There was recently a discussion on the ASAE online community about project management software. There were lots of recommendations about which software to use and why, but what was missing from the conversation was the people and the process.

Every project or program involves people, process, and technology. All three of these elements must be working correctly for the project or program to work optimally. Or put another way, even the very best technology will be effectively useless if you don't have the right people doing the right things.

For example, in my experience, project management software implementations fail not because the technology is poor, but because staff doesn't know how to use the software, or doesn't know WHY they are using the software. They are given the software and say "Here, use this for your project" with little to no training on how to actually manage a project, much less how to use the software to manage the project.

So when you see challenges in your projects or programs, while it may be the technology that is at fault, it may not be! It might be the people involved, or the processes that have (or have not) been established. You need to consider all three elements.