The Project Management Tools PMs Had to Stop Using
Project Management Platforms: Not all project management platforms meet expectations, leading to frustrations and tool abandonment.
Resourcing Challenges: Specific resourcing tools often fall short, demonstrating the need for flexible and adaptable solutions.
Client Preferences: Client demands can compel teams to abandon preferred tools in favor of those preferred by clients.
AI Limitations: The quality decline in AI tools like ChatGPT has prompted some professionals to explore alternatives.
Adaptability Required: Knowing when to walk away from underperforming tools is a key skill for effective project management.
Every project manager has a tool graveyard — software that promised to streamline workflows, centralize communication, or finally solve the resourcing puzzle, only to create new headaches instead. From enterprise-grade platforms to AI writing assistants, even the most well-intentioned tool adoptions sometimes end in abandonment. We asked working project managers about the tools they've had to walk away from, and why.
Project Management Platforms That Didn't Deliver
Not every project management platform lives up to its promise, and for experienced PMs managing complex work, the gaps become impossible to ignore. Julia Rajic, Chief Operating Officer at Point Blank, found this out firsthand when her agency made the switch to Monday.com and eventually had to reverse course. "A lot of the discussion around why move away from Monday was around resourcing," she explains. "It wasn't really great at resourcing. If you've got project managers who know how to use dependencies and they want to see things like Waterfall...They don't love it."
If you’ve got project managers who know how to use dependencies and they want to see things like Waterfall…They don’t love it [Monday.com].
Basecamp drew similarly sharp criticism from Matthew Fox, Sr. Project Manager and Operations Specialist at Fox Consulting, who found it wholly inadequate for internal project operations. "Basecamp is not great for internal project management, regardless of what 37signals will say," he says. "It's just a terrible platform for project managers. It's almost as if you're using a Fisher Price tool when you need a professional-level tool."
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Basecamp is not great for internal project management, regardless of what 37signals will say.
Sometimes a tool fails not in concept but in execution. Kayla Keizer, Project Manager at Northern, had previously recommended Teamwork.com, until she found a situation where it wasn’t quite working. "I've recently got to use Teamwork and I retract my original shortlist for Teamwork," she says. "It works very similar to Productive.io, but I don't like the UI...I find the contrast between what's a task and a sub task is too blurry."
[In Teamwork.com] I find the contrast between what’s a task and a sub task is too blurry.
Even widely adopted platforms aren't immune to burnout. Ryan Gilbreath, Technical Project Manager at RTS Labs, describes a pattern he's seen play out more than once: teams abandoning Jira due to organizational fatigue, only to find themselves cycling back. "Some people just had Jira fatigue from being in large corporations where there's a lot of red tape around it," he explains. "I've had the same thing happen with GitHub Projects, actually. We used it for a little bit and we found that we like Jira. So, it was a lot of flip-flopping."
Some people just had Jira fatigue…I’ve had the same thing happen with GitHub Projects. We used it for a little bit and we found that we like Jira. So, it was a lot of flip-flopping.
Resourcing and Time Tracking Tools That Fell Short
Resourcing and time tracking are perennial pain points in project management, and the tools designed to solve them don't always measure up. Rajic encountered this with Resource Guru, a dedicated resourcing platform that ultimately proved too rigid for her team's needs. "There are resourcing-only tools. And we used one called Resource Guru once upon a time. It didn’t work for us," she says.
She elaborates why it didn’t work for her use case: "We needed the ability to request resources. For example, if I need a developer on my project for 40 hours over two weeks, that’s basically a developer at 50%, right? But we couldn't do that.”
Custom-built solutions for a use case aren't always the answer either. Marissa Taffer, Founder and President of M. Taffer Consulting, worked with a client who had developed their own homegrown time tracking system and eventually helped convince them to let it go. "One of my clients had a homemade time tracking system. It was fine, but it wasn't great. It was just really clunky and a little hard to report from" she says. "They have since been persuaded to abandon it." Proprietary tools can require a lot of in-house maintenance that teams don’t realize will cost them in the long run, making out-of-the-box solutions often favorable.
One of my clients had a homemade time tracking system. It was fine, but it was not great. They have since been persuaded to abandon it.
When Client Demands Force a Tool Switch
Sometimes the decision to abandon a tool has nothing to do with the tool itself. Alexa Alfonso, Sr. Account Executive at Caylent, makes the case that client preferences will always win, even when that means walking away from an agency's own carefully chosen stack. "Whatever tool your clients will use is the best tool to use," she says. "Even if it's their own software, I've seen success previously where we kind of abandoned ship with the tools we were using because the client was so bullish about their suite. And we said, okay, let us in... give us a seat."
Whatever tool your clients will use is the best tool to use.
AI and Productivity Tools That Missed the Mark
The rise of AI-powered tools has introduced a new category of software for PMs to evaluate — and potentially abandon. Yonelly Gutierrez, a Senior Program Manager at Palo Alto Networks and a self-described daily AI user, found herself falling out with ChatGPT after noticing a meaningful dip in quality. "I used to use ChatGPT all the time. I have noticed a huge quality decline even though I used to use it all day every day," she says. "I just feel like it hallucinates way too much for what I need to do. So, I didn't even renew my ChatGPT professional subscription, I only use Gemini now."
Even lower-stakes productivity tools can wear out their welcome. Varun Anand, CEO of EduHubSpot, kept it simple when explaining why he stopped using Grammarly: "I've used Grammarly a lot but after a while it was irritating to me, so I turned it off."
I’ve used Grammarly a lot but after a while it was irritating to me, so I turned it off.
For Michael Gold, Founder and Fractional Head of Delivery, the issue with his CRM came down to straightforward economics. Rather than continue paying for Close, he took matters into his own hands. "I just built my own CRM using Replit because I was using Close. It was costing me like $100 a month," he explains. "Building my own has just been quite fun. I mean, I won't lie when you say it's better than Close, but it's free — or at least it's $25 a month for Replit."
I just built my own CRM using Replit because I was using Close. It was costing me like $100 a month.
The Willingness to Walk Away Is a Skill
No tool is universally right. Context, team size, workflow complexity, client expectations, and even budget realities all determine whether a platform earns a permanent place in a PM's toolkit — or gets added to the graveyard. What these stories share is that the decision to abandon a tool, far from being a failure, is often the most pragmatic move a project manager can make. Knowing when something isn't working, and having the conviction to move on, is itself a form of professional judgment that serves projects and teams well in the long run.
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