Executive Summary
Kolme Group’s latest PM Tool Demo Day brought together expert insights, real-world demos of ClickUp, monday.com, Smartsheet, and Planview, and proven lessons from delivering thousands of successful projects worldwide. This blog recaps the key takeaways, including the three most important steps before choosing a PM tool: knowing your requirements, avoiding overbuying, and investing in change management. It also highlights the critical role of RAID Logs in improving on-time, on-budget delivery, and provides an instant link to the promised PM Tool Comparison Chart—a no-form, quick-download resource to help organizations evaluate their next PM solution.
Choosing the Right Project Management Tool
If you’ve ever tried to select a new project management (PM) tool for your organization, you know the process can feel overwhelming. The market is crowded, the feature lists are long, and the stakes are high—pick the wrong tool, and you risk wasting both time and budget.
That’s why Kolme Group hosts PM Tool Demo Day—a live, guided walk-through of top PM solutions, real-world implementation tips, and lessons learned from hundreds of successful (and a few not-so-successful) deployments.
During our latest session, we took attendees through the strengths and considerations of ClickUp, monday.com, Smartsheet, and Planview—plus how RAIDLOG.com can play a key role in tracking risks, actions, issues, and decisions to keep projects on schedule and on budget.
The session ended with something we promised all attendees: a PM Tool Comparison Chart you can use to quickly compare features, capabilities, and ideal use cases. You can download it instantly here.
Why Your PM Tool Choice Matters
As Kolme Group co-founder Kim Essendrup reminded attendees, the right PM tool is more than just software—it’s an enabler of better project delivery, resource management, and decision-making. The wrong tool, or the right tool implemented poorly, can lead to:
- Teams avoiding the system entirely
- Leaders making decisions based on outdated or incomplete data
- Projects stalling due to unclear ownership or priorities
Our mission is to help you avoid these pitfalls by making an informed choice and ensuring the tool is implemented and adopted successfully.
Top Lessons Before You Choose a Tool
From our experience supporting thousands of organizations in over fifty countries, we’ve seen patterns emerge. In PM Tool Demo Day, Kim shared three of the most critical lessons:
1. Know Your Requirements
Jumping into tool selection without knowing your needs is like shopping for a car without knowing if you need to tow a trailer or commute 50 miles a day. Spend time upfront defining:
- The business problems you need to solve now
- The processes you want to support (e.g., project intake, resource allocation, budgeting)
- Your success metrics for the tool
Kolme Group can help facilitate this discovery so you don’t waste time (or money) on capabilities you’ll never use.
2. Don’t Buy for Problems You Don’t Have
It’s tempting to choose the tool with the longest feature list. But overbuying leads to complexity, slow adoption, and wasted investment.
Instead, focus on what you need to solve today and over the next 12 months. PM maturity is a journey—you can always grow into more advanced capabilities later.
3. Invest in Change Management
Even the perfect tool is useless if no one uses it. Change management is the bridge between tool selection and real value. That means:
- Proactive communication about “why” the change matters
- Training that’s role-specific and ongoing
- Support systems so users don’t revert to old habits
Kolme Group’s consultants integrate change management into every implementation, ensuring your investment delivers long-term results.
Where RAID Logs Fit into the Picture
No matter which PM tool you choose, one practice can significantly boost your success rate: maintaining a robust RAID Log.
RAID stands for Risks, Actions, Issues, and Decisions—the four categories of information that, when tracked consistently, keep projects transparent, accountable, and adaptable.
Here’s why they matter:
- Risks – Documenting potential obstacles allows teams to proactively address them before they derail delivery.
- Actions – Assigning and tracking tasks ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
- Issues – Logging current problems helps leadership prioritize solutions and allocate resources quickly.
- Decisions – Recording choices made prevents confusion, reduces rework, and creates a clear audit trail.
According to industry data, projects that actively manage RAID logs are 30% more likely to finish on time and on budget. At Kolme Group, we integrate RAID tracking directly into your PM processes—whether through our partners at RAIDLOG.com or another platform—so it becomes a natural part of your project culture.
Highlights from the PM Tool Demos
We provided a 10-minute snapshot of each platform, focusing on where they shine in different environments:
- ClickUp – Flexible, highly customizable, and ideal for teams that want a single workspace for tasks, docs, goals, and reporting.
- monday.com – User-friendly interface with powerful automation and dashboards—great for cross-department visibility.
- Smartsheet – Spreadsheet-like familiarity with robust project tracking, automation, and portfolio management options.
- Planview – Enterprise-grade solution for strategic portfolio management, resource planning, and detailed reporting.
Every tool has its strengths—and potential pitfalls depending on your use case, team size, and maturity. That’s exactly why we created the PM Tool Comparison Chart.
The PM Tool Comparison Chart
We built this resource to help you:
- Compare the key features and limitations of each tool covered in Demo Day
- Match tools to business sizes, industries, and PM maturity levels
- See where RAIDLOG.com fits in as a complementary solution for risk and decision management
Whether you attended live or are catching up now, you can get your copy instantly—no form, no email required.
📥 Download the PM Tool Comparison Chart Now
Why Kolme Group is the Partner of Choice
When organizations choose Kolme Group to guide their PM tool journey, they benefit from:
- Neutral, Unbiased Recommendations – We’re tool-agnostic, advising on the best fit for your needs—not just the tools we partner with.
- Extensive Global Reach – Our team has delivered thousands of projects for clients spanning industries and geographies worldwide.
- End-to-End Expertise – From requirements gathering to configuration, training, adoption, integration and optimization, we’re with you at every step.
Our goal isn’t just to get you up and running—it’s to make sure your tool becomes a daily driver of project success.
Next Steps
If you’re ready to:
- Get clear on your PM tool requirements
- See real-world demos of your shortlisted tools
- Receive expert guidance tailored to your organization
Then download the chart today and consider booking a free 30-minute PM Tool Strategy Session with our team.
Your PM tool is the foundation of your project delivery. Let’s make sure it’s the right one.
📥 Download the PM Tool Comparison Chart
The post Choosing the Right Project Management Tool: Insights from PM Tool Demo Day appeared first on Kolme Group.
