETR Insights presents a panel discussion with four experienced global IT executives from the ETR Community. The panel was designed to capture feedback and additional insights related to our recent Observatory report and accompanying data set on Project and Work Management tools.

Panelists include:

• CIO for a Large Healthcare/Technology Enterprise
• Director of Digital Cloud/Transformation for a Large IT Services/Consultancy
• IT Director & CISO for a Midsize Business Services Firm
• Sr. Partnership Development Manager for a Large Tech Company

In addition to providing direct vendor feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of project management software, the panelists discussed their experiences with tools in the space and related challenges around streamlining processes, juggling multiple vendors, and navigating legacy systems. The expert panel also explored the evolving role of AI in the space, security and compliance concerns, and the importance of user education.

Key Takeaways

• Tool diversification. Enterprises utilize a mix of project and work management tools due to differing departmental needs and legacy systems, which leads to challenges with standardizing on a single platform across the organization. All panelist-organizations rely on Microsoft or Atlassian as a primary enterprise project management tool and fill the gaps with lighter-weight tools.
• Enterprise standard. Microsoft Project is powerful but complex, making it challenging for many users, especially in smaller or midsize businesses. Atlassian, in contrast, is more accessible and better aligned with agile development teams, making it the preferred choice for those environments. Both define the standard for enterprise project management but are pricy for full-scale adoptions.
• Light-weight alternatives. Beyond Microsoft and Atlassian, a tier of lighter-weight tools includes Smartsheet, Monday.com, and Asana, among others. These tools offer similar feature sets and are often adopted due to mergers or based on team preference rather than through formal means.
• Cost management. Licensing costs remain a significant consideration, particularly when scaling. The panel emphasizes that not all projects or roles require full enterprise capabilities; some are exploring lighter versions or free tiers of tools to moderate expenses while still meeting needs.
• AI integrations in early stages. AI-driven features like automated issue classification and predictive analytics are gaining interest; adoption specifically for project management remains in its infancy. For now, Atlassian is the standout here, but evaluations continue for Copilot and other offerings. Panelists are proceeding cautiously, weighing costs and benefits and implementation complexity.

Highlighted Vendor Commentary

Microsoft Project and Planner:

• Complexity and usability: "I have found, not just in my current situation but in previous situations, [that] people don't think the way Microsoft Project expects you to think in order to use it effectively...Project requires a different kind of thinking that for a lot of people, it just doesn't work for them." – Sr. Partnership Development Manager, Large Tech Company
• Cost concerns: "We switched to Project for big teams. The problem was the cost because when we developed massively, we had a huge increase in expenses for the licenses." – IT Director & CISO, Midsize Business Services Firm
• Cautious approach to AI: "We used a little bit of AI in resource management with Microsoft Project. It was pretty good. I was not enthusiastic because it was not what we thought it would be... At the moment, we are in caution mode because we are not prone to spend a lot of money on AI right now." – IT Director & CISO, Midsize Business Services Firm
• Entry-level tool: "Planner is very basic. [It’s] just a way to kick you into using Project. As people become more friendly with Planner then they need some features that are not in Planner anymore." – IT Director & CISO, Midsize Business Services Firm

Atlassian Stack: 

• Adoption and accessibility: "I think Jira is just more accessible for people. Project just requires a different kind of thinking that a lot of people it just doesn't work for them." – Sr. Partnership Development Manager – Large Tech Company
• Tool of choice for development: "We primarily use the Atlassian stack... We used Jira from an agile project management standpoint to plan, track, and release software projects." – Director of Digital Cloud & Transformation, Large IT Services/Consulting Enterprise
• Integration with AI: "We're just in the beginning stages of trying to integrate AI into the Atlassian stack... automating issue classification and tagging and predictive analytics to analyze historical sprint data and predict the likelihood of the sprint being completed on time or if we’re overcommitting." – Director of Digital Cloud & Transformation, Large IT Services/Consulting

Smartsheet, Monday.com, and Others:

• Not highly differentiated: "I think almost all of the tools that you had on the list are not really all that much different... They have similar features from my point of view." – CIO, Large Healthcare/Technology Enterprise
• Departmental use: "I did mention that we use Smartsheet. We do that in a particular department. That isn’t because we did some evaluation of all the various options and then settled on Smartsheet; it’s that the particular department made a decision that that’s what they wanted to use." – CIO, Large Healthcare/Technology Enterprise
• Limited but customizable: "The HR director started using Monday, but he realized it wasn't enough. So [we acquired] another tool that is really specialized in managing human resources, called Retain... We were able to integrate Retain with the Monday API. It’s a bit of Frankenstein solution, but we delivered what works for us." – IT Director & CISO, Midsize Business Services Firm

The full panel summary provides much more vendor evaluation and feedback, as well as analysis of the underlying ETR Observatory data set for the Project Management market.

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