A fool with a Project Management tool is still a fool

Steve Jobs

Senior Member
This should not come as a surprise but most people don’t really want to hear this: You can buy and use as many project management tools as you want but if you don’t know how to manage a project, then you will still fail. Project management tools can make your project management efforts more efficient, and the scale of the projects you are able to manage can be different, but if you just rely on tech and tools, you will just fail at scale.
Remember Apple’s slogan “There is an app for that”? The advance of tech in our lives has led to the belief that if you just had the right app or tool, things can be automated completely. But this is not true. As an example, if you want to learn how to meditate (and I can really recommend to meditate), there are really beautiful apps out there that can help you to learn how to meditate. But you still have to do it. You still have to start the app, use it regularly (i.e. daily) and really listen and do what the instructor asks you to do. It won’t work if you just listen but do not try.
The same is true for project management tools. There are wonderful and even free project management tools out there. But no tool will solve the most important tasks that will make your project successful, such as understanding what your stakeholders really want (apart from understanding who your stakeholders really are), understanding the risks that your project might run into, or documenting the relevant pieces of information to name a few. It is all about communication. And whilst tech and tools can help tremendously in communication, you still have to do it. No tool or app will compensate for your lack of project management knowledge.