There are many reasons which can be responsible for failure of project management
software; the reasons can be internal & are in your control and they can be
external reasons which are out of your control. It will be interesting for you to
read if you are looking to implement project management software and may be, this
article will help you in making the right selection and understand your own needs
for PMS.
Let us see what can be probable reasons for the failure.
Wrongly identified software (Needs and feature-set mismatch)
This is basic cause and happens in most of the cases where user is not sure about
his actual requirements and have shady image of getting project management software;
under such circumstances, user cannot select the right software for him which should
provide correct features set to fulfill his entire requirements. The general confusion,
as an example, occurs when user is unable to decide what to choose, a stand alone
or cloud (SAAS) software.
Lack of knowledge of using the software
Understanding the software i.e. how to use it, is a critical part. Software needs
to be operated in certain pre-defined steps in order to achieve productivity, its
real functionality and features. Although, there are documentations available with
the software like user manuals, process flow, help documents but users don’t
read them and directly starts exploring the software and then, in middle of a process
they find themselves stuck. Like, in some cases, most of the software comes with
blank database (No test data) and you have to enter the base data to explore the
functions. But if you miss to enter them correctly, software would show problem.
Some technical knowledge is also required for using the system like if your software
is offering a feature of Gantt Char and you want to use it, you should understand firstly what
exactly Gantt chart does and how you should operate it.
Unacceptability of software by users (Unwillingness to use)
Sometimes users are not ready to change their traditional approach towards team
communication, working style, reporting, etc. and this makes the user unwilling
to use a software, for example if a team is maintaining its task details in spread
sheet since long time and were communicating through skype, it might be difficult
for them to leave both the tools and start with the new one as learning new tool
will be taken as an additional burden. So sometimes, teams’ cooperation is
negligible in the implementation and use of the software.
Thinking software as a magic tool
This is very common as most of the time end users believe that the software will
do wonders for them and can perform anything magically. They tend to miss the human-part
of interaction with the software and that software will not do anything on its own.
It will need 100% human involvement to perform the tasks and show productivity.
And when slightest part of this myth breaks down, the software is put aside with
a blame of not producing desired result as expected from this magic tool, forgetting
the fact that the user’s high expectations is the real cause of the failure.
Tries to use whole of the software just because you have paid for it
Project management software is complicated and the software provider has designed
it as a generic product to cater most of the companies’ need. This clearly
means that all features present in it are not for every user of the software. But
sometimes, user tries to use all the features, irrespective of whether he needs
it or not, because of one thought “I have paid for it so I will use it to
fullest to make it worth spending”. For example if a team size is
of 3 members and 1 project manager and if PM is using a Gantt chart function,
the output would not be better, which, would have been if this particular function
is not used.
Technical problems and technology platforms
Low internet connectivity and you have bought a subscription of a cloud version,
can be a perfect example of problems under technical heading. Or maybe, you wrongly
chose a platform like, Mac, Mobile Platform, Windows which is incompatible to install
the software. And here comes the old phrase of our discussion “Software
is bad”. It is most likely to fail.
Irregular use of the software (Results in data insufficiency or non-corrective
data)
It happens very often that users begin with using the software with full enthusiasm
and started reaping some benefits from it as well but in due course of time they
lack motivation to use the software or just stop using it without the reason, which
results in data insufficiency, missing values of facts and figures, hence making
software inconsistent for real scenarios. Finally, this leads to complete dropping
of the system.
No proper support from the service provider
User may stuck at some place with a technical or non technical problem, or both,
like update, functional problem, locating feature, plug-in, billing or may have
any other kind of question in its mind. If those questions are not answered from
the service provider’s end then it is more likely that the user will stop
using the software, eventually if not immediately. What user wants is a response
which shows that somebody is there who is trying to help; even if no perfect solution
of the problem is found, then also there should be some comforting response for
his question. Let’s take an example. Question : My team is not performing
well how your software can help me in this. Technically, there is nothing
much which software can do but still users expects a reply and the service provider
needs to answer it.
Please feel free to contribute more points which you have in mind.
Download & Install our software on project management, which we titled as Project Cafe. The use might
help you understand the above mentioned reasons of failure of project management software.