As we have seen in previous posts there is a spectrum of project management used on projects - from very little project management to lots of project management.  This diagram shows the concept for managing single projects.

If you are new to this blog then the following three posts on this topic that might be worth reviewing include:

Project Management is nothing but a bunch of lists! right?

Project Management - Stop biting off more than you can chew - Please!

Walking the line - is it always best to keep going right?

We are not saying that the above line is the exact line for every organization - rather that such a line exists.  Assuming we accept the concept of the process line, the question then opens up - what tools do we use use on what part of the line.  This diagram summarizes our thinking.  The paragraphs below the diagram explain and justify the positioning!  

Tooling the Left Hand Side - Microsoft Office

Most of us have these small projects we are involved with - either at work or at home or perhaps with a local charity or club.  They are important but can be relaxed in terms of deadline or can in some other ways be informal.  We usually manage these projects with some of the Microsoft Office products - some combination of Outlook for email, Word, PowerPoint and Excel is especially popular for project management.  We also use the phone, good old fashioned pen and paper as well as white boards.  These "un-structured" set of work and projects run quite well with Microsoft Office type tooling.  Not much more is needed.  Microsoft Office is the right hammer for the job at this point on the line.

Tooling the Right Hand Side - Microsoft Project Server

Sometimes it is easier to explain the extremes before you explain the middle ground!  On the very far right hand side the projects are extremely structured or what we label in the above diagram, "Enterprise Structured".  Each and every project has a well crafted Microsoft Project type schedule.  Each of these plans are kept up-to-date.  Resource pools are defined that legislate how much time each person is available (e.g. Jack is available 70% and Mary is available 80%) and what their cost/charge to the project is.  If you had to select one item that the project pivots around it would be the schedule.  Schedule in king!  The teams on the projects have the capacity and capability to run a mature and disciplined project management project process. The teams also have the capacity to manage a sophisticated project management tool-set.  In these cases, labelled Enterprise Project Management or EPM by Microsoft, Microsoft Project Server is a world class product of choice.  Look no further - this is the hammer you need!      

Tooling the Mid Points of the Spectrum - Microsoft SharePoint Server

Notice that I did not say the mid point - singular.  As you can see in the diagram above there is a wide spectrum of process points even in the middle.  On the left hand side of the middle (!) there are "loosely structured" projects.  These projects do need some structure and coordination - but not a lot.  As you walk the line more to the right moving to "semi-structured", the amount of process, structure and collaboration needed increases.  You will find that there are mixes of project types found in most organizations.  Groups have projects with varying (not just one) levels of process needed.  In this mixed scenario you will find that the groups are mainly using Microsoft Office with some subset of the projects using Microsoft Project.  Moving to SharePoint seems to be the right move.  Groups feel that they need a central place for all of this project and work to be stored, coordinated and managed.  Microsoft SharePoint Server is the right hammer for this set of disparate work and projects.  Now SharePoint still needs some structure and reporting added and some integration to Microsoft Project - which is where products line pmPoint come in.  But whether you add extra features or not, SharePoint is the right platform for mixed work and project management.

So which of the three hammers do you need at the centre of your work and project management tool-set universe?!  Generally speaking you will select one as the main platform - perhaps Microsoft Office if the projects are "unstructured", maybe Microsoft Project Server if the projects are "enterprise structured" or Microsoft SharePoint Server if there is a mix of work and projects of differing structure levels.