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Smartsheet: an alternative to Microsoft Project

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For years Microsoft Project dominated the market for project management software. It has a steep learning curve and is an expensive per seat cost. I was a technical writer for a small software company that used MS Project for the three project managers and myself. While I enjoyed learning about the science of project management from them in our meetings, I discovered that using the software was not that intuitive. I plugged in the tasks and timelines for several projects only to discover how challenging it was to have to refactor dates. It seemed to mess up the entire project such that I just stopped using it. It was more time consuming setting it up and refactoring it than just inputting status to show our progress.

It looks like a better option is SmartSheet which is used by many major companies. You can sign up for a free trial to get familiar with it. The more you can learn about tools to manage instructional design projects, the more likely you are to be considered for the team.

Take a look at SmartSheet when you have a chance. It's really cool that they have their own training courses with certifications and badges. I imagine you could earn these with your free trial and have this on your resume when your interviewing for your first ID job.



https://www.smartsheet.com/solutions/project-management





Comments

  1. Megan W.July 28, 2023 at 11:06 AM

    Thanks for sharing! I, too, don't love MS Project and find it to be both over simplified and overly complicated at the same time. As we transition through the program and our careers, project management seems to be at the forefront of ID work. I wonder how we can relate principles of Web 2.0 to project management tools like SmartSheet? Badging is clearly one! I wonder if they have a community aspect to training, like LinkedIn Learning does? Or perhaps we might look at the team using the tool as a tiny PLN?

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  2. Missy MJuly 29, 2023 at 9:00 PM

    I use SmartSheet and I personally like it a lot! I'm unfamiliar with MS Project, but Smartsheet works well for my team. I have seen some of the webinars, but I have not done any of them. I completed a couple of Smartsheet LinkedIn Learning courses as part of my onboarding though, and using that definitely got me familiar enough to be confident in my usage.

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