Page 328 - Untitled-1

SECTION 12

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

T hroughout this book, we continually express the position that project manage-
ment isn’t just about using the computer for planning and control. Rather, we
have pleaded with you to address the issues of organizing for project management
and developing appropriate project management practices and procedures. Only
then can we be in a position to select and utilize computerized tools for project
management. But now it is time to look at the subject of using the computer to
support our project management practices.

The act of specifying, evaluating, and selecting project management software
can be intimidating and confusing. Often, we are called upon to initiate this ac-
tion while under the extreme pressure of dealing with a project in crisis, and un-
der the extreme limitation of not knowing anything about what we really expect
these tools to do. Frankly, when I have been asked to advise an organization on
the issue of selecting project management software, I try to get the group to sit
through a seminar on project management basics prior to initializing the selec-
tion process. Unfortunately, as important as this step is, it is not always practical
to exercise.

In Chapter 1.4, we illustrated a recommended plan for the implementation of
a computer-based project management capability. This consisted of five steps,
starting with (1) Methods, (2) Tools, (3) Training. It is essential that this first step,
determining your methods of project management, precede the selection of the
tools. The tools are required to support your method of project management.

We can easily direct you to a process for specifying, evaluating, and selecting
project management software that can take a good part of a year and involve ex-
tensive use of resources. However, the name of this book is Practical Project
Management. So we will compromise by providing a simplified approach to proj-
ect management software selection, in Chapter 12.1. This process will get you up
and running. It is certainly possible that what you come up with will not be per-
fect (there is no way to expect that even with a very diligent selection process).

307