Our company has recently established a small PMO within our IT department and the PMO Manager is insisting that Microsoft Project be used for every project schedule regardless of size and number of tasks. Is this a good idea? For small projects, we normally don't use Project and not all of us even know how to use Project that well. We would prefer a more informal and flexible PMO, but management thinks different. Can anyone offer advice? Saving Changes...
Requiring MS Project as the tool for tracking may make sense from a compatibility standpoint, but for some projects it may be serious overkill. Like using a cannon to eradicate an ant. For smaller projects, we develop a WBS and use one of the EXCEL templates (such as the one included) ... WBS and Gantt in Excel Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Anonymous, I agree with the previous replies to your post. Requiring MS Project to be used for every project effort can potentially be overkill. And it can be expensive from a per user licensing perspective. However, there might be some other reasons for your PMO manager's decision such as planned PMO mission, anticipated workload, project management training, and tooling that would make it well worth your time to follow and support your PMO manager's decisions. MS Project is a very nice product and you can set up some Project Templates for small projects to make Project easier to use for those new to Project. And it is always fair and appropriate to provide constructive post-project lessons learned feedback and improvement recommendations. But for now, I would install, learn, and use Project. Hope this helps. -- Mark Perry, VP Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
You could use a free replacement for MS-project: http://www.openworkbench.org/ This was before a commercial tool part of Niku ERP tool, I have used it and should do the trick well as MSP for medium sized projects.
In my opinion, For smaller projects a simple milestone plan should be sufficient with clear go/no-go points attached to the milestones(gates).
Hope this helps.
JL , Program Manager at Sony Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I need help proving a point. New PMO being established, but the manager is enamored with tools/software etc. and keeps throwing them at our team. Anyone know of a credible article etc. that clearly makes the point to "manage" first, buy software later? thanks, Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Anonymous, have a glance through the following management brief on "Establishing a Culture of Continuous Improvement in Project Management" per the following link. http://www.botinternational.com/continuous_improvement.htm This management brief discusses the advantages of establishing a continuous improvement culture. It provides a practical four step roadmap that companies and organizations of all sizes can follow to improve workplace project management results. In particular, step 3 addresses your point in that "throwing new tools at the team" may seem to be the best way to fix a problem, but usually it is not. Most organizations are well served to first manage things such as their processes and best practices, make use of the tools they currently know and have, and then implement improvement suggestions such as tools and applications. Good luck..! -- Mark Perry, VP Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
