If you or a “close friend of yours” (read: you) is deeply concerned about what was once an occasional fondness for spreadsheets, but has now twisted into something between an unhealthy dependence to a raging addiction, then be assured you aren’t alone.
In numerous enterprises around the world and across every industry, dedicated and hard-working project team members just like you are no longer using spreadsheets: on the contrary, they’re being used by spreadsheets. That’s because instead of empowering you with control, spreadsheets are triggering widespread confusion and chaos in three critical areas:
- Poor Visibility. Spreadsheets cannot give in-house teams — let alone remote and distributed teams — an accurate picture of what’s really going on in real-time. As a result, critical decisions about scope, business objectives, budgets, scheduling and resources are based on best guestimates or gut feels vs. clear and reliable hard data.
- Collaboration Woes. Spreadsheets are not fundamentally designed for collaboration, which is why information is automatically stored in static files. Attempting to brainstorm strategies, align communications and keep internal and external stakeholders in the loop is a constant uphill struggle.
- Lack of Governance. Spreadsheets cannot effectively and efficiently manage intake, approvals, phase gate deliverables and tracking. This means project management governance ends up as an exercise in damage control as teams frenetically react to problems and issues vs. proactively mitigating risk and staying on track.
Let the Healing Begin!
Thankfully, society has progressed to the point where talking about spreadsheet dependence is not an invitation to be sanctioned, shamed or silenced. Everyone from project managers to PMO executives are taking a stand, sharing their story and leading the way towards healing.
Clarizen: Part of the Solution
At Planview AdaptiveWork, we’re proud to be part of the solution. Not because we think that spreadsheets are the enemy. Spreadsheets have their uses — but managing projects at the enterprise level has never been one of them. That’s why we help enterprises re-create their project management toolkit by accessing a secure, fast, powerful and easy-to-use cloud-based solution that enables:
- Full 360-Degree Visibility. Planview AdaptiveWork is built from the ground up to give project teams in-context visibility, so they can immediately grasp how changes will impact schedule, cost, resources, or other key project elements.
- End-to-End Collaborative Work Management (CWM). Instead of working in silos and getting bogged down with emails, Planview AdaptiveWork connects internal team members and external stakeholders — including customers — on a centralized platform, so they can align communications, avoid double work and move faster. Planview AdaptiveWork was recently positioned as a “leader” in the Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Collaborative Work Management report (learn more here).
- Comprehensive Project Governance. Clarizen’s robust process automation functionality lets teams create customized business rules to manage, organize and analyze a full range of project governance objectives, such as approvals, notifications, new product launches, and so on.
Learning to Love Spreadsheets Again
Even though you may accept that spreadsheets are the cause of your struggles instead of the solution to them, eliminating them from your project management ecosystem may be difficult to bear, or even unnecessary. If so, then relax: there’s some more good news on the horizon.
Through add-on modules, Planview AdaptiveWork integrates seamlessly with spreadsheets (Excel and Google Drive), so you can continue using them for tasks where it makes sense to do so. It’s the best of both worlds, and the smartest and most successful way to go from spreadsheet dependence to deliverance.
To learn more, register for our upcoming webinar Curb Your Spreadsheet Cravings.
