Has the introduction from the early 1980s of PC based project management software improved the effe

When I began my career in project planning & scheduling in the mid 1970’s, manual preparation and hand drawing of arrow diagrams (ADM) on large sheets or transparencies was the norm. The associated data was tabulated and sent offsite to be processed via mainframe computers. The full analysis of the schedule was returned to site a week later. From the early 1980’s Micro Computer and then PC based applications such as Artemis, Open Plan, Primavera etc, became increasingly available and the precedence diagram method (PDM) replaced ADM. How do you feel these changes, for better or worse, have affected the effectiveness project of planning & scheduling.

I too have been knocking around long enough to remember the change from hand drawn paper programmes to PC based software. My method was to use an A3 sheet of graph paper and list the tasks down the Y axis and the Weeks along the top of the X axis. A thin pencil line drawn diagonally from top left to bottom right was a guide for the task sequence. Blocks of task time was drawn on the guide line and then inked in when it looked about right. The pencil guide line was then rubbed out and maybe one or two vertical links added. I still use the same method on PowerProject and the software has made the process infinitely better. We have to use the software these days because there is no option - and YES it is an advance.

When I started in Planning in the Seventies, I was in an office where I wore a white coat and everything was done "by the numbers"! It taught me to think and work with the resources rather than use the schedule as the raison detre. I was introduced to the Apollo planning software in 77 - 78 and later to Artemis and I worked with that until the introduction of Primavera in the late 80s. Since then Ive worked with all the major software and I have to say that it is only too easy to ignore all that has gone before and rely wholly on the software rather than on developing a schedule by hand, then transfer it to the PC. Developing a schedule from activity lists to "brown paper roll and post-its" to brainstorming the project around a table, before letting it get anywhere near a PC, are very important to the development of a & quot;real" schedule and I think the presence of a PC may detract from the initial effort of the development. During the progress of the project, the PC really comes into its own. There are, however, massive improvements in the uptake and ownership of a prepared schedule by the project team - during the Seventies I was mostly seen as a necessary evil - and its a pleasure to work with people now who are aware of your capabilities and what you bring to the table. There are still the die-hards who believe the planner should do everything and insist on multiple reviews of the schedule being developed. Such a waste of time! My overall consideration? The software is wonderful, but brains and communication are the real creative force behind a good schedule.

am also from the same era – of ‘dinosaurs’ some would call us – having started with hand drawn ADMs to PDMs and then moved on to Artemis 6000, 9000 and 7000 (what a monster that was) to Open Plan, P3 and MSProject (no comparison to the previous tools) now days. The biggest change that I witnessed is that planning (or a form of it) is now been carried out by a much wider PM population and you don’t hear any more about ‘wall papers’. However, what has been lost is the following of the basic principles of planning, e.g. logic links, CPA, reporting on TF, etc. I have witnessed PM practitioners using programmes which have been extracted from what I call ‘pretty pictures’ – no logic, no critical path, no TF. When challenged out come the usual excuses – no time, it’s not needed, it’s not understood, etc. So there are positives and negatives to this change and what we need to do is keep hold of the positives (that is the use of popular planning tools) and carry on educating people for the need to proper planning, reminding them always that a plan is a ‘logical picture of the project at a particular point in time’ that needs to be revisited frequently.

I too am from the pre-computer age of planning, in fact the first micro pc I ever used was at AMEC Projects in the early 80s. At that time we still drew network diagrams by hand and then fed the information into the software (Micro Planner) and off we went. I find that modern software is great because it allows us to do so much relatively easily, however, it has created the software jockey monster. These are the individuals who call themselves planners because they can use the software but do not know how to plan a job properly. Although the software is excellent for producing programmes it should never take us away from the basics of planning. I was trained in work study, cost and bonus and planning on site. I was taught to use the drawings to take off quantities and calculate durations and resources. I was taught how to apply logic and calculate the CP and float. Modern software should not take us away from that way of working, rather it should replace the transparencies. Those who simply draw programmes to make them look right are not planners. The logic is what it is and this drives the programme. Adjustments can be made to durations by varying resources (if practicable) and experienced planners can often come up with innovative methods of working to improve the programme. & lt;br /> These latter points are certainly made much easier to model thanks to planning software - no more scratching little pieces of black tape off transparencies with a blade.

There is no substitute for the contemplation of LOGIC before one begins the manual tasking of keying activities into scheduling software. In the old says it was done on a chalk board, and later on a white board. Today, I conduct Logic Sessions using Visio on a large projection screen or widescreen TV. Those in attendance discuss how they plan to build the project, and I draw what they are saying, as they are saying it, in a PDM-based logic diagram that grows in size before their very eyes. When the Logic Sessions are finished I simply import the Visio content into my scheduling software. I let the software calculate the dates, and then I reverse the process and let Visio populate the activity boxes with the data calculated by the scheduling software.