Shaine Mata

A house framer should only worry about building a house frame. He doesn’t need to know all the details about the foundation, the roof, the plumbing, the electrical, or insulation. A framer only needs to worry about his part of the project. When he reports to the contractor, the job is either not started, underway, or complete. He doesn’t need to talk to the roofers, plumbers, or electricians. Whereas the framer only deals with his part of the construction, the contractor has to deal with the entire job. The contractor has to make it as easy as possible for the framer to keep him updated so that he can devote time to talking with the other subcontractors about their progress. The framer’s investment in the project is much smaller than the contractor’s.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Phil Henry of Smartsheet.com regarding my recent post about Basecamp. We talked a bit about project management and my experience with a recent project. Phil shared with me a bit about the research that Smartsheet has done in the field of project management. One thing they found is that the Project Manager is indeed more invested in a project than the participants. Therefore, the Project Manager may invest more time in learning how to use a project management system than would a person reporting to him. A person doing the work can do their job very well without ever learning how to use a project management system. For this reason, people are often reluctant to use project management software. Where project management software often fails is that it is so complicated and expensive in terms of time and money to maintain and learn. Often, it relegates the Project Manager to a record keeper because he or she is the only person who has access to and knows how to use the software. A good project management system should make it easy for people to report and collaborate. An even better project management system makes the process equally easy for the the project manager and the person reporting.

Getting reports from people who are busy working can be difficult. Whereas they are focused and working hard on one or two parts of the project for which they are responsible, the project manager is responsible for the entire project. Therefore, the PM has a greater investment in both moving the project forward and in getting updates on what is going on. This can be done with phone calls, emails, letters, faxes, or meetings. Depending on the number of people involved, the volume of information can be daunting. For this reason, it is counterproductive to make the project manager the only person responsible for updating the project tracking software. The system has to be easily accessible and easy to use for the people updating in order to offload some of that burden from the PM.

Smartsheet does just that. Their service looks like the familiar spreadsheet. On the surface, you see rows and columns with information peppered about. Underneath that veneer, is a powerful system that tracks all the minutia of a project. They purposely make the interface as simple as possible for the PM and the person reporting. In fact, the PM can send a project update request that includes one single line of the spreadsheet by email. The person reporting does not have to see anything other than that one line that they can update with their equivalent of not started, underway, or complete. There is no special software. There is no need to learn how to use a new program. Most importantly, the PM does not have to update this information. He can spend more time in the field rather than being tethered to the computer that runs the project management software. Recently, Smartsheet took things a step further in liberating the PM from the office by with a mobile interface.

Although Smartsheet excels in other aspects of project management, one of the best features is the simplicity with which others can send updates from their email without having to log in to the site. Add to that the ability to leave the office and view updates from your smartphone, and you’re in Project Manager heaven.