Blow past the jargon and get hands-on, practical guidance on managing any project with Microsoft Project

Lean. Agile. Hybrid. It seems that project management these days comes with more confusing buzzwords than ever. But you can make managing your next project simple and straightforward with help from Microsoft Project For Dummies.

This book unpacks Microsoft's bestselling project management platform and walks you through every important feature, step-by-step, until you're ready to take on virtually any project, no matter the size. From getting set up for the first time to creating tasks, managing resources and working with time management features, you'll learn everything you need to know about managing a project in Microsoft's iconic software.

You'll also find:

• Totally updated guidance that applies to both the desktop version and Microsoft's new subscription-based Microsoft Project Online
• Helpful information on integrating Agile practices and techniques into your project
• "Golden rules" that keep a project on-track and on-time
• Ways to effectively manage your resources with Microsoft Project's built-in functionality

Managing a project, big or small, is no easy task. Luckily, Microsoft Project For Dummies can take a lot of the hassle out of your day-to-day life. Learn how to take advantage of this powerful software today!

Autorentext

Cynthia Snyder Dionisio is a project anagement consultant with a passion for curriculum design and online training. Author of Microsoft Project 2019 For Dummies, she's helped thousands of employees find success in their project management careers.

Klappentext

Transform your next project with Microsoft®

Managing projects is anything but easy. But it's far from impossible, especially with help from Microsoft Project For Dummies. This easy-to-follow book walks you through every step of the way to mastering the popular Microsoft Project Online software. From initial setup to connecting your project software to other apps, setting up your team, and the final project wrap-up, you'll be powering through even the most complex project in no time at all. This is one reference book that will never leave your desk. Inside...

• Understand project management
• Work with waterfall projects
• Manage your resources
• Organize your calendars
• Create a project budget
• Form a project timeline
• Keep your project on track
• Work with Agile projects

Inhalt

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

What's Not in This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Project 5

Chapter 1: Project Management, MS Project, and You 7

Project Management Evolution 8

What's in a Name: Projects, Project Management, and Project Managers 9

Project managers and Scrum masters 10

The role of the project manager 11

The role of the Scrum master 12

Introducing Microsoft Project 13

Getting to Know You 14

Navigating Ribbon tabs and the Ribbon 17

Displaying more tools 20

Tell Me What You Want to Do 22

Chapter 2: Starting the Project 23

Creating the Project Charter 24

Introducing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) 26

Organizing the Work 27

Starting the Project 28

Entering project information 29

Entering the WBS 31

Indenting and outdenting (a.k.a promoting and demoting) 32

Entering tasks 33

Weighing manual scheduling versus automatic scheduling 35

Inserting one project into another 37

Inserting hyperlinks 38

Chapter 3: Becoming a Task Master 41

Creating Summary Tasks and Subtasks 41

How many levels can you go? 43

The project summary task 43

Moving Tasks Up, Down, and All Around 45

Moving tasks with the drag-and-drop method 45

Moving tasks with the cut-and-paste method 46

Now You See It, Now You Don't: Collapsing and Expanding the Task Outline 47

Showing Up Again and Again: Recurring Tasks 48

Setting Milestones 50

Deleting Tasks and Using Inactive Tasks 51

Making a Task Note 52

Chapter 4: The Codependent Nature of Tasks 55

How Tasks Become Dependent 56

Dependent tasks: Which comes first? 56

Dependency types 57

Allowing for Murphy's Law: Lag and lead time 59

Setting the Dependency Connection 60

Adding the dependency link 60

Words to the wise 62

Understanding that things change: Deleting dependencies 64

Chapter 5: Estimating Task Time 67

You're in It for the Duration 68

Tasks come in all flavors: Identifying task types 68

Effort-driven tasks: 1 + 1 = 71

Estimating Effort and Duration 72

Estimating techniques 72

Setting the task duration 74

Controlling Timing with Constraints 76

Understanding how constraints work 76

Establishing constraints 76

Setting a deadline 78

Starting and Pausing Tasks 79

Entering the task's start date 80

Taking a break: Splitting tasks 81

Chapter 6: Check Out This View! 83

A Project with a View 83

Navigating tabs and views 84

Scrolling around 86

Reaching a specific spot in your plan 87

More Detail about Views 88

Home base: Gantt Chart view 88

Resourceful views: Resource Sheet and Team Planner 89

Getting your timing down with the Timeline 90

Going with the flow: Network Diagram view 91

Calling up Calendar view 91

Customizing Views 92

Working with view panes 93

Modifying Network Diagram view 98

Resetting the view 100

Part 2: Managing Resources 103

Chapter 7: Creating Resources 105

Resources: People, Places, and Things 105

Becoming Resource-Full 106

Understanding resources 106

Resource types: Work, material, and cost 107

How resources affect task timing 108

Estimating resource requirements 109

The Birth of a Resource 110

Creating one resource at a time 110

Identifying resources before you know their names 112

Many hands make light work 113

Managing Resource Availability 113

Estimating and setting availability 114

When a resource comes and goes 115

Sharing Resources 116

Skimming from resource pools 116

Importing resources from Outlook 119

Chapter 8: Working with Calendars 121

Mastering Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars 122

Setting the base calendar for a project 122

Understanding the four calendar types 122

How calendars work 123

How one calendar relates to another 123

Scheduling with Calendar Options and Working Times 124

Setting calendar options 125

Setting exceptions to working times 126

Working with Task Calendars and Resource Calendars 128

Setting resource calendars 129

Making a change to a resource's calendar 130

Creating a Custom Calendar Template 132

Sharing Copies of Calendars 134

Chapter 9: Assigning Resources 137

Finding the Right Resource 137

Needed: One good resource willing to work 138

Custom fields: It's a skill 139

Making a Useful Assignation 140

Determining material and cost-resource units 140

Making assignments 141

Shaping the contour that's right for you 145

Benefitting from a Helpful Planner 147

Chapter 10: Determining a Project's Cost 149

How Do Costs Accrue? 150

Adding up the costs 150

When will these costs hit the bottom line? 151

Specifying Cost Information in the Project 152

You can't avoid fixed costs 153

Entering hourly, overtime, and cost-per-use rates 154

Assigning material resources 156

Part 3: Before You Baseline 159

Chapter 11: Fine-Tuning Your Plan 161

Everything Filters to the Bottom Line 161

Setting predesigned filters 162

Putting AutoFilter to work 163

Creating do-it-yourself filters 166

Gathering Information in Groups 167

Applying predefined groups 169

Devising your own groups 169

Figuring Out What's Driving the Project 171

Inspecting tasks 172

Handling task warnings, suggest…