I’m not sure I’d agree with your assessment of Microsoft Project as the standard project management software tool right from the start. My experience (borne out by a quick search on the web) would indicate that Excel is the software most often used for basic project management. There are a few templates and how-to’s on the web to help folks get started using Excel for that purpose.
Once you become a professional or full time project manager, you are generally faced with more complexity in the projects you are managing. Excel is just too difficult to use for that task. The next step is MS Project.
MS Project handles well the next level of solutions needed – Gantt Charts, Critical path, etc. It’s the obvious next step in providing these solutions. But after you begin to master Project, its limitations begin to show up. Ultimately, it’s the needs of the customers that end up driving the various software companies to come up with competing software to MS Project.
One of the first perceived weaknesses is that it doesn’t play well with others, so to speak. Thus, you won’t find (at present) MS project on the Mac unless you are using an emulator. With Macs resurging lately, this might be an issue for companies trying to keep both camps happy.
It’s also difficult (at present) to collaborate with others using MS Project over the web, which has sprung up a few packages and adds-on’s to allow that ability. Many don’t like the way MS Project “scales up” to the corporation level, so that’s where Primavera comes into play. Suddenly, cost is a big issue.
One of the major differences for me is the lack of Critical Chain support. You’ll have to get an add-on (Spherical Angle) or use Concerto from Realization for that type of work. There are probably one or two other tools that do this as well. With several big names using CCPM, it’s a wonder that Microsoft hasn’t added this ability.
And those in the Agile camp, who have a lot of different opinions on how well MS Project does this work. I prefer CCPM in the Agile environment, because I think CCPM handles variability better than Critical Path. I can't use MS Project "as is" for that.
Of course, you could write a very long white paper on this subject, and get lots of feedback, but that’s my two cents.
Kevin
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