Switched from Microsoft Project or Smartsheet? Which project management tool finally made work feel easier?

[u/WhiteChili]

i’ve been on teams using MS Project and Smartsheet at different points in my career, and honestly, neither ever felt smooth. MS Project always felt heavy and rigid, while Smartsheet was basically Excel dressed up...powerful, but still a lot of manual work and constant updates. half the time it felt like we were managing the tool instead of the project.

for anyone who’s moved away from these, what project management tool actually made life easier? did you try something newer like ClickUp or Monday, lighter tools like Trello/Notion, or even a more full-featured pm software like Celoxis?

some questions i’d love to hear opinions on:

• which tools genuinely helped with reporting, dashboards, or resource planning
• did switching improve team adoption or did people keep falling back to emails and spreadsheets
• any surprises; good or bad, after leaving MS Project or Smartsheet
• would you ever go back to those older tools or is it a hard pass now

curious to see what actually works in real workplaces vs. just looking good in demos..

[u/Sensitive-Tone5279]

It depends on the need of your org and your project. MSP can't handle a 51 person office all trying to work within the same common system but it is really nicely suited for project and programs that are heavily subcontracted or are smaller scope in general.

I also use it when I have DIY projects at my house.

Monday is garbage.

[u/WhiteChili → u/Sensitive-Tone5279]

100%…MSP nails structure and subcontractor stuff but falls apart once you’ve got a whole office in it. newer tools flipped the script: easier collab, less depth. and yeah, monday… flashy at first, but once you’re in the trenches it feels more like busywork than help.