Table of Contents:

Introduction ................................................................. 1
About This eBook ..............................................................................................1
Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................1
Conventions Used in This eBook .....................................................................2
How This eBook Is Organized ..........................................................................2
Part I: Setting the Stage for Project......................................................2
Part II: People Who Need People .........................................................3
Part III: Well, It Looks Good on Paper . . . ...........................................3
Part IV: Avoiding Disaster: Staying on Track......................................3
Part V: Working with Enterprise Projects ...........................................3
Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................................................4
What You’re Not to Read ................................................................................4
Icons Used in This eBook .................................................................................4
Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................5
Part I: Setting the Stage for Project ............................... 7
Chapter 1: Project Management: What It Is, and Why You Should Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
The ABCs of Project Management ...............................................................10
The three Ts: Tasks, timing, and dependencies (well, two Ts and a D) ..................10
Lining up your resources ....................................................................14
Spreading the news .............................................................................16
Planning to keep things on track .......................................................17
The Role of the Project Manager .................................................................18
What exactly does a project manager do?........................................18
Understanding the dreaded triple constraint ..................................19
Applying tried-and-true methodologies ............................................19
From To-Do List to Hard Drive .....................................................................22
Getting up to speed with Project .......................................................22
Collaborating with your project team online ...................................23
Getting Started ...............................................................................................24
Starting from scratch...........................................................................24
Starting with templates .......................................................................28
Saving a Project for Posterity ......................................................................30
Getting Help from Project .............................................................................31

Chapter 2: The Best-Laid Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Project 2010’s New Interface ........................................................................33
Using the Ribbon ..................................................................................34
The Backstage view .............................................................................35
Finding commonly used commands ..................................................36
Navigating Project .........................................................................................36
Changing views ....................................................................................36
Scrolling around ...................................................................................38
Getting to a specifi c spot in your plan ..............................................40
A Project with a View ....................................................................................41
Home base: Gantt Chart view .............................................................42
The resourceful views: Resource Sheet and Team Planner ...........43
Getting your timing down with the Timeline ...................................44
Going with the fl ow: Network Diagram view ....................................44
Calling up Calendar view ....................................................................46
Customizing Views ........................................................................................47
Working with view panes ....................................................................48
Modifying the contents of the Network Diagram boxes .................52
Resetting the view................................................................................54
Chapter 3: Mark It on Your Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Mastering Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars .........................55
How calendars work ............................................................................56
How one calendar relates to another ................................................58
Calendar Options and Working Times ........................................................58
Setting calendar options .....................................................................59
Setting exceptions to working times .................................................60
Setting the Project Calendar and Other Essential Project Information ...62
Modifying Task Calendars ............................................................................64
Making Resource Calendar Settings ............................................................65
Which resources get calendars? ........................................................65
Making the change to a resource’s calendar ....................................65
Do It Yourself: Creating a Custom Calendar Template .............................68
Sharing Copies of Calendars ........................................................................69
Chapter 4: A Tisket, a Task Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
User-Controlled Scheduling: Manual versus Automatic ...........................72
Tackling Your First Task ...............................................................................74
Identifying what makes up a task.......................................................74
Creating a task ......................................................................................75
You’re in It for the Duration .........................................................................82
Tasks come in all fl avors: Identifying task types .............................83
Setting task duration ...........................................................................84

Setting tasks with no duration: Milestones ......................................85
Showing up again and again: Recurring tasks ..................................86
Starting and Pausing Tasks ..........................................................................87
Entering the task start date ................................................................88
Taking a break: Splitting tasks ...........................................................89
1 + 1 = 1/2: Effort-Driven Tasks ....................................................................90
Controlling Timing with Constraints ...........................................................91
Understanding how constraints work ...............................................91
Establishing constraints .....................................................................92
Setting a deadline .................................................................................93
Deleting Tasks and Using Inactive Tasks ....................................................93
Making a Task Note .......................................................................................95
Saving Your Project — and Your Tasks ......................................................96
Task Information in Action: Planning Your Next Space Launch ..............97
Chapter 5: Getting Your Outline in Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Summary Tasks and Subtasks ......................................................................99
Project phases ....................................................................................100
How many levels can you go? ..........................................................101
The One-and-Only Project Summary Task ...............................................101
Structuring the Project’s Outline ...............................................................103
Everything but the kitchen sink: What to include .........................105
Building the outline ...........................................................................107
Moving Tasks All around Your Outline .....................................................107
The outdent-and-indent shuffl e ........................................................107
Moving tasks up and down ...............................................................109
Using a Manually Scheduled Summary Task to Plan from the Top Down .........................111
Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Collapsing and Expanding Tasks ......113
Cracking the WBS Code ..............................................................................115
Displaying a WBS code ......................................................................117
Customizing the code ........................................................................117
Chapter 6: Timing Is Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
How Tasks Become Codependent .............................................................122
Dependent tasks: Which comes fi rst? .............................................122
Dependency types .............................................................................123
Allowing for Murphy’s Law: Lag and lead time ..............................126
Making the Dependency Connection ........................................................127
Adding the missing (dependency) link ...........................................127
Extending your reach with external dependencies .......................130
Understanding that things change: Deleting dependencies .........132
Taking a Look at the Task Dependencies .................................................133

Part II: People Who Need People ............................... 137
Chapter 7: Optimizing Your Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Resources: People, Places, and Things .....................................................139
Becoming Resource-Full .............................................................................140
Understanding resources .................................................................140
Resource types: Work, material, and cost ......................................142
How resources affect task timing ....................................................144
Estimating resource requirements ..................................................145
Committed versus proposed resources .........................................146
The Birth of a Resource ..............................................................................146
Creating one at a time .......................................................................146
Identifying resources before you know their names .....................148
Throwing more warm bodies at a task ...........................................149
Sharing Resources .......................................................................................149
In the swim: Drawing on resource pools ........................................150
Importing resources from Outlook ..................................................152
Say, When Do These Guys Work? ..............................................................153
Now That I’ve Got ’Em, How Do I Manage ’Em? .......................................156
Acquiring the right resources ..........................................................156
Balancing workload ...........................................................................157
Managing confl ict gracefully.............................................................157
Chapter 8: What’s All This Gonna Cost?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Mary, Mary, How Do Your Costs Accrue? ................................................160
It all adds up .......................................................................................160
When will this hit the bottom line? .................................................161
It All Adds Up: Specifying Cost Info in Your Project ...............................161
You can’t avoid fi xed costs ...............................................................162
When resources get paid per hour and tack on fees ....................163
If you use ten gallons at $2 per gallon . . . ......................................165
Making allowances for overtime ......................................................165
It’s an Availability Thing .............................................................................166
Setting availability .............................................................................166
When a resource comes and goes ...................................................167
Adding It Up: How Your Settings Affect Your Budget .............................168
Creating a Custom Text Field .....................................................................170
Working with Budgets .................................................................................173
Chapter 9: Assigning Resources to Get Things Done . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
You’d Be Surprised What Assignments Can Do to Your Timing ...........176
Pinning down your type ....................................................................176
When effort is in the driver’s seat ...................................................177
Suppose Task calendars prevail?.....................................................179

Finding the Right Resource ........................................................................179
Needed: One good resource willing to work ..................................180
Custom fi elds: It’s a skill ...................................................................182
A Useful Assignation ...................................................................................182
Determining work material and cost-resource assignment units .........................183
Making your assignments .................................................................183
Getting the contour that’s right for you..........................................186
A Helpful Planner .........................................................................................188
Communicating an Assignment to Your Team ........................................189
It’s in the e-mail ..................................................................................190
Report your fi ndings ..........................................................................191
Part III: Well, It Looks Good on Paper . . . ................. 195
Chapter 10: Fine-Tuning Your Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
Everything Filters to the Bottom Line .......................................................198
Predesigned fi lters .............................................................................198
Putting AutoFilter to work ................................................................199
Do-it-yourself fi lters ...........................................................................201
Gathering Info in Groups ............................................................................203
Applying predefi ned groups .............................................................203
Devising your own groups ................................................................204
Figuring Out What’s Driving Your Project ................................................206
Inspecting tasks .................................................................................207
Handling task warnings and suggestions ........................................208
Undo, undo, undo ..............................................................................209
Highlighting changes .........................................................................211
It’s About Time .............................................................................................212
Giving yourself some slack ...............................................................213
Doing it in less time ...........................................................................215
Getting It for Less ........................................................................................217
Your Resource Recourse ............................................................................218
Checking resource availability .........................................................218
Deleting or modifying a resource assignment................................220
Quick and dirty rescheduling to beat overallocations .................221
Getting some help ..............................................................................221
Getting your resources level ............................................................223
Rescheduling the Project ............................................................................226
Mixing Solutions Up ....................................................................................226
Chapter 11: Making Your Project Look Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Putting Your Best Foot Forward ................................................................228
Getting to the Critical Stuff .........................................................................228
Formatting Task Bars ..................................................................................229

Restyling Your Gantt Chart ........................................................................232
Formatting Task Boxes ...............................................................................233
Adjusting the Layout ...................................................................................234
Modifying Gridlines .....................................................................................237
When a Picture Can Say It All .....................................................................238
Part IV: Avoiding Disaster: Staying on Track .............. 241
Chapter 12: It All Begins with a Baseline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
All about Baselines ......................................................................................243
What does a baseline look like? .......................................................244
How do I save a baseline? .................................................................246
What if I want more than one baseline? ..........................................247
How do I clear and reset a baseline? ...............................................248
In the Interim ................................................................................................249
Saving an interim plan .......................................................................250
Clearing and resetting a plan............................................................251
Chapter 13: On the Right Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253
Gathering Your Data ....................................................................................253
A method to your tracking madness ...............................................254
Going door to door ............................................................................255
Where Does All This Information Go? .......................................................256
Doing things with the tracking tools ...............................................256
For everything there is a view ..........................................................257
Tracking Your Work for the Record ..........................................................259
Progress as of when? .........................................................................259
It’s totally on track .............................................................................261
Percentage complete: How to tell? ..................................................261
When did you start? When did you fi nish? .....................................262
John worked three hours; Maisie worked ten ................................263
Uh-oh, we’re into overtime ...............................................................265
Specifying remaining durations for autoscheduled tasks ............266
Entering fi xed-cost updates ..............................................................267
Moving a Task ..............................................................................................268
Update Project: Sweeping Changes for Dummies ...................................269
Tracking Materials Usage ...........................................................................271
Tracking More Than One: Consolidated Projects ...................................272
Consolidating projects ......................................................................272
Updating consolidated projects .......................................................274
Changing linking settings ..................................................................274

Chapter 14: A Project with a View: Observing Progress . . . . . . . . . .277
Seeing Where Tasks Stand ..........................................................................277
Getting an indication .........................................................................278
Lines of progress................................................................................279
When worlds collide: Baseline versus actual .................................282
Studying by the Numbers ...........................................................................283
Acronym Soup: BCWP, ACWP, EAC, and CV ............................................286
Calculations behind the Scenes .................................................................287
Going automatic or manual ..............................................................287
Earned-value options .........................................................................288
How many critical paths are enough? .............................................290
Chapter 15: You’re Behind: Now What?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291
Justifying Yourself: Notes, Baselines, and Interim Plans ........................291
What If? .........................................................................................................293
Sorting things out ..............................................................................293
Filtering ...............................................................................................295
Examining the critical path ...............................................................296
Use resource leveling one more time ..............................................297
What’s driving the timing of this task?............................................298
How Adding People or Time Affects Your Project ..................................298
Hurry up! .............................................................................................299
Throwing people at the problem .....................................................299
Shifting dependencies and task timing ...........................................301
When All Else Fails ......................................................................................302
All the time in the world ...................................................................303
And now for something completely different ................................303
What Does Project Have to Say about This? ............................................305
Chapter 16: Spreading the News: Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307
Off the Rack: Standard Reports .................................................................308
What’s available .................................................................................308
Going with the standard ...................................................................309
A standard report, with a twist ........................................................310
Crosstabs: A different animal ...........................................................313
A Custom Job ...............................................................................................313
Get a New Perspective on Data with Visual Reports ..............................315
Getting an overview of what’s available .........................................315
Creating a Visual Report ...................................................................315
Spiffi ng Things Up ........................................................................................317
Using graphics in Project ..................................................................318
Formatting reports ............................................................................321

Call the Printer! ............................................................................................323
Working with Page Setup ..................................................................323
Get a preview ......................................................................................328
So Let’s Print! ...............................................................................................329
A Project Overview: The Timeline .............................................................330
Hiding and redisplaying the Timeline .............................................330
Adding tasks .......................................................................................330
Copying the Timeline ........................................................................331
Dressing Up Your Input and Output with Enhanced Copy and Paste .............................333
Chapter 17: Getting Better All the Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335
Learning from Your Mistakes .....................................................................335
It was only an estimate ......................................................................336
Debrief your team ..............................................................................337
Comparing Versions of a Project ...............................................................338
Building on Your Success ...........................................................................340
Create a template ...............................................................................340
Master the Organizer .........................................................................342
Handy little timesavers: Macros ......................................................344
Part V: Working with Enterprise Projects .................... 351
Chapter 18: Project Web App for the Project Manager. . . . . . . . . . . .353
Figuring Out Whether Project Server Is for You ......................................354
Getting a Handle on What You Can Do with Project Server and Project Web App ..........................................356
Planning to Use Project Server and Project Web App ............................358
Get a team together ...........................................................................358
Gather information ............................................................................358
Standardize processes ......................................................................359
Coordinate with IT .............................................................................359
Planning for problems .......................................................................360
Looking Over the Project Web App Tools ................................................360
Getting set up .....................................................................................360
Make assignments ..............................................................................361
Track your progress ..........................................................................362
Figure out what’s going on with status reports .............................363
Working with the Gang Online ...................................................................364
Check resource availability and assignments and add resources ...............................364
Request a status report .....................................................................367
Share documents ...............................................................................367

Chapter 19: Project Web App for the Team Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
Seeing Project Web App from the User’s Perspective ............................371
Viewing Your Assignments .........................................................................373
Reporting Work Completed ........................................................................374
Viewing Project Information ......................................................................376
Sending Task Work Updates ......................................................................377
Sending Status Reports ...............................................................................377
Part VI: The Part of Tens ........................................... 381
Chapter 20: Ten Golden Rules of Project Management . . . . . . . . . . .383
Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Manage .............................................384
Get Your Ducks in a Row ............................................................................384
Plan for Murphy ...........................................................................................385
Don’t Put Off until Tomorrow ....................................................................386
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate! .....................................................................386
CYA (Document!) .........................................................................................387
Keep Your Team in the Loop .....................................................................388
Measure Success .........................................................................................388
Have a Flexible Strategy ..............................................................................389
Learn from Your Mistakes ..........................................................................390
Chapter 21: Ten Project Management Software Products to Explore. . . . . . . . . . . . . .391
DecisionEdge Chart and Report Products Enhance Project’s Own Tools ..........................392
Cobra Squeezes the Most from Cost/Earned Value ................................392
MindManuals Helps You Visualize Project Information .........................393
Innate Integrates Projects Large and Small ..............................................393
PlanView Models Your Workforce Capacity ............................................394
Tenrox Streamlines Business Processes ..................................................394
Project KickStart Gives Your Project a Head Start ..................................395
Project Manager’s Assistant Organizes Drawings for Construction Projects ........................395
TeamTrack Solves Mission-Critical Issues ...............................................396
EPK-Suite Eases Portfolio Mangement Chores ........................................396
Index ....................................................................... 397