I admit it, I’m a hack…

I started “messing around” with Project Server in November of 2010.  Not much time to make an expert, you say?  I don’t claim to be one.  I do, however, think I know some stuff that I wish I’d known when I started, and I’m hoping this will give me an opportunity to share.  Here’s the general low-down on my “experience path” with Project:

When I started at my current assignment (I’m in a long term contract with a mid-sized company) they were running Project Server 2007 with SharePoint MOSS 3.   A “specialist” came in and set it up…sorta.  They had a myriad of configuration issues, and no one knew how to fix them.  So over the next few months my team and I got everything into good shape, correcting all the issues we could find as we went.  Somewhere along the way, another group in the company had installed a separate instance of Project/SharePoint 2010 and could not get things to work right.  They called me in and I corrected the configuration, learning tons about the new system in the process.  As a result of that, we felt we’d be able to make the jump to 2010, and it went pretty smoothly.  At this point, we have most of the kinks worked out and are focusing on improvements – Portfolio Analysis and other Reporting, mostly.

At this point I feel fairly confident in my skills and I’ve learned a fair amount of tips and tricks that I’d like to pass on to others.   I’m also fairly confident in my communication skills and ability to explain steps and ideas to others, which I think does help a bit.   I will probably focus mostly on reporting, since that’s the piece where I think my stubborn creativity has the most impact!

One last thing – I know there’s probably some rhetoric and unspoken blog rules that I don’t understand, and if I miss them, I’m sorry!  But I do promise to complete my sentences, spell correctly, and use proper grammar and punctuation. If I can let all that slide on some people’s posts, then I’m hoping my inexperience in all of this can be overlooked as well.