Getting Users to USE MS Project

[Ryan]

We've had MS Project and Project server installed and available for use for
a number of years (currently running MS Project 2003 w/ Project Server), the
problem I'm having is getting users to USE it.

Every year or so management comes to us (IT) searching for a better way to
manage their projects. I've helped them along creating a few Gantt charts,
explained how to setup Enterprise Resources and how to coordinate with other
Project Users. I've done 1 on 1 training, group training, and I've even
bought handfuls of books (Project 2003 Step by Step) which I hand out to
users who I think could benefit from them. Well there must be something
wrong with the way I'm training them, because they use the tools for a month
(sometimes two) before their Project use peters out again, usually with the
excuse "there's not enough time".

That time of the year has come around again and I'm getting ready (yet
again) to point our Management users to the capabilities and benefits of
using MS Project to manage their projects. How to get them to continue to
use it and integrate usage into their daily schedule is the issue. How do
you motivate users to use the tools MS Project provides? Any tips
appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[John Carroll]

Hi Ryan

That's a problem a lot of us have. It seems many folk like to use Project to
produce their initial plans and Gantt charts, but don't like to go to the
trouble of keeping them up to date. Accepting you can't force them to do it,
I offer them the alternative of producing a "deliverables checklist" (it
could as easily be a task checklist which lists the deliverable (or task)
names with the scheduled start and end dates and columns for them to write in
the actual start and end dates. They seems happy to track their projects that
way. Of course if you could get someone to secretly input the details from
their checklists you could then get the Project files up to date. Good luck.
PS: I'm currently working on "Project 2007 in easy steps" which should be
available in January and cheaper than step by step .
Good luck,
John.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Ryan:

You've asked a million-dollar question. The fact is, that the pattern you
describe is classic. It's one of four scenarios we've identified that
typically fail. The IT department cannot simply serve up EPM as part of its
technology buffet. I know that Microsoft encourages this as it benefits
their license sales and it's true-to strategies that work for desktop
productivity solutions. EPM is not a desk-top productivity solution.

A better strategy is to completely withhold this technology until a business
unit is willing to commit to it with resource(s) and budget. Set standards
around implementing the solution that define the "investment." The
all-you-can-eat technology buffet is not a good way to serve up EPM. An
implementation program which focuses on people and business requirements has
a better chance of succeeding.

A great measure of a technology's worth and your success in implementing it
is the degree to which your users scream when you try to take it away. Would
anybody scream if you turned off your Project Server instance?

 

[Jim Aksel]

Gary raises some great points. What I find is that the program management
types do not have the time or skill set to be good at Project. Face it, this
application is a lot of hard work, even on a good day, if it is to be useful.

In our circles, we have professional schedulers (to Gary's point -- the
enterprise as made a financial commitment to do scheduling professionally).
A good scheduler is not a cheap investment. The enterprises we deal with
task us to write policies, procedures, etc. on the entire scheduling
function. Again, the ISO people love it as long as people live by the
published rules.

Not knowing your complete situation, I might suggest that IT is a tool
provider, not a Program Office. It is the PMO that must get the religion to
use the tools -- All you can do from a staff organizational function is to
say, "Gee folks, IT has the tools. Once you are truly committed to using
them long term we can provide you all the training necessary." Perhaps you
need to do something to create some Program Office Evangalists .... until
that happens your cycle will repeat.

Do you have access to a any "influentials" in the PMO that you can educate
and offer assistance? Once you get a market leader on your side, the
remainder of the crowd might follow this lead if they are a respected
influencer in the organization.

Hope that helps.

 

[davegb]

Hi Ryan

That's a problem a lot of us have. It seems many folk like to use Project to
produce their initial plans and Gantt charts, but don't like to go to the
trouble of keeping them up to date. Accepting you can't force them to do it,
I offer them the alternative of producing a "deliverables checklist" (it
could as easily be a task checklist which lists the deliverable (or task)
names with the scheduled start and end dates and columns for them to write in
the actual start and end dates. They seems happy to track their projects that
way. Of course if you could get someone to secretly input the details from
their checklists you could then get the Project files up to date. Good luck.
PS: I'm currently working on "Project 2007 in easy steps" which should be
available in January and cheaper than step by step .
Good luck,
John.

Are you going to be the first book yet to get the linking part right?
Would be a major achievement!

 

[davegb]

Ryan:

You've asked a million-dollar question. The fact is, that the pattern you
describe is classic. It's one of four scenarios we've identified that
typically fail. The IT department cannot simply serve up EPM as part of its
technology buffet. I know that Microsoft encourages this as it benefits
their license sales and it's true-to strategies that work for desktop
productivity solutions. EPM is not a desk-top productivity solution.

It's great to hear someone else saying this!

 

[davegb]

Gary raises some great points. What I find is that the program management
types do not have the time or skill set to be good at Project. Face it, this
application is a lot of hard work, even on a good day, if it is to be useful.

In our circles, we have professional schedulers

Excellent advice! I've been urging my clients this way for years.

(to Gary's point -- the

enterprise as made a financial commitment to do scheduling professionally).
A good scheduler is not a cheap investment. The enterprises we deal with
task us to write policies, procedures, etc. on the entire scheduling
function. Again, the ISO people love it as long as people live by the
published rules.

Not knowing your complete situation, I might suggest that IT is a tool
provider, not a Program Office. It is the PMO that must get the religion to
use the tools -- All you can do from a staff organizational function is to
say, "Gee folks, IT has the tools. Once you are truly committed to using
them long term we can provide you all the training necessary." Perhaps you
need to do something to create some Program Office Evangalists .... until
that happens your cycle will repeat.

Do you have access to a any "influentials" in the PMO that you can educate
and offer assistance? Once you get a market leader on your side, the
remainder of the crowd might follow this lead if they are a respected
influencer in the organization.

Hope that helps.

I want to jump up and down and holler "Haleluja!" This is some of the
best advice I've seen on the subject.

 

[AndyB]

All good advice coming from this thread for what is a typical and very
frustrating issue. I guess there is no simple solution but to try some of
the approaches that have come forth so far.

I am a single planning analyst for a PMO with 108 PM's with around 200
projects and a further 300-400 workstream plans. I have rolled out the
planning function to all of them collectively and at individual 1-2-1's.
Still the same comments (of course not excuses) come back that, with all
their other work, they do not have enough time to devote to the planning
function.

It is one thing to create a pretty step diagram (Gantt) that depicts an
ideal project scenario but when adding the full functionality that comes with
a dynamic planning process, (resource management, accurate cost data, R&I,
dependancy management, etc.) it is an exponential leap that, quite frankly,
scares the be-jimbo's out of them.

The successes that I have had are not necessarilly Project related, by that
I mean it is not the tool that has helped sell the planning process but the
project management methodologies. We operate Prince2 methodologies through a
6 milestone common gated process which is where the governance comes in to
play. For each gateway there is a defined set of deliverables that must be
met. One of these is a fully resourced stage plan to get to the next
gateway. With the introduction of mandatory SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley)
deliverables it was simply a case of registering the stage plan deliverable
as a SOX deliverable. This was fairly easy to sell to the Board as the stage
plan directly relates to financial expenditure which rolls up to group
(company accounts) level.

With this approach I was able to sell PMO planning support to the Board for
additional and dedicated planning resource. At this stage I have managed to
aquire a planner per Programme to deliver a detailed planning strategy for
each one. I have purposely avoided being too prescriptive with the Programme
Managers and allowed them to develop their own strategy within a set of
guidelines that I expect the planners to deliver. All of this took off when
the Board applied the executive demand.

I guess my ramblings here summarise to a single word 'Governance'.

Thanks for reading,

AndyB.

 

[concreteseller]

We've had MS Project and Project server installed and available for use for
a number of years (currently running MS Project 2003 w/ Project Server), the
problem I'm having is getting users to USE it.

Replace users that won't use project with those that will - sounds
pretty extreme, but you asked... and yes I am serious.

 

[davegb]

Replace users that won't use project with those that will - sounds
pretty extreme, but you asked... and yes I am serious.

I have to respectfully disagree. There certainly are situations where
getting rid of the people who aren't willing to change to a new order
is appropriate. But in this case, as Jim suggested above, the PMs are
probably not the people who should be implementing the software on a
daily basis anyway. It's too complex and sophisticated an application
when used at it's full potential for amateurs to do. I'd hire
professional schedulers to do the daily entry and updating of the
schedules. That way, you have people committed to using Project, it's
what they "do", and the PMs are free to manage projects, which,
presumably, is what they're good at. It's a win/win.

 

[Ryan]

First off thanks all posters for your feedback, really great stuff.
Secondly I can't replace the people as I'm lower on the totem pole than them
(I'm just the IS software guy, this is upper level management looking for
better ways to manage and organize their projects - espescially
interdepartmental ones).

Ok, so I had a meeting with management and here's where we are. There are
numerous entities (Project Managers) who have already soured somewhat on MS
Project because of the learning curve involved/ time investment required per
project. What they're looking for is an easy way to see the list of tasks
required per project, allow multiple users to easily view this information,
and notify people when deadlines are approaching. It was suggested that we
even go to a simple Excel spreadsheet for task management. Gantt Charts,
Resource Tracking, Exact workload times, none of this stuff is important.

What I suggested is that they go ahead and use MS Project but avoid the
advanced features. It's a start and the features will be there when/if they
ever decide to use them. The only problem I'm having now is many of the
Project views are still not real intuitive for new users, but I should be
able to create custom views/reports to suit their needs. Any comments on
this? Thanks!

 

[davegb]

First off thanks all posters for your feedback, really great stuff.
Secondly I can't replace the people as I'm lower on the totem pole than them
(I'm just the IS software guy, this is upper level management looking for
better ways to manage and organize their projects - espescially
interdepartmental ones).

Ok, so I had a meeting with management and here's where we are. There are
numerous entities (Project Managers) who have already soured somewhat on MS
Project because of the learning curve involved/ time investment required per
project. What they're looking for is an easy way to see the list of tasks
required per project, allow multiple users to easily view this information,
and notify people when deadlines are approaching. It was suggested that we
even go to a simple Excel spreadsheet for task management. Gantt Charts,
Resource Tracking, Exact workload times, none of this stuff is important.

What I suggested is that they go ahead and use MS Project but avoid the
advanced features. It's a start and the features will be there when/if they
ever decide to use them. The only problem I'm having now is many of the
Project views are still not real intuitive for new users, but I should be
able to create custom views/reports to suit their needs. Any comments on
this? Thanks!

Sounds very reasonable to me. Solves your immediate problems, but
leaves the door open for upward mobility when and if the need arises.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Glad I don't work in an organization that you're running.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jerry --

You might try this:

1. Click View - Task Usage
2. Right-click anywhere in the timephased grid on the right and select
Detail Styles from the shortcut menu
3. In the Detail Styles dialog, select the Percent Allocation field and
click the Show button

This customized Task Usage view now shows each task with the resources
assigned, plus the Work hours for each task and resource, plus the
assignments units for each resource on each task. Beyond this, I would
strongly encourage both you and the PM's with whom you work to get some
formal training on Microsoft Project. Hope this helps.