The great challenge of technical managers is to rise above their technologies and see the bigger picture and the people who inhabit that picture.  With technology comes the danger of using it for its own sake.

Project management tools are brimming with many bells and whistles.  It is a great temptation to implement as many of those features as possible.  In doing so, we accent our own cleverness, but often at the expense of value-subtracting or value-neutral contributions.  This is true of all of the tools that we use as project managers.

Stop and really look at that last presentation.  How many different special effects were used?  Did those effects and colors and templates transform your data into information?  Were those eye-popping fade-ins and outs necessary to get the point across?  Were the fonts easy to read?  Was your presentation a map and not an atlas?

Edward Tufte says "If your words or images are not on point, making them dance in color won't make them relevant."  So, as you reach for the cool new tool or feature, ask yourself what value can add by using it.  If there is value, then invest the time in learning the tool or feature.  If there is not, then leave that investment until a time that it makes more sense.

In the same way Verse 30* of the Tao touches on this subject, although Lao Tzu might be surprised at today's application of his words.

"A knower of the Truth does what is called for
     then stops
He uses his strength but does not force things
In the same way
     complete your task
     seek no reward
     make no claims
Without faltering
     fully choose to do what you must do
This is to live without forcing
     to overcome without conquering

Things that gain a place by force
     will flourish for a time
     but then fade away"

*Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, Lao Tzu with Translation and Commentary by Jonathan Star, Jeremy P Tarcher/Penguin, 2001, page 29