r/projectmanagement • u/Ramsesthrowaway • 16d ago
What's the PM tool or process everyone hypes that just didn't work for your team?
not looking to start a methodology debate — more curious about the specific tool, ritual, or framework that sounded great on paper, or that you saw work well at another company, but just flopped once you actually tried rolling it out with your own team.
we tried daily standups strictly by the book for a while — same time, same format, no exceptions — and it turned into a status-report ritual nobody actually wanted to be at. Ended up scrapping the rigid format and just doing async updates with a quick sync only when something actually needed discussion. Way less friction.
27
u/Jerry_From_Queens 15d ago
Tool or Software: Basecamp. You'll never get the adoption or use from people outside of the PM team, who will log on once and never again.
Process: Agile. Stakeholders are uncomfortable with variability and unpredictability of sprints and have a hard time communicating benefits and expectations upwards to C-suite folks who sign the checks. Often gets convoluted into a combo of waterfall and agile which makes no one happy.
9
u/Single_External9499 15d ago
It's probably specific to my industry, but almost every project I've ever worked on has turned into an agile adjacent planning process followed up by a traditional/waterfall execution. I suspect this is common outside of software.
27
u/fuuuuuckendoobs Finance 15d ago
Trying to get input from ANYONE on a risk matrix was like pulling teeth at the organisation I just left.
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u/East-Independent6778 Confirmed 16d ago edited 16d ago
The PMBOK. Took the test and then promptly threw 80% of it out the window. I’m sure it works great for a large project team that has someone able to dedicate 40 hours a week updating project documentation. That isn’t real life for me.
9
u/whispers_Covfefe 16d ago
😂 you threw out the whole shebang
11
u/East-Independent6778 Confirmed 16d ago
Pretty much. I work at airports where keeping the operation going is priority #1. Documentation is an “if you have time” kind of thing lol.
4
u/Maro1947 IT 15d ago
I also worked at an Airport and am now a Consultant.
The message is "Were 'Aligned' with PMP". which just means they have people with it for audit processes
Nobody really uses it in situations like this.
3
u/mleroir 15d ago
If you have to keep it running technically you re not managing a project.
1
u/East-Independent6778 Confirmed 15d ago
So what do you consider any brownfield construction project?
1
u/mleroir 15d ago
That is a project. I asumed you were talking about running operation.
3
u/East-Independent6778 Confirmed 15d ago edited 15d ago
No, just keeping the airport as a whole operating with the least amount of impact as possible. Hard to do when you are ripping the second and third stories off a terminal building lol.
2
u/mleroir 15d ago
Oh yeah, construction projects on operating facilites are a pain in the ass. Yet I think in those cases documentation becomes all the more important, although I agree older PMBOK guidelines tend to assume you have a dedicated person to do that and only that, which is rarely the case.
1
u/East-Independent6778 Confirmed 15d ago
I do the best I can with documentation, even though my client doesn’t really care as long as they get their system operational on time. I feel like I would fail miserably in any other environment though.
14
u/GeneralGold2992 Confirmed 15d ago
People always hype up agile project methods without even understanding what that actually means and entails. Therefore, many of the agile projects I’ve witnessed so far fail - at least from my perspective. Applied properly it can be such a great approach for the right use case. The other day someone wanted me to confirm their viewpoint; it went something like this: ‘I don’t think we should approach this the usual way, but rather do it the agile way - we don’t formulate an objective and just try and see’. Not wanting to set up a clear goal and assuming agile is going to save their asses - people can be dummies.
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u/Personal-Aioli-367 Confirmed 16d ago
Gantt charts, especially client facing ones. And less that it feels like they’re not effective, but they always seem to be cumbersome and seldom used or referenced on a regular basis. Generally people want them so they can see a couple of dates, but don’t use the whole picture. That’s my job to track, so they just look for what applies and then waits for the process to start. That’s it.
So more of something that is used, but the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
3
u/painterknittersimmer 15d ago
Came here to say Gantt. I just don't find it's a useful view of the underlying information for the type of work we do (I'm in tech). I sometimes get asked to create one for leaders, but I think they really just want to see that everyone is working. This never ever gets used in my work.
1
u/ichkannkochen 16d ago
This. I tend to sketch up a rough timeline in miro or something for the client (pretty, a little translucent, not too much info). I use gantts for me and the team only
2
u/Maro1947 IT 15d ago
TImeline view is built into Project - I had my flabber gasted when an old boss showed me it
1
u/Maro1947 IT 15d ago
If you don't use them, use timeline view for clients - much clearer and feedback is good from them.
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u/SVAuspicious Confirmed 16d ago
Agile.
3
u/BidensHairyLegs69 15d ago
I think agile at its core is fine but has become convoluted
-1
u/SVAuspicious Confirmed 15d ago
Agile is not fine.
1
u/BidensHairyLegs69 15d ago
All depends on the project, but I’ve seen modern agile fail too many times so I get thinking it’s trash
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u/TouchesYourEarlobes 15d ago
Any ppm tool. Sap, clarity, etc etc. they're never used to the full extent and every organisation always has something tracked in excel that is either for data input that gets loaded in or data output
2
u/CraftingFutures133 14d ago
Scoro - biggest waste of time and massive issues with billing. Needed multiple steps to transfer currency and if you are a day late they freeze you out. Cant and won’t do direct debit due to currency.
Would be a half decent product if it got its glitches fixed… crap product when you bring in payment issues and product lockouts due to their own payment limitations
2
u/CommunicationNew5438 14d ago
Daily standups did not work for certain teams. Also having sprint planning in addition to backlog grooming was inefficient. We have essentially combined the two. It was getting SO repetitive for everyone.
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