I am a brand new project manager. Is MS Project the best software tool to use for creating your project plan or is there other software that is better? Saving Changes...
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Roger SchillerSenior Project Manager| IterisMilwaukee, Wi, United States
The best tool is the one that works for your particular situation and project. MS Project is mainly a scheduling tool. I've used it a lot over the years, but I'm not a power user. I think it's best suited for waterfall-style projects where the requirements, sequencing, durations, and dependencies are pretty much known in advance, e.g., construction. I've found it much less useful for software development (especially Agile) or projects that demand a certain level of adaptability or uncertainty, e.g., my field of transportation planning. I'm not sure there's any one software package that can do it all; more likely, you'll need to cobble something together based on the project and the resources/metrics available. Saving Changes...
Michael HillPMO Director| Aviation Training ConsultingEdmond, Ok, United States
As the first response stated, MS Project is a scheduling tool primarily. Waterfall is its niche, but if you are using Project Online/O-365, recent updates have added the ability to create sprints and task boards/Kanban electronically. It does a fairly decent job at budget planning and has a limited capability to do some light EVM reporting.
That said, I agree, that likely it will be a combination of applications, such as Excel, SharePoint, MS Project, Smartsheets, and others to get your toolbox in order so it works for you.
My advice would be to try different things and see what works for you best, while also meeting the needs of your projects. Saving Changes...
Hector OjedaProject ManagerTampa Bay Area, FL, United States
I agree with Roger. I use Smartsheet. It does what I need it to do but what I like best is that if you can use Excel, you can learn Smartsheet quickly. I find MS Project is a powerful tool but it is a little cumbersome and it is not exactly intuitive. I created a one page, how to use Smartsheet document that I send to my team members and after they play with it for short amount of time, they seem to get it. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
MS Project can manage the project schedule, which is a small part of your project plan.
Before you make the jump into selecting the "best" tool, you may find it useful to run through a couple of small projects with a office productivity suite (M365, OpenOffice, LibreOffice...). Once you've figured out how to deal with schedules, logs and registers then you'll be in a better place to understand what is "best"... for you! Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The "best" tool is the tool that best fit to support the defined portfolio/program/project management process. Saving Changes...
Latha Thamma reddiSr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC TechnologyMckinney, Tx, United States
"When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us."
