Chapter 1 RI AL Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? TE In This Chapter Discovering how traditional project management makes the move to software Understanding the project manager’s role MA Understanding what elements of a project are managed in Project Exploring the role of the Internet in project management Using a template to start a new project TE Saving a project file GH Finding help in Project W D Getting started using Project Guide CO PY RI elcome
10 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project The ABCs of Project Management You probably handle projects day in and day out. Some are obvious, because your boss named them so that any fool would know that they’re projects: the Acme Drilling Project or the Network Expansion IT Project, for example. Others are less obvious, such as that speech thing you have to do on Saturday for your professional association or washing the dog. If you need to organize a company holiday party, it’s a project.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? A task is simply one of those items you used to scribble on your handwritten to-do lists, such as Write final report or Apply for permits. Tasks are typically organized into phases (appropriate stages) in Project, arranged in an outlinelike structure, as you can see in the project shown in Figure 1-1. Because timing is essential in any project, Project helps you set up and view the timing relationships among tasks.
12 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project One handy thing about this outlining structure is that you can roll up all the timing and cost data from the subtasks within your phases into summarylevel tasks. Three sequential subtasks that take a day each to complete and cost you $200 apiece result in a summary task that spans three days and costs $600. You can view your project at various levels of detail or get automatic tallies of timing and costs if you prefer to simply view the summary level of tasks.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? Figure 1-2: This schedule includes tasks with timing but no dependencies. Here are some examples of dependencies: You can’t begin to use a new piece of equipment until you install it. You must wait for a freshly poured concrete foundation to dry before you can begin to build on it. You can’t start to ship a new drug product until the FDA approves it.
14 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1-3: This schedule includes tasks with both timing and dependencies. You can find out more about constraints in Chapter 4 and about the fine art of managing dependencies in Chapter 6. Lining up your resources When people first use Project, some get a bit confused about resources.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? complete the task. In comparison, someone with a 12-hour workday takes only two days to complete the same task. In addition, you can set working and nonworking days for your human resources, which accommodates variations such as 4-day weeks or shift work. You can set different rates for resources, such as a standard hourly rate and an overtime rate. Project applies the appropriate rate based on each resource’s calendar and work assigned.
16 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Spreading the news I’m one of those people who need instant gratification. One of the first things I ask about learning to use any new software product is, “What’s in it for me?” Until now, I’ve told you about the type of information you have to put into Project: information about tasks, task dependencies, and resources. But isn’t it about time you got something back from Project? Of course it is.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? Figure 1-6: An Unstarted Tasks report. Planning to keep things on track Projects aren’t frozen in amber like some organizational mosquito: They go through more changes than a politician’s platform in a campaign year. That’s where Project’s capability to make changes to your project data comes in handy. After you build all your tasks, give them durations and dependencies, and assign all your resources and costs, you set a baseline.
18 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Whether you have good news or bad, you can use reports to show your boss how things are going compared with how you thought they would go. Then, after you peel your boss off the ceiling, you can use many more Project tools to make adjustments to get everything back on track. The Role of the Project Manager Although understanding the role (let alone the usefulness) of some managers isn’t always easy, it’s always easy to spot the value of a project manager.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? Understanding the dreaded triple constraint You’ve seen the signs at the copy store or the auto repair place: You can have it fast, cheap, or right; pick two. That, my friend, is the triple constraint of project management in a nutshell. In a project, you have timing, resources (which are essentially costs), and quality of the product or service produced at the end of the project.
20 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1-7: The Gantt Chart method of project scheduling as it appears in Microsoft Project. Figure 1-8: A kissin’ cousin to the original PERT chart, the Network Diagram focuses on work, not on time.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? Risk management is a central part of project management because, frankly, projects are chock-full of risk. You run the risk that your resources won’t perform, that materials will arrive late, that your customer will change all the parameters of the project halfway through — well, you get the picture.
22 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1-9 also shows resource leveling (a calculation that automatically reschedules resources to resolve overbooking), which can enable you to manage resources much more effectively. You can see how overbooked the Information Systems Analyst is on this date. You can use codes for resources that designate skill levels or abilities so that finding the right resource for each job is as simple as performing a search.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? software development, or an office move. See “Starting with templates” later in this chapter for more about this time-saving feature. You likely do similar types of projects all the time. After you create one project, you use it as a template for future projects. You can create resources for your project according to information you already created in your Outlook Address Book.
24 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project You have three choices when starting a new project. You can use Project Guide to get Project’s assistance creating a project, you can build a project on your own from scratch by entering individual task and resource details, or you can use a project template that already contains data related to your industry or the type of project you’re doing.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? Figure 1-10: A typical information request from Project Guide. Microsoft laid out these categories and tasks in the logical order in which you should tackle them to build most projects. Thus, when you start to use Project Guide, just click the categories and the tasks within them in sequence. They should remind you of all the things you should consider, even if you choose to skip a few steps here and there for your particular project.
26 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project You need to enter much more information in addition to general project information and tasks in order to build a complete project, as you discover in the next few chapters. Entering general project information and task information is your usual starting point, however. Tell Project about your project With a blank project open, a logical first step is to enter some general project information, such as the project start date.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? date for the end of your project (for example, if you’re organizing a sports event that must occur on New Year’s Day next year), you might want to set the finish date and then work backward to fit all your tasks into the allotted length of time. If you change this setting to Project Finish Date, the Finish Date field becomes available. Set the current date. You can fill in the current date according to your computer calendar.
28 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1-12: You can review a summary of the information you entered. Perusing the project schedule After you choose settings in the Project Information dialog box and then click OK, you’re faced with a blank Project schedule, as shown in Figure 1-13. As a writer, I can tell you that nothing is as daunting — or as inspiring — as facing a blank page. It’s the canvas on which you create your Project plan.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? In Figure 1-13 you see Gantt Chart view. You can discover more about various views in Chapter 2. For now, note the following: View bar: To go to different views, click the bar of icons on the far left: the View bar. If this bar isn’t displayed, choose View➪View Bar to do so. Project Guide: To the right of the View bar is the Project Guide task pane, which is an informational area with step-by-step guidance on how to build your project.
30 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Starting with templates Reinventing the wheel has never been one of my favorite sports, so I’m grateful that Microsoft provides some convenient project templates. These include projects by type: for example, an engineering project or office move. Templates already have many tasks appropriate to the task type created for you. Figure 1-15 shows the Project Office template.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? Figure 1-16: Open a template from the New Project task pane. 2. Click the On My Computer link. The Templates dialog box opens. You can also use the On My Web Sites and Templates on Office Online links to access online templates. 3. Click the Project Templates tab, which is shown in Figure 1-17. 4. Click a template to display a preview. 5. When you find the template you want to use, click OK.
32 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1-17: Business and personal templates, such as Home Move, are included here. Saving a Project for Posterity Saving Project files works just as saving does in most other software you’ve used. Here’s a reminder. To save a Project file that you haven’t saved before, follow these steps: 1. Choose File➪Save As. 2. Use the Save In list to locate the folder where you want to save the file; then click to select it. 3.
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? Table 1-1 Project Help Features Help Option How to Use It Microsoft Project Help This option displays the full Help feature with a table of contents and a search field. Show the Office Assistant Displays the annoying little icon that asks you to enter your question in a natural-language style (that is, a sentence) and offers topics to try to address your questions.
34 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project
