I have to admit: dedicated project management software can be daunting. You have to migrate everyone to a new system which, despite all of your tests, you havenâ²t really used in a live environment. Costs range wildly depending on the brand or number of features. Even free ones need a significant time investment (or are not really free).
Spreadsheet software such as MS Excel appears to be a much better alternativeand it sometimes is. Why wouldnâ²t it be? Itâ²s familiar, itâ²s flexible, and best of all itâ²s free (or at least pre-installed on many office computers).
But in reality, you might be paying a higher price than you think.
Time is Money
In project management, the saying time is money is not a metaphor. Time literally costs money, and itâ²s your responsibility to be as efficient as possible. Hence the proliferation of project management software that comes pre-loaded with features like charts, graphs, and forms.
But if youâ²re using a plain-Jane spreadsheet, you have to build all of those features from the ground up. You can easily spend hours tweaking the spreadsheets and plugging in data to keep them up to datebut these are hours you donâ²t have. Eventually, the man hours cost of building and updating your spreadsheet tool will be the same as if youâ²d bought a dedicated project management tool in the first place. Free? Not really.
Version Control
Even if you have a central location for your project management spreadsheetâ²s files, youâ²re still going to run into trouble keeping things consistent and current. Team members will need to enter their hours and task updates, and if eight team members do it on their copy of the file, youâ²re going to have 8 different reports to collate into a single Master file. More work for you.
Not only that, but youâ²ll also have to worry about file security. It would be pretty inconvenient if someone overwrote the most updated Sharepoint file (that you spent 3 hours updating) with a version that they saved two days ago.
Unwieldy
I donâ²t know about you, but Excel can be a bit of a pain if you have information distributed over different locations. You canâ²t display two worksheets at the same time, but if you use entirely separate files, thatâ²s more things to update and track. It can be awkward, unwieldy, and frustrating when youâ²re under pressure, and youâ²ve already got enough of that to deal with.
Donâ²t get me wrong; Iâ²m not saying spreadsheets are a bad idea. In fact, they can be ideal project management tools depending on the situation and the person using them. But, like any other project management tool, trying to shoehorn an ill-fitting tool into your project can be very costly, even if youâ²re not paying a cent.
