Project Management

[lynw]

Joy of joys, my manager having found out I did a degree in systems analysis & design has just allocated me to a project to write a training course on project management.

At this stage we dont know the specifics but its been 16 years since I looked at a project management book. :shock:

The upshot is I need to find out about project management software. Yes I can google, but what Im really after is peoples opinions on the corresponding software theyve used - good/bad points particularly.

Many thanks for any help provided. Im off to whimper in the corner at the prospect of having to train risk analysis, Critical path analysis, estimation techniques etc.

[Viney]

MS Project is one of the main tools. I have a copy of it somewhere indoors, and i may, if i can find it, have my project management training folder!

[timwilky]

Viney, MS Project is simply a project scheduling tool just like Primavera, Suretrack etc. To me project management is a lot more than a software tool.

Work breakdowns, cost breakdown, scheduling, monitoring, client relations.

Then there are the methodologies, in the IT industry Prince being the principle one. I work for a company that are responsible for the project management of $700 million projects. Things like mitigating claims from contractors and avoiding running into liquidated damages of $500,000/day start to make project management a lot more than running a piece of software.

Project management is the art of getting it right, on time and to budget.

[arc123]

Lynw

There are two parts to this really

1) Defining a standard methodology for managing projects
2) Selecting software that will facilitate what you are trying to achieve with your methodology

The method chosen would be dependant on a number of aspects (size of company, size of projects, lenght of projects, number of projects etc etc).

my company uses a 'cut-down' version of PRINCE2 (Projects in a Controlled Environment). We basically take the parts of PRINCE2 that we believe are relevant to our organisation and projects, and use that as a standard that everybody must follow.

The methodology states the procedures for Project Initiation and what the Project Initiation Document (PID) must contain (Background, Objectives, Scope, Business Case, Business Risk, Method of Approach, Deliverables, Budget, Time Plan, Comms Plan, Risk Management Plan etc etc etc ). The PID should then be followed as the guidance for what should be achieved, and the project measured against the PID/Project Plan at periodic intervals to determine that the project is delivering what it should be etc etc.

I use MS Project for larger projects - this can hold Tasks, timescales, dependencies, resources as you would expect - and will calcualte Critical Path etc for you. On the whole, it works how I would want it to, with some small annoying 'features'. We are just upping our usage of this product, and will soon link all projects that are being run, into one overall Project, which will enable us to see the larger picture on resource usage etc.

Fir smaller projects, I would just use Excel/Word to make a task list.

Hope this is of some help and I haven';t just been rambling on - feel free to ask any questions/pm me if you want any more info.

Chief.

[jonboy]

Freemind

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

It's excellent, it works, and it's free.

Also, you might want to try Papel if it's going to be text intensive:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.odonnell617/

Again, free, and is easy to work with.


.

[Terence]

Hi Lyn,

Just an additional point. You might want to look into Project Server (also a MS product). It ties MS Project into a centralised system that adds a lot of functionality for companies that handle multiple projects simultaneously.

As timwilky sez, projects are about more than software, so good luck on swotting up all that theory!

[lynw]

Thanks guys.

The HR guy commissioning this project is back on Monday so it will all kick off then.

Actually, Im kind of looking forward to it - something different at least. And actually writing training courses is as much fun as training them. Its just going to be a lot of swotting up on project management stuff and getting an accurate spec for what they want ie just software, software and project management principles etc.

:D