[Erin Gray]

Which project management applications/tools do you use for M&A integration projects?

[SHurd]

Hi Erin!

I choose the Project Management tool that all parties can access to help streamline the process. If they use Jira (my preference), I’ll use Jira. However, if that organization prefers to leverage Google Sheets or Confluence, I’ll adopt that. I find being adaptive to the tools the team is already familiar with help to build trust.

[Eiron Roffey]

Hi Erin,

I’ve used MS Project as well as Smartsheet. Both work well. I like the dashboards that Smartsheet puts out. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what tool you use. The more important factor is adoption and having the team use the tool.

[Brad Albert]

Agree with the comments above. I’ve found its best to adapt to the tools of the organization you’re working for. On occasion I’ve introduced something new, but mostly just leveraging what’s out of box is typically sufficient and then tailoring it to your audience.

[Veronica R]

It seems like many of us are aligned here in ultimately saying that the tools are the tools are the tools and it doesn’t really matter which one you’re using for your M&A project or any other project. What’s more important is considering a tool that the audience is already familiar with. There’s plenty of change going on already, why complicate it with a new PM tool? Also, the project plan needs to be able to do the tracking and reporting that provide visibility into the health of the integration and the status of activities. Just like any other project, the PMI project will have dependencies and real business consequences if it goes over time or over budget.

[DIMITRIOS KAPOUKRANIS]

Agreed also that the PM tool is not the one that matters the most. Important is updates on the plan to be argued and sufficiently explained to the project team members with clear directions.

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