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I have worked in project management, and have used MS Project, and FOSS equivalents, (and even CA's Project running on MS-DOS) My first thought would be that learning Project Management as a method (CPM, PERT etc) should be enough to use any of the Project Management applications currently around. (MS Project, Open Project, GanttProject, Planner etc) The book by Dennis Lock "Project Management" (Gower) is very good, although it is currently in the 9th edition, and I only have the 5th. The big pitfall in then using software is that good project management should always start with the network diagram (in order to work out the task precedence), then work out the critical path and level the resources, and only then produce the Gantt chart. The big problem with all the software I know of (other than CA Project), is that Microsoft distorted the method for ease of coding. So you have to start with a bar chart (which they incorrectly call a Gantt chart) and this gives you a network diagram (which they incorrectly call a PERT chart) as a view of the bar chart. Unfortunately all the other developers (proprietary and FOSS) followed the Microsoft model. Personally, I would still always create the project plan on paper, and then just use the software for presentation and tracking - at least until someone produces some software that fits the method. The bottom line is that it is still better to learn Project Management first, as it isn't difficult to then learn a particular software package. Trying to learn Project Management by learning MS Project will give a very distorted and confusing view of Project Management, and could lead to lots of errors in the project plan. Phil On Mon, 2009-10-19 at 12:01 +0100, Eion MacDonald wrote: > To All > Dear Folks, > I have colleague (one man company)who must use MS Project to run a major > plant project with African Government and Funding suppliers. > (Originally a charity project by him but now a world bank supported > project) > He has no training in MS Project. > Question to those who admin MS systems, among all the many web adverts > of training sources is there any one company or trainer by internet that > does a good job with a one man operated company. > (PS my interest- I review and write his contracts) > > Any help appreciated. > > > Regards > Eion MacDonald > -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html