What Actually Matters in Planning Software

Planning software can look great in a demo and still be a pain to use every Tuesday. If your team already has a way of planning and meeting, bring the real version of it to the walkthrough.

Here are eight questions I would ask.

1. Can we use it during a live meeting?

Ask someone to start a meeting from scratch, enter a number, make a note and assign a to-do while you watch. A finished sample screen tells you less than five minutes of real use.

2. Can different meetings have different agendas?

Leadership, sales and operations should be able to look at the things that matter to each team. Check how much you can change without a workaround.

3. Who can update the plan and numbers?

If only an administrator can make changes, that person becomes the bottleneck. Ask to see what a department lead can do for themselves.

4. Can we keep our own words and structure?

If your team already has a plan, you should not have to rename every part of it to satisfy the tool. Ask how your existing priorities, numbers and meetings would be set up.

5. Can we see who owns what?

The plan should make responsibility clear. Look at what happens when work changes hands or two people run a function together.

6. What will it cost with the whole team in it?

Price the number of users who would actually need access, including future hires. Check what setup and support cost. For reference, Next 12's first user is free, each additional user is $5 CAD a month and optional done-for-you setup is $500.

7. Can we get our data out?

Ask what you can export and in what format. You should know that before you commit, even if you never plan to leave.

8. Does the seller use it themselves?

Ask what their own weekly meeting looks like and what they changed after using the product. We built Next 12 inside Moto Transportation and still use it there every week. We can show you the software using your actual meeting, not a pretend company with suspiciously tidy numbers.

Book a walkthrough and bring your current agenda.