Anyone who has ever looked for project management software has most likely come across Jira, Asana and Trello.

But – are they the ones that many experts recommend?

I was curious to find out, so I decided to reach out to experts in a few different verticals to hear what they would recommend.

It varied quite a bit from vertical to vertical and the results were quite interesting.

Programmers definitely default to GitHub issues. Expert project managers default to Microsoft Project. Most in the startup space are 50/50 between Trello and Asana.

I even came across a few surprising outliers. Jeff Atwood, @codinghorror, is using Discourse. Even though Slack isn’t a project management tool, a number mentioned they are seeing it being used as one.

What project management software did they recommend?

Software Votes Trello 5 Asana 5 Slack 3 GitHub Issues 3 Microsoft Project 2 Basecamp 2 Pivotal 1 Quip 1 Pen & Paper 1 Omni Focus 1 Sprint.ly 1 Primavera 1 Jira 1 Assembla 1

Investors

Founders

Programmers

* A few responses were retracted in the programmers section, but GitHub Issues was the dominant response by many.

Project Managers

@saphead4u

Ashfaque Ahmed @HelloFocusHQ I used MS project extensively. It is good only for scheduling but not for accounting. use other tools for accounting @momsandmunchkin

Cheryl Kirkness I’ve always preferred Primavera, @HelloFocusHQ. Requires a bit of training at first but worth it for all the features & scheduling tools. @KuroshTweets

Kurosh Farhadi @HelloFocusHQ I like Microsoft project and Jira. I don’t like Microsoft P as it isn’t as intuitive to changes needed on plans as is needed. @authoreisaacs

Elizabeth Isaacs @HelloFocusHQ I love Basecamp’s calendar/structure but I don’t like that you can’t work on Excel SS’s or Word docs like OneDrive. @itsivana

Ivana Kingston @HelloFocusHQ – I could go on for hours about this. Haven’t found anything that’s perfect. Have used a lot…. Currently on Assembla (1/2) @HelloFocusHQ – the key is drag and drop, ease of inputting data and mindful notifications. A system should be responsive to many workflows @BrigitteKobi

Brigitte Kobi @HelloFocusHQ A very hard question. Most of them are too complicated in more ways than one.

P.S.

If you’re interested in increasing your productivity join thousands of people and companies who trust Hello Focus to accomplish more every day! Built from the ground up based on leading research around productivity. It’s literally designed to help you stay productive! Click here to create an account.

(Image Source: Flickr)