Project management is crucial for running business effectively, no matter if we talk about a huge enterprise or a company with just two employees. The way you organize your work depends to a large extent on the project management software you are using.

Today I would like to make an attempt to classify popular PM applications available on the market. Considering their user-friendliness to an average user, I would divide them into 2 types. Let's define them for convenience as "complex" and "easy" applications.

Complex project management applications (MS Project, Primavera, Artemis, etc.) are intended for those who usually deal with big projects and have extensive project management background. However, even with the necessary skills, spending a great deal of time to learn how to use the software is required. Some of the companies (for ex, Instant Business Network) even offer videocasts to help their customers understand how to use their app. If you decide to avoid training, this may result in struggling with the software, instead of managing projects.

Complex PM tools usually have multilevel task scheduling based on hierarchical system of privileges inside a project. Their feature set includes tools for resource managing, portfolio analytics, schedule planning and many more. In a typical project environment where time is short, only a small percentage of these numerous features is utilized. Apart from that, a great number of such complex solutions are intended solely for IT companies. Accordingly, they use the appropriate methodology and terms in their apps (like subversion or bugzilla).

Easy project management applications are tools of the other kind. Here are just a few of them: Basecamp, Zoho Projects, AtTask etc. In order to make an analysis of their user-friendliness, let's take TM Projects module inside TeamLab as an example.

TM Projects are considered to be the next step after using to-do lists in your daily work. They suit your needs if you are not an expert in project management, but still require fundamental PM tools in order to run business efficiently. This module is suitable for almost any kind of company, including design studios, educational, medical and consulting companies. Here are the reasons why:

1. Ergonomic interface. The UI of TM Projects is intuitive and user-friendly, so you can focus on your work instead of reading heaps of documentation in order to sort out how to use the software.

2. Basic yet powerful functionality. No confusing and useless fluff has been included into TM Projects. As a result, your work with projects is concentrated on accomplishing certain tasks.

3. Universal project scheme. The principle of the software use and its features are suited for any company. You can manage almost any kind of projects using the step-by-step guide on TM Projects start page:

Nadezhda Shipova, PR Manager, Ascensio System SIA: "Whereas other applications either offer unnecessary interface complexity, or are easy-to-use yet lack basic PM functions, TM Projects has been designed to offer just the right balance."

The company is planning to enhance the first version of TM Projects in future by providing more features essential for business. However, at the same time, their main goal is to keep its interface ergonomic and intuitive. This can be considered as a serious attempt to prove that easy project management is not a myth anymore. And taken into account lots of positive feedback they've already got from users and mass media, it seems that the idea of easy project management is becoming more and more attractive.