Do you know the rationale for making that decision to replace Jira and Confluence with ADO beyond just the general trend towards Microsoft?

I think part of it is due to negotiation and pricing. When you buy in bulk and add more products, the licensing costs can be more favorable. Another element is the trend to get everything more natively integrated. While everything can be integrated with everything, having tools like Power BI, ADO, a Microsoft-based CRM, and Office tools all from Microsoft offers more natural integration. So, I suspect the decision was driven by both cost and integration benefits.

In general, it sounds like there's a trend towards more teams picking up Smartsheet over Microsoft Project.

Between Microsoft Project and Smartsheet, yes, mainly because of the need to have a license. Imagine, you know, I have a finance transformation project that takes, I don't know, six months or a year. Whatever it is, people are not accustomed to the tool, having to take a license and then drop it. Learning something that they will not use after that is a no-brainer. Then I use Smartsheet, which everyone can access and contribute to. Not just consume but also contribute. So if I tell them, "Look, this is your piece of the plan that you manage and update the status, update the dates, and keep it updated," and I'm just going to manage the overall project, it's a much easier tool. Even with the reminders and everything else, the mini automation that is built in, the trend is there.