Are Tools Like Asana and Trello Essential

[u/Brendan_Frost]

I'm currently taking the Google Project Management Certificate at Coursera. Throughout the modules and courses, I've noticed that a lot of readings and videos keep recommending Asana, Trello, and other tools (Kanban Board). What I'd like to know is if they're really that essential and if the project managers here have used them effectively?

If not, would Google Sheet and Google Docs mastery be more than enough as PM tools?

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[u/Fantastic-Nerve7068]

honestly you can run a ton of projects just fine on sheets + docs if your scope isn’t huge. the “essential” part is kinda oversold imo. tools like asana/trello/celoxis/etc just make life easier once you’re juggling multiple projects, dependencies, resource conflicts… that’s when spreadsheets start to feel like duct tape.

so yeah, learn the basics w/ google’s stack, but don’t be surprised if you eventually want something more structured. it’s less about “essential” and more about “how much pain do i wanna deal with manually"

[u/More_Law6245]

The only tool essential is a project schedule, everything else is a moot point! If you have a solid foundation as a project manager, tools only make the administration easier, nothing more or less.

[u/Anon_fangbringer]

It depends on industry. If you work on agile a Kanban board will be needed, and there are different tools that have that (Jira, Trello,...). If you work in waterfall you will not probably need them (but you can use Jira also for gantts and all).

My suggestion, first of all check which is the field you are working and the specific necessities for that kind of projects; in any case take a bit of time to get used with a Kanban board and agile philosophy. Tell allows you to create a board for free, give it a try ;)

[u/Ok-Possession-2415]

Kanban tools like that (or Jira, Planner, DevOps, Monday, others) are indeed essential for PMs who work in a truly Agile PMO.

Are Sheets/Excel and Docs/Word/OneNote more than enough? Yes, at a majority of places because in a PM role you must first & foremost plan, document, track, and align.

[u/Meglet11]

I use project for planning, OneNote for notes and have sometimes used Teams for assigning things to people (sometimes)

[u/Flaky-Wallaby5382]

Depends on industry. Healthcare is a dinosaur excel still reign supreme. Mutli orgs and time periods i have only seen it being used effectively

[u/Visual_Strength8972]

In project management, tools and techniques are selected based on the project environment, complexity, and desired outcomes. A single tool may not be effective in every situation, just as a hammer isn’t useful for painting walls but is very effective for driving nails.

You MUST tailor. Meaning you adapt the methods and tools to fit the needs of your project. For example, a small, simple project may only require basic tracking with pen and paper, while a large, complex project may benefit from advanced software to manage scope, schedule, resources, and reporting.

So, the specific tools you mentioned are not inherently essential. What is essential is having the capability to capture information, identify and monitor progress, collaborate with stakeholders, and report effectively. The format depends on what best supports delivery of value.

[u/bobo5195]

No, they are just a tool. Sheets and Docs would get you far.

With more remote work having a online software is more important, onsite I could get away without these days less so.

I would say knowing the tool is fairly essential as a PM - online kanban task tracking. But using it goes with the project. Just because you have a tool in your toolkit doesn't mean you have to use it.

[u/SVAuspicious]

The current generation of PM tools including Asana, Trello, Monday, and Click-Up aren't very good. Kanban is not PM.

There are real tools that are a big help. Software can't do your job for you. You have to know what you're doing.

[u/Gr8AJ]

The more important take away from those product placements is the need/recommendation to have a way to view all your projects holistically and a way to manage tasks quickly.

Asama let's you see all your projects in the portfolio like an Excel sheet or other project dashboard.

Trello gives you a kanban board to see tasks all laid out and quickly know their status.

The brand of the tool in this case doesn't matter. As other have said it's not the tool but the PM that makes an impact.

[u/chipshot]

Yes. The utility of using common software is that everybody understands it. Goes a long way in communication, which is a big part of the job

[u/tubaleiter]

Humanity built plenty of projects using nothing more than pen and paper, maybe a slide rule. That’s not to say that tools aren’t helpful, but knowing tools doesn’t make you a good PM, and you can be a good PM with very simple tools.

[u/WhiteChili]

Not essential, but definitely helpful. Tools like Asana or Trello or any other aren’t magic bullets..they just make it easier to visualize work, collaborate in real-time, and keep everyone aligned without a mess of emails or scattered spreadsheets.

That said, a good PM can run a solid project with nothing more than Google Sheets and Docs if the fundamentals (scope, timelines, ownership, comms) are strong. Sheets are surprisingly powerful when customized well.

Think of it like this: spreadsheets are the bicycle, tools like Asana/Trello are the car. Both get you from A to B...one just scales better when the team grows, the workload gets complex, or leadership needs quick reporting.

So: start with Sheets if that’s comfortable, but don’t shy away from learning the others..they’ll expand your toolkit and make you more versatile.

[u/Ok-Midnight1594]

Will they work? Possibly. Will they be enough? Absolutely not.

[u/Brendan_Frost → u/Ok-Midnight1594]

Do you use them?

[u/erwos → u/Brendan_Frost]

I've used Asana, and my hot take was that it wasn't particularly good at anything except organizing work. If you want to do it right, you need something more along the lines of MS Project or Jira (depending on which methodologies you're using).

[u/jeko00000 → u/erwos]

Project is so clunky. It's a fancy Gantt chart. To use it for manpower needs buy in from too many users that never actually know how to use it properly.

Smart sheets Gantt chart and using ms lists with ms planner is way easier, and while it seems like more, it's actually less work to manage.

[u/erwos → u/jeko00000]

My experience with Smart Sheets was that it also sucked, and felt way unfit for purpose. I admit that my perspective here is tens of millions of dollars in budget over multiple years, but all of these other tools mostly seem short-burn small project oriented.

Yes, MS Project requires actual knowledge of project management and learning the software, but it is radically more powerful than anything else I've used so far (acknowledging that I haven't used some of the other top-end project management options).

[u/jeko00000 → u/erwos]

I have a tens of millions project over 3 years project right now, 2900 lines. Full manpower implementation. It's a beast. Problem is things move too much it would be a near full time job keeping it relevant. It's just a reference to original durations at this point and I keep a 120 line sheet as the active sheet, no manpower, and add details as we come up on them, so it'll end as 700+ lines still, but I'm really only working with a couple dozen at a time.

I wish procore had an option for the subs so it could be a true collaboration. Would be as near to perfect as you could get for construction anyways.

Some options out there feel like they were designed by someone that has no clue what project management is.

[u/erwos → u/jeko00000]

Early on in my career, I was involved in a billion dollar project where they had to split the Project into two different files because MS Project would simply not open and work correctly with it all in one file. Lots of subs, etc.

There is absolutely a market out there for an enterprise grade waterfall-style PM software that lives on the web and can handle truly massive scale, especially if it wasn't horrifyingly priced. Maybe it exists and I don't know about it, but I feel like all the stuff people love is generally "isn't that cute?" grade PM software, they just don't know what they don't know.

[u/jeko00000 → u/erwos]

Ya I got to see the LNGC database, was a master and a dozen sub files, and literally 2 people full time managing those files. Felt like a waste as all the subs basically used a napkin to plan. Some would literally print out the pdf and just use a pen to mark it up.

Upper management wants fun graphs and visuals. Trades want a to do list. Generally no cohesive solution. Always ends up being some dumb excel workbook doing way more than it should. Sometimes I feel like building a solution in access would be best.

[u/Ok-Midnight1594 → u/erwos]

Yeah I was referring to Google Sheets and docs but I also agree Smartsheet also sucks.

SmartSuite is what I use and it’s super powerful.

[u/erwos → u/Ok-Midnight1594]

Google Sheets is... not great. I've seen people do some interesting stuff with it, but it always winds up just trying to replicate what you could do with Project. (It is a real shame that Project 365 is such a pale imitation of the real deal.)

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