Training Material

[MAS]

Does anyone know where we could purchase base training material for Project
2005 Pro?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

It will be far easier to find material for Project 2003 (the latest version)
since there is no Project 2005, sorry.
Step by Step from Microsoft is not bad.
HTH

 

[JulieS]

Hi MAS,

A quick Google search for "Microsoft Project Training returned over
325,000 hits. Some well known courseware vendors (US) are:

ElementK http://www.elementk.com/
Thomson ILT http://www.courseilt.com/
Microsoft Press http://www.microsoft.com/learning/books/

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

 

[davegb]

Does anyone know where we could purchase base training material for Project
2005 Pro?

Just a tip: Before you buy any training material, check the section on
linking tasks. Many products out there still think you can do all your
linking in one fell swoop by clicking on the task name column header
(actually, any column header) and clicking on the Link icon.

This makes the assumption that each summary line in the list precedes
the next summary line, and that each task below a given summary line is
linked from top to bottom. I won't bother to go into the pros and cons
of linking summary lines here (you can google this NG for that it you
like). But if you're project is so simple that the tasks are being done
in the order listed, why are you here? Why buy Project? Just make a
list of tasks in Word or Excel and do each one in turn until you get to
the end. If you want to know how long the Project takes, put in a
column of durations and add them up. In the "old days", we called it
the Russian Scheduling Method, the Checkov list.

What you're looking for is a training manual that shows how to link
based on the actual relationships between tasks. And this means doing a
lot more than just clicking on the column header and linking. It should
teach you how to link using the Control key, so you can select a
"chain" of tasks and then link them. Then do another, and another,
until everything is linked in. (Google this NG for "Schedule
Continuity" and find out more.

Any book written by someone who thinks linking can be done in one
simple step, is written by someone who has no idea how projects are
really done. If they don't understand linking, they won't understand
many other things, since this is one of the most important steps in
getting a MEANINGFUL schedule from any software. There are a lot of
people out there writing training manuals for this product who've never
scheduled a project in their lives.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi all,

Funny. Whereas Step by step is not bad, and they definitely do not recommend
linking the lot in one go, all but one exercice files have this waterfall
scheme...

 

[davegb]

Hi all,

Funny. Whereas Step by step is not bad, and they definitely do not recommend
linking the lot in one go, all but one exercice files have this waterfall
scheme...

I checked out Project 2003 Step by Step and the larger MS Project
manual at lunch today. I wouldn't reccommend either to my clients,
primarily because of the way they show linking. In both cases, in the
illustrations, they had each Summary line linked to the one below it,
and each task linked only to the tasks within the same Summary line, in
sequence. If you do projects, or have clients doing projects that link
this way, you're very forturnate. My client's projects require linking
across Summay lines and often not in the order they appear in in the
Gantt table. When I teach classes, I deliberately use a sample project
which links like a real project for this very reason. I consider it to
be one of the major faults of most courseware and manuals on the
subject, as well as many trainers. Linking this way obviates the need
for a Critical Path, since there can be only one path through the
project! Fast tracking is not possible. Resource Leveling is
impossible. Earned Value meaningless. I find this is one of the biggest
single obstacles to people using Project, or any scheduling software,
successfully.

I also checked out the Project "Bible", the "Dummies" book, and the
current Que manual. The Que manual was the only one that mentioned
Control clicking at all, and listed it last, almost like a footnote.
Yet I find this to be the most efficient method to link tasks that have
complex relationships. For occasionally adding a single link, most of
the methods will do. But if you sit down to link hundreds, or even
thousands of tasks, control clicking is the way to go. Frankly, I'm
dumbfounded that so many people who use Project don't understand this!

Enough ranting for today.