MS Project: Dialogue

Alex: I really think it’s time we start thinking into acquiring software that would help with the management of projects deadlines. What do you think, John?

John: Alex, I tried several times to talk with the Boss but he just does not see the value.  I would love to be able to see how long we planned for the WaterCycle Project this year and how much time we currently are into it. He is just very set in his old ways. Last time I came him to him with a suggestion he came at me with the following:

         Boss: John, we need to be able to handle large projects. I don’t want my PM’s juggling multiple files to handle one project. In addition, Microsoft is keen on becoming progressively advanced and requiring a high level of expertise on the software to use it. I don’t want to have to spend weeks training my guys how to use this. We charge clients on average $150/hr. If I have you guys out training for a couple weeks that’s over $10,000 in revenue lost.

Alex: It seems like there are only a couple things bothering him. Let me see if I can change his mind. 

Alex: Boss, I think we should take another look at implementing MS project into our workflow to help with project management. Although you see some cons with this software, please consider, every action has pro’s and con’s. The main thing to consider is if the pro’s outweigh the con’s and in this case I think it is very clear they do. Several of the benefits will enhance productivity dramatically.  This tool helps keep everything organized from beginning to end.  MS project allows us to gain visibility. This visibility will be streamlined through the centralized web based project updates. This eliminates the wonder of who starts which phase next or what is left or who is in charge. Another wonderful fact is that we eliminate double work. See, there are many benefits to having a controlled and unified project management software. In the long run we will see a return on investment due to a reduction in project variances that result from over-billing from lack of control. Customers are constantly complaining that we overrun the budget and our analysis shows that this is mainly due to poor planning and control. This is really crucial to the growth of our business. Last year we had 16 projects running consecutively and 4 of them ran 10% over budget. Needless to say they were not pleased. 

Boss: Alex, you do bring up some valuable information and I did think that maybe we could try to fix this just by manually trying to do a better job overlooking our control. I guess the best way to do this is by moving to the next step and maybe requesting a demo and getting the ball rolling. Set up a phone conference with a representative and we'll go from there. 

Alex: John, what did I tell you. You just have to present the facts and they listen. You cant avoid the truth.