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> For those who are interested, I'm currently playing with OpenProj.
>
> Its big advantages are:
>
> - It's free.
> - It imports mpp files.
I also like that OpenProj fits on a thumb drive. This is great when I work
with clients who do not have PM software. I can use OpenProj anywhere
without installing new software, except the Java platform, when necessary.
Another bonus to OpenProj is that it is platform independent. I would like
a full suite of Java apps for my thumb drive so that I can use my own office
space wherever I go.
> Its big disadvantage (to me... might be simple ignorance or operator
> error) is that everybody's tasks and timelines appear blue on
> the GANTT
> chart.
Critical tasks are red. I thought the purpose of a Gantt chart is to
provide a graphical representation of the project, not the resources. There
are functions in OpenProj to provide views of resource leveling and timeline
constraints. You can also group your Gantt chart by Resource names.
> ASIDE: It's foreign to me that some people can just scroll
> down several
> hundred lines of task summaries in a text-only column and not
> only pick
> out, but retain in memory the six, eight, ten date ranges of interest.
> If I don't have a visual representation, I'm reduced to writing down a
> note of the start-and-end dates for the first one, then scanning the
> whole mess to see if any overlap with that first one.
It sounds like you might be a right-brained, visual learner, or whatever
that learning style is called. I remember what I read, but pictures are not
always helpful for my memory. Although, I just installed a ceiling fan that
required lining up a slot in a ball with a tab in a bracket. The diagram
did not show this and I only scanned, rather than thoroughly read, the
instructions. My first attempt at assembly had the fan flailing when it
spun. "That can't be right," I thought. I looked at the picture and
everything was fine. The instructions did refer to "A," which was not in
the diagram. I had to look closer at the ball and bracket to find the slot
and tab. So although, I do not consider myself a visual learner, I did
refer to the visual diagrams and I apparently lack the patience to read the
instructions.
> Contrast that with a couple of quick scrolls up and down the GANTT...
>
> FAR better if the GANTT chart lets me highlight my own, then
> I can just
> zoom out and see it all at a single glance. "Let's see how all the
> green 'Kevin' bars line up...
Doesn't MS Project Server highlight the tasks of the person who is logged
in?
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