When launching an IT project in an SME, the question of which tool to use comes up very early. And it often causes a bottleneck for far too long. You compare features, watch videos, and ask a friend who works at a startup. The result: six weeks later, you still haven't chosen anything, or you've signed up for a subscription you don't use.
The reality is that for the vast majority of SMEs, the choice of tool matters far less than the discipline with which you use it. But you still have to choose. Here is how we think about it at Logexia.
What is your team's project maturity? This isn't a technical question; it's a question of habits. Does your team work with assigned tasks, deadlines, and progress statuses? Or do you operate primarily through verbal communication, meetings, and individual to-do lists?
A project management tool does not create structured work habits. It amplifies those that already exist. Introducing Jira to a team that has never worked with tickets is almost always a failure in adoption. Introducing Notion to a team accustomed to documenting is immediately useful.
For a project involving two or three people, with a stable scope and a duration of less than three months, a well-structured spreadsheet does the job perfectly. No subscription, no learning curve.
The problem arises when the project grows: Excel does not manage task dependencies, does not notify anyone, does not keep a history, and becomes unreadable beyond about twenty active lines. Logexia recommendation: Excel for initial scoping and small-scale tracking; it becomes a hindrance as soon as a team exceeds three people or the project lasts longer than two months.
Notion's real strength is its hybrid nature: documentation, task tracking, databases, and meeting notes all in one space. Its limitations: no native backlog management, no sprints, no integrated Gantt charts. Logexia recommendation: ideal for teams that need structured documentation as much as task tracking; not for an IS migration with complex interdependencies.
Jira is the gold standard for technical teams. For a non-technical SME, it requires serious configuration, an understanding of workflows, and a discipline of daily updates. Logexia recommendation: Jira is justified when your technical provider is already using it, or when your internal IT team operates in an agile manner. Otherwise, it is overkill.
Asana is a good middle ground between the simplicity of Notion and the power of Jira: a clean interface, dependency management, and multiple views. Its downside: costs that add up quickly with advanced features.
Microsoft Planner / Teams is often the most pragmatic solution for SMEs already in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem: zero additional cost, natively integrated into Teams, and adopted without friction.
Team with no existing tools: Microsoft Planner or Notion. IT project with an external provider: Jira if the provider already uses it, Asana otherwise. Documenting as much as tracking: Notion. Already using Microsoft 365, modest project: Microsoft Planner. Multiple cross-functional projects: Asana or Jira depending on technical maturity.
The majority of SMEs we support don't have a tool problem, but a usage problem. The tool is there, but no one updates it consistently. Changing tools changes nothing. What makes a difference is establishing a few simple rules: who updates what, how often, and with what level of detail. This is exactly what we define during the project scoping, even before talking about tools.
