MS Project 2010 - Will You Upgrade?

 

Situation: You are on The Fence about the New Version of MS Project.

I have to admit, when I first began looking at the new version of Project, I expected a number of new features that would be useful to a small group of users.  What I did not expect was software that was actually easier to use and was a better communication tool for PMs.  If you have not done so already, take a look at the overview video and the list of new features.  

I am most excited about the flexibility that has been built into the tool.  Until now, the typical new PM went through a cycle that looked like this.  They had MS Project 2007 and Excel.  They tried MS Project, but found the contraints it imposes (task/subtask relationships, effort, etc.) made the process of creating a schedule too complex.  More specifically, MS Project was telling them what they were doing wrong by not allowing them to do the wrong thing - really just alluding to a problem without being specific or telling them what to do about it.   For example, a summary task would just be composed of the durations of the tasks below them.  You couldn't enter in a value for the summary task that disagreed with what you had entered below.   Often, PMs would just get turned off and use Excel - which places no contraints on anything because its not a project management tool.

The new version of MS Project allows to you to actually make mistakes, tells you what is wrong, then offers ways to fix the schedule.  This is a HUGE leap forward.

There are a lot of reasons to check out this new version:

- Better integration with the rest of Office (as you would expect)

- Sharepoint Syncing

- etc.

Probably the best way to explore the whole thing is to attend the MS Office Product Launch online on 5/12.  Once you attend the event, please come back here and let me know what you thought.