ESI International published a report, stating "project management and business analysis software tools met or exceeded expectations for only 10.5 percent of respondents." This means that, according to their survey, nearly 9 out of 10 people are not satisfied with their project management system.

That's a lot! Is there no satisfaction to be had from project management software? Is there not a project management tool that can do what the market needs?

Wait. What DOES the market need, anyway?

This is where things get tricky.  No one needs the same thing in a project management system.

When I do a demonstration for AceProject, before I even start, I ask two questions:

• What do you guys do? Tell me about your organization
• What are you looking for in a project management tool?

I have yet to receive two identical answers. Of course, there are basic things that come up: time sheets, email reminders, estimates versus actuals, client access, etc. However, every organization is using a slightly different method for project management, every manager is looking for different metrics to assess his team's performance.

That's why no one is completely satisfied with their project management system. If there was a tool that could do everything, it would have so many features it wouldn't be usable.

Tools don't make projects successful. People do.

At the end of the day (or the project), if your team is not working well or if your client won't ever be happy with what you deliver, having the best project management tool cannot fix that. Likewise, if you have a great team, your project can be successful even if you're using the crappiest project management system.