Good tutorial recommendations

[Sherry]

I have Project 2000. I'm no tech wizard but I can follow directions. I'm
looking for a book that'll teach me the basics and then all the tricks. I
don't need all of the features Project can do, who does. But I need to learn
how to do some decent projects - will the online tutorial be enough or do I
want a particular book or web site?
Thanks

 

[Rob Schneider]

I have Project 2000. I'm no tech wizard but I can follow directions. I'm
looking for a book that'll teach me the basics and then all the tricks. I
don't need all of the features Project can do, who does. But I need to learn
how to do some decent projects - will the online tutorial be enough or do I
want a particular book or web site?
Thanks

I think the selection of books available in most large books store,
published by Microsoft and Que are probably the best. Do some
pre-shoppting on Amazon or other online bookstore. I don't know waht
2000 has, but the tutorial that is delivered with 2002 should be the
first port of call if you have it.

 

[Steve House]

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that there are a
number of excellent books out - I especially like Carl Chatfield's book
"Microsoft Project Step-by-Step" from Microsoft Press. The bad news is
that learning the "tricks" of the software is absolutely NOT enough.
You don't need to be a professional writer to be an expert in MS Word,
but Project is a different kettle of fish altogether. It does virtually
no hand-holding and it is extremely easy to come up with project plans
that are totally nonsense and have no relation to reality if you don't
understand the theoretical underpinnings. To use it effectively you
simply must get an understanding and appreciation of formal project
management discipline and methodology - the essential skills in using MS
Project are management and organizational skills, not software skills.
Unless you already have a strong background in formal PM and Critical
Path / PERT methods I'd strongly advise enrolling for a formal training
session, IMHO an absolute minimum of 2 days is required to get you
jump-started, where the emphasis in on "Project Management using MS
Project" and not simply how to "work" Project's functions and features.

 

[Roy J. O'Kelly]

I dislike "Step-by-step" precisely because it is a description of buttons to
push. There is little if any discussion of strategies for schedule
creation/management and what buttons are associated with those strategies.

I'm still trying to find a good book myself. I'm reviewing the following
which you may want to consider.
Microsoft Project 2002 Bible Elaine Marmel - Hungry Minds Inc
Project 2002 Inside Out - Microsoft Press - Microsoft Press International

The suggestion that a 2 day course is a minimum is probably overly
optimistic. If you're coming from ground zero you'll probably need a week of
PM training and a week on the tool. If time is a critical issue and you can
afford it you might want to consider bringing in a professional MS Project
trainer and have them tailor a course to your needs.

If you can't take the time for the training I'd recommend you shelve the
idea for now. Without the training you'll waste weeks and months struggling
with the tool. You'll make more progress with a spreadsheet.

Roy

 

[Steve House]

True - there is a bit of the PTFB in the Step-by-Step series. But unlike
most books it does discuss some PM principles as well. And that's exactly
the reason I suggest in person instructor led training rather than either
just a book or a video course. A good instructor will not just talk about
working the software - the students should be able to read the book just as
well as he can. Instead he should talk about what's not in the book - the
preferred ways to do things, why they're best done that way, and what it all
means. My 2 day recommendation is certainly not an optimum - I consider
that to be the absolute bare minimum just to get oriented to the software
well enough to begin learning to use it.

Steve House
MS PRoject MVP

 

[Derrick Robinson]

Step-by-step is a good book. It was not intended to teach PM concepts in its
entirety. To understand the working of the project management software one
should have some basic or intermediate knowledge of project management
theory itself. Having done operations management and project management I
find the book very helpful.
Derrick