Is Project worth it?

[MrBen]

I currently schedule my projects on Excel. I'm a writer and my projects don't
usually have too many steps (20-40 tasks) or people involved. Is MS Project a
little complicated for straightforward projects? I wonder if it can help me
to manage the knock-on effects of delays in different projects though? Is it
easy and worthwhile to learn?

 

[JulieD]

Hi MrBen

- my 2 cents worth

Is MS Project a little complicated for straightforward projects?
you have straightforward projects? can i join your world

I wonder if it can help me to manage the knock-on effects of delays in
different projects
absolutely and this is one of its major pluses

Is it easy
absolutely not

worthwhile to learn
definitely, if you have a need for it

Project, IMHO is a great tool for managing projects, especially where you
need to manage resources and / or deal with interactions between a number of
different projects. I find that the majority of the problems encountered
with project are either because people don't realise that it "thinks" and
secondly, because they don't understand how it thinks, or because they want
to use project for something it isn't really designed to do. It's primary
purpose in life is a scheduling tool - you tell it what needs to be done,
who you need to do that task, what their availability is and project will
tell you when it can be done. If you want to use it for this purpose and
have a number of projects where the performance of one can affect others
then yes, i'ld be reaching for MS Project.

Other's hopefully will pop in here with their comments too.

Cheers
JulieD

 

[John]

MrBen,
Adding to what Julie replied, your post mentions the word "worth",
implying you are concerned about the cost of buying the Project
application. From your description, your needs are modest. You do NOT
need the latest version of Project which is Project 2003. As a matter of
fact you could probably use Project versions as old as version 4.x
(Project 97) and still be able to do everything you need. However, to
get a good balance of current features and still be compatible with
other users who you may need to exchange schedule information with, I
suggest you get a copy of Project 2000 with the SR-1 update. The reason
I suggest an older version is that it will meet your needs and then some
and you should be able to find it reasonably priced on one of the
on-line auction sites such as eBay (That's where I got mine a couple
years ago). If you take that route, just make sure what you get is not
an upgrade (which requires that you have a previous version of Project)
and that what you buy includes the SR-1 update because it is no longer
available (as far as I know) on the Microsoft website.

Hope this helps.
John

 

[MrBen]

Thanks for your thoughts Julie and John, very useful. When I say 'is it worth
it?' I really mean, is the investment in time worth it? I figure it'll take
time to learn and that's the commodity I have least of at the moment. On the
other hand, I do have trouble estimating the time writing projects will
take. So if it'll make me more accurate that's a clear benefit. Also projects
overlap, so if it'll help me realistically manage the timing, I can be more
truthful with my clients... another clear benefit. At the moment I do all
this in my head and a bit on Excel, and I'm usually overoptimistic about how
quickly I'll complete work!

thanks
MrBen

 

[JulieD]

Hi MrBen

it definitely takes time to learn ... you might like to have a quick read
through of Mike Glen's lessons on using project to give you some idea of the
concepts you need to get your head around to effectively use project.

Additionally, project doesn't stop you being overoptimistic on the delivery
time of a project - as you tell it how long everything will take in the
first place!

the web link for Mike's lessons are:
http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc
if that doesn't work try
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23RegardsJulieD"MrBen" <[email protected]> wrote in messageThanks for your thoughts Julie and John, very useful. When I say 'is itworth> it?' I really mean, is the investment in time worth it? I figure it'lltake> time to learn and that's the commodity I have least of at the moment. Onthe> other hand, I do have trouble estimating the time writing projects will> take. So if it'll make me more accurate that's a clear benefit. Alsoprojects> overlap, so if it'll help me realistically manage the timing, I can bemore> truthful with my clients... another clear benefit. At the moment I do all> this in my head and a bit on Excel, and I'm usually overoptimistic abouthow> quickly I'll complete work!>> thanks> MrBen>> "John" wrote:>>>>> MrBen,>> Adding to what Julie replied, your post mentions the word "worth",>> implying you are concerned about the cost of buying the Project>> application. From your description, your needs are modest. You do NOT>> need the latest version of Project which is Project 2003. As a matter of>> fact you could probably use Project versions as old as version 4.x>> (Project 97) and still be able to do everything you need. However, to>> get a good balance of current features and still be compatible with>> other users who you may need to exchange schedule information with, I>> suggest you get a copy of Project 2000 with the SR-1 update. The reason>> I suggest an older version is that it will meet your needs and then some>> and you should be able to find it reasonably priced on one of the>> on-line auction sites such as eBay (That's where I got mine a couple>> years ago). If you take that route, just make sure what you get is not>> an upgrade (which requires that you have a previous version of Project)>> and that what you buy includes the SR-1 update because it is no longer>> available (as far as I know) on the Microsoft website.>>>> Hope this helps.>> John>>

 

[JLB]

You get paid for crafting exquisite phrases not for developing a fluid
schedule of tasks and resources.

Project is a non-trivial environment that has a lengthy learning curve. If
you make your living running projects then it's a wonderful tool; if you make
your lving as a wordsmith you will likely find it frustrating, exasperating,
trying and ultimately unrewarding in terms of the benefits you gain for the
time you spend developing your schedules.

 

[Rob Schneider]

Exquisitely phrased. Well done.

You get paid for crafting exquisite phrases not for developing a fluid
schedule of tasks and resources.

Project is a non-trivial environment that has a lengthy learning curve. If
you make your living running projects then it's a wonderful tool; if you make
your lving as a wordsmith you will likely find it frustrating, exasperating,
trying and ultimately unrewarding in terms of the benefits you gain for the
time you spend developing your schedules.



:

 

[Kenneth Gorelick]

Project Management is a technical field. MS Project is a powerful tool to
help in this complicated field. Project Management is widely used in the
military, engineering and construction among other fields.

MS Project can be used to make pretty graphs. However, to use it properly
requires at least some education in the field. The learning curve, for a
person who knows nothing about the technical aspects of project management
is very steep, since there is a discipline to learn in addition to a
software package.

You can buy software for composing music, but if you don't know anything
about music, using the software may not help much!

That said, project management is not rocket science. It is management of
rocket scientists! If you have complex projects, ones that use many of the
same resources (human and otherwise), tasks that depend on the completion of
other tasks, lag periods between tasks, etc., then you may find some value
in learning both the discipline and the software.

Ken Gorelick

 

[JLB]

What do I mean by calling Project a "non trivial" environment? Ah, good
question.

Word is a very straight-forward (almost simple) program: you enter some
text and you apply some formatting. The formatting can be simple or
elaborate but, in the end, it's still the same: some text behind the scenes
with formatting instructions overlaid to structure the display of the text.

For those who want to point out that there is additional functionality such
as mail merge, change tracking, etc., I will acknowledge that it exists and
that people use it. I hope you will now acknowledge that it's pretty
elementary stuff.

Open a new project and create one task. But which task? Is it fixed units,
fixed duration or fixed work? Let's make it simple: create one of each
kind. But are they effort driven or not? Okay, create two of each (fixed
units, effort driven; fixed units, not effort driven, etc.). Now ... assign
Work and Duration to each. Again, let's make it easy: 5 days of Work and 5
days of Duration for each. (We'll keep it simple and presume that we're
working in Project 98. If you use Project 2000 or later then we could
discuss task calendars and repeat the same steps of creating a complete set
of possible task types and then assign different calendars to different sets.)

Create a resource. Hmmm, maybe you should make that 3 resources since we
can assign the Standard calendar to the first, the Nightshift calendar to the
second and the 24-hour calendar to the third.

Back to the Gantt display and assign the first resource to each task you've
already created. Don't worry. We both know that this will overload the
person but we'll ignore that for a moment.

Now we will actually begin to do some work. On the Gantt display, make
certain you can see the Task Name, Constraint Type, task Type, Effort-Driven
flag, Work, Duration, Start and Finish dates, and Resource Names. On each of
the tasks, change the Duration from 5d to 10d. Did you notice how changing
the same field in every task created different outcomes depending on the task
Type and the Effort-Driven flag?

That's a simple example. Add the complexities of assigning multiple
resources at different "% units", changing the constraint from ASAP to Finish
No Earlier Than or No Later Than or, even, Must Finish On ... well, you can
see the issues.

And we haven't even got the stage where we enter Actual Hours worked by the
Resource on a particular to task to see how those entries have an impact on
Duration, Finish Date, %Units, etc.

So far, we've only done the equivalent, in Word, of "enter text."

Remember how Word had all sorts of formatting possibilities to display the
underlying text (Normal, Page Layout, Outline)? In Project, click on View
and see how many display possibilities exist. The intriguing option is "More
views ...". A quick exploration will reveal that you can custom tailor your
own views of the data. Can you do that in Word?

Let's get back to the Gantt chart (View | Gantt) Now, click on Format | Bar
Styles ... and you'll see that you can tailor the display of the chart. Now
click on View | Calendar and then click on Format | Bar Styles and you'll see
that you get a completely different set of display options.

This is why I call Project "non trivial". And we haven't even begun to
discuss propagating changes from external project schedules using Master
Projects. Or TimeScaleData. Or VBA and the Project object model. Or linking
to Outlook for task reporting.


:
[snip]

Finally, what do you mean when you say Project is 'non-trivial'?

cheers

MrBen

[snip]

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Excellent discussion! As I put it to my classes - you don't need to
understand all the tricks and techniques of a professional writer to know
all there is to know about using MS Word but to use Project effectively you
also need to understand the discipline of professional project management.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

What do I mean by calling Project a "non trivial" environment? Ah, good
question.

Word is a very straight-forward (almost simple) program: you enter some
text and you apply some formatting. The formatting can be simple or
elaborate but, in the end, it's still the same: some text behind the
scenes
with formatting instructions overlaid to structure the display of the
text.

For those who want to point out that there is additional functionality
such
as mail merge, change tracking, etc., I will acknowledge that it exists
and
that people use it. I hope you will now acknowledge that it's pretty
elementary stuff.

Open a new project and create one task. But which task? Is it fixed
units,
fixed duration or fixed work? Let's make it simple: create one of each
kind. But are they effort driven or not? Okay, create two of each (fixed
units, effort driven; fixed units, not effort driven, etc.). Now ...
assign
Work and Duration to each. Again, let's make it easy: 5 days of Work and
5
days of Duration for each. (We'll keep it simple and presume that we're
working in Project 98. If you use Project 2000 or later then we could
discuss task calendars and repeat the same steps of creating a complete
set
of possible task types and then assign different calendars to different
sets.)

Create a resource. Hmmm, maybe you should make that 3 resources since we
can assign the Standard calendar to the first, the Nightshift calendar to
the
second and the 24-hour calendar to the third.

Back to the Gantt display and assign the first resource to each task
you've
already created. Don't worry. We both know that this will overload the
person but we'll ignore that for a moment.

Now we will actually begin to do some work. On the Gantt display, make
certain you can see the Task Name, Constraint Type, task Type,
Effort-Driven
flag, Work, Duration, Start and Finish dates, and Resource Names. On each
of
the tasks, change the Duration from 5d to 10d. Did you notice how
changing
the same field in every task created different outcomes depending on the
task
Type and the Effort-Driven flag?

That's a simple example. Add the complexities of assigning multiple
resources at different "% units", changing the constraint from ASAP to
Finish
No Earlier Than or No Later Than or, even, Must Finish On ... well, you
can
see the issues.

And we haven't even got the stage where we enter Actual Hours worked by
the
Resource on a particular to task to see how those entries have an impact
on
Duration, Finish Date, %Units, etc.

So far, we've only done the equivalent, in Word, of "enter text."

Remember how Word had all sorts of formatting possibilities to display the
underlying text (Normal, Page Layout, Outline)? In Project, click on View
and see how many display possibilities exist. The intriguing option is
"More
views ...". A quick exploration will reveal that you can custom tailor
your
own views of the data. Can you do that in Word?

Let's get back to the Gantt chart (View | Gantt) Now, click on Format |
Bar
Styles ... and you'll see that you can tailor the display of the chart.
Now
click on View | Calendar and then click on Format | Bar Styles and you'll
see
that you get a completely different set of display options.

This is why I call Project "non trivial". And we haven't even begun to
discuss propagating changes from external project schedules using Master
Projects. Or TimeScaleData. Or VBA and the Project object model. Or
linking
to Outlook for task reporting.


:
[snip]

Finally, what do you mean when you say Project is 'non-trivial'?

cheers

MrBen

[snip]