cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu (Andrew M. Cohill) (07/04/90)
Someone asked about project management software for the Mac. Stay away from MacProject II. It is a perfect example of software written by someone who did not know much about the topic. It has very nice on-screen charts and tables, but reporting capabilities are non-existent; you have to export everything to a spreadsheet and re-format it. This extra effort makes it absolutely worthless, because the whole point of project management is to keep the entire group informed of dates, milestones, and problems. Paper is still the best and easiest way to do this. It is especially disappointing because Claris' other products are quite good; I think they regard this as a poor stepchild, since they have kept it so brain-damaged. When purchasing project management software, look for two things: How much effort is required to enter milestones? On a big project, there can be lots of them, and if adding and updating them is a pain, you will lose interest in keeping them up to date. How much effort is required to print milestone reports? Simple reports that list the milestone task, person or persons responsible, start time, and due date are the backbone of project management, and if it is hard to get these out, again, you will lose interest. Unfortunately, many of the packages that I see succumb to featurism, which looks great on the outside of the box, and impresses the hell out of new users, but much of the stuff (18 different chart styles, 46 analyses of Latest Projected Last Start of Early Milestones, etc.) are nearly worthless. In fact, prject management is mostly batch data entry, and graphical interfaces can get in the way. This is a big problem with MacProject--too much point and click, and too little quick and dirty data entry. Most project management software is modeled on various books on project management, which in turn are written about huge projects like the Space Shuttle or the 747, where project management is the sine qua non of the effort. Most white collar office and business projects don't require the same level of detail, reporting, or sophistication, but features sell software, so that's whats out there.