As a person who has successfully deployed more than 200 Microsoft Office Project Server 2007/Microsoft Project Server 2010/Mcrosoft Server 2013 implementations, I'm often asked what the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are for a successful roll out. My number 1 CSF is, without a doubt, Professional MS Project training. It is absolutely essential.
If you are not willing to invest in training, or think that Microsoft Project is just a spreadsheet, where you select the start and finish dates for each task, or that you create a plan at the beginning and it shouldn't 'move dates' when you update the plan, then don't even bother using the tool or implementing the server version. This isn't how it works. (Let's leave Manual Tasks out of this conversation for the time being.)
MS Project is a scheduling tool. It has a scheduling engine and can be quite intricate and complex to use. Anyone who thinks otherwise has never used the tool correctly.
I can't tell you the number of users and implementations where I have heard complaints about the 'tool' not working correctly, only to find that users either had never been properly trained i.e. at least 3 full days of hands-on, tool use or were trying to force the tool to perform in ways for which it was not intended.
In turn, while we can say management that isn't willing to invest in user training sets itself up for failure, we can also say project managers who refuse to use the tool correctly or practice good project management, are also just as if not more complicit.
Knowing how to use Project certainly doesn't make you a good PM. But if you aren't baselining a plan, meeting with your team and updating the plan at least weekly, producing status reports on a weekly basis, showing changes in scope, time and cost, then how can you blame a tool for your failure to manage the project? And please, don't tell me you don't need a plan because 'you just know' how the project is doing by your 'gut feeling' or 'experience.' In today's economy, I'm astonished that those answers still facilitate jobs.
Many times, I have asked users if they are doing any of the above, got a negative response, and then listened to them bemoan the tool and its shortcomings (which I am the first to admit it does have). However, if you have never used/or refuse to use some sort of a project plan or you are expecting the tool to do your job for you, then from that perspective, yes, I guess the tool falls short.
I started out just like most of you: Using the tool without any formal training. I struggled with it for 5 very long years. It can be aggravating and frustrating. Once you finally are part of an organization that is serious about project and portolio management and supports it through the funding of education and other resources for its PMs, they will invest in professional training, and a whole new world will open up for you.
So if you are trying to build a good business case to get Microsoft Project Training inside of your organization, click here for a great article from the Microsoft Project Users' Group (MPUG) about why professional Project training is necessary.
And while I'm at it, if you are implementing ANY enterprise project/portfolio tool, you'd better make sure to take a Server training course, not just a desktop course because there are major differences in planning, staffing, tracking and updating your plan.
For those of you that don't have a supportive management or simply do not have budget to allot to this, I encourage you to become a member of MPUG. There you will meet other MS Project users, which I have always said is the best resource for any Project user.
There are also many boards and groups out on the internet now that will assist you. But again, if your organization is not willing to invest in the training that is necessary, then they should not be surprised when that invested fails to yield its expected ROI.
For more suporting documentation or white papers on implementation CSFs, please contact me. I'm always happy to share our customer stories.
