The last time I saw Microsoft Project it was for:

• Planning out a sizeable number of tasks (i.e. more than 3).
• Linking the tasks together in a sequence that is serial or parallel with various Finish-Start, Start-Start (etc...) dependencies
• Assigning time and resources (equipment, people, working hours, costs) to getting the project to completion
• Having a clear start and a clear end to the project (as opposed to managing day to day, never ending operations)
• Most important point, saving the Plan as a Baseline and typing in Actuals so that you can compare progress - how many people are prepared to do that? - they're already tired after making up the Plan.

In the midst all this, Project recalculates the effect if this or that is delayed.

After absorbing the enormity of this, the person who is delegated to carry out this typing (some people who should be using Project don't and some people who shouldn't be delegated to use Project do) looks around and thinks about colouring blocks in Excel (aah, try Visio, the charts are prettier). And ultimately boardroom management gets a pretty chart that bears no resemblance to coalface operations.

So, I was piqued when I followed a link to TeamDirection Project.

Microsoft Project is a great product. You can plan canals, nuclear reactors and hospitals with it. You have an array of tools at your disposal: resource pools, 10 or more working shifts per day, PERT and WBS structures, critical path analysis and a gazillion more features a skilled project manager wants, and might even need.

We think that's great. But the ability to level resources, find critical paths and adjust level of effort is lost on the person who is just making an image for the website. They only need to report when they're done, attach the image for people to see and comment how it synthesizes Bauhaus post-modernism and consumer durable goods.

TeamDirection bridges these two worlds. It lets the project manager have all the power, and it lets the team members execute their tasks, see and connect with their team members online to resolve issues and report progress.

Quote from TeamDirection Blog

It works with Groove (haven't heard of that? It's highly useful for people separated by distance with little or no IT support who need to collaborate and don't have a shared network drive) or Sharepoint and of course, Microsoft Project. Might be worth checking out.