RPCUK Trainer's Insight: First P6 Professional Workshops

At the end of our trial three-day Workshops (PSF, Schedule Planning Foundation, and PSE, Schedule Planning Execution) in Leeds, we caught up with Peter Gable to get his thoughts on how the new training format worked out in practice compared to the thinking behind the new offering.

Reflections from the trainer

Peter Gable, Instructor and Workshop Author

I thought it went very well from a trainer’s point of view. It was always going to be a challenge as there always has to be a first time. Although we have trialled it before, this was the first time with a public scheduled Workshop.

I had little or no idea what the project backgrounds of the delegates were but we ended up with a good mix of nuclear, construction, civil, and highways industries, as well as people who have never really planned before, along with others who’d planned before using other tools like Asta Powerproject but have then been mandated to create their plans in P6. 

The concept of grouping the delegates into teams worked really well, and there were some natural fits on that. The first workshop, developing the project and developing the structures, worked really well with them, so that was quite pleasing. From that point onwards, I wasn’t sure how it was going to pan out, but the delegates then created their own activities in their own plan for the same project. That can always happen — it’s the same project — but two different people have two different ways of thinking about how it’s going to be planned. I was happy it worked out like that. 

There were lots of good questions, lots of interaction, some good teamwork and a few questions that kept me on my toes: all of which are positives. Because we got some planners with previous experience, I could ask them, “Well, how does it compare to your other tool?” One of the delegates from an Asta Powerproject background had an interesting experience where he learnt a more robust approach to planning. He said:

“I’ve used Asta for twenty years and I know how to put a plan together in it, so to do the same in P6 was a new learning experience for me. However, after finishing I realised I was doing everything with my Asta Powerproject head on and that Primavera is actually lot more robust at ensuring best practices are adhered to. I didn’t know this before the course started but now I understand the nuances of how P6 works.

I’d probably start all over again, but slightly differently and as a more robust schedule. Asta does allow you to take more shortcuts than P6, but as always, it’s a case of the more effort you put in, the better your output will be.”

Typically, the trainer would put up a slide deck, do a little demonstration, and then say, “Turn to page 22 and follow the steps.” Then, when you’re finished, that’s the end of the lesson which means they’ve either done it, or they haven’t done it. They don’t necessarily know whether they’ve done it right or not, but it looks like what it shows in the book, so therefore it must be right.

The workshop, on the other hand, is a totally unscripted experience for them (and for me) so I was constantly checking and double-checking that they were doing things right and they had the right head on.

I gave them a very brief demo, showed them three or four steps, and I said, “That’s it, is everyone okay with that, because now what I want you to do is apply what I’ve just shown you to YOUR plan.” From there it was much more unscripted and we ended up with half a dozen or so different projects, which was great. As a result, I think the delegates did find it more engaging and interactive.

There will always be room for improvement, simple as that. There were one or two things I thought I could have done or demonstrated in a different way, so we’ll make some minor cosmetic adjustments. We’ll probably add or remove a couple of topics to make sure the flow is correct, but generally speaking it all worked out well, but it will only get better and better as we go on.

As I’ve said before, delegates should expect a challenging few days because they have to do a lot of the thinking. It was challenging for me because I didn’t really know what to expect, beyond which companies they came from, or how they were would respond to the workshop

It was a challenging few days, but the delegates were up for the challenge, and I was certainly up for the challenge, so bring on the next one!

Find out what our first delegates thought about the Workshops – read their feedback here.