Taw,
I'm new to Project and wondered the same thing. Do you know of any books on
Project 2003 that are available from a bookstore? I've seen several and don't
know which one is the best. Training courses are feasible for me at this time.
There are a number of books out there, but few good ones. The best
I've seen is the "Using MS Project" series by Que books, though there
are practices in there I wouldn't reccommend to my clients.
As for classes, most computer training schools offer MS Project
classes. Unfortunately, many of these classes are taught by people who
don't know how to properly use MS Project. They're called "push
button" classes because the instructor teaches you how to select items
from the menus without really understanding the context in which these
features are to be used, and certainly doesn't understand the pitfalls
of scheduling or the underlying theory behind it. The trick is to find
someone who knows something about Project Management and how to apply
this software in the real world, not just in some "sample" project
provided by MS to demonstrate this tool. I would suggest you ask a
prospective instructor what their background is. You want someone
who's actually used the software to manage real projects.If they don't
have a PM background and they're just a professional instructor, keep
looking! Professional instructors are fine for horizontal apps like
Excel or Word, but not for a vertical app like Project.
I hope this helps in your world.
