Book Image

Learning Microsoft Project 2019

By : Srikanth Shirodkar
Book Image

Learning Microsoft Project 2019

By: Srikanth Shirodkar

Overview of this book

Microsoft Project is one of the most popular project management tools for enterprises of all sizes thanks to its wide variety of features such as project scheduling, project budgeting, built-in templates, and reporting tools. Learning Microsoft Project 2019 will get you started with the basics and gradually guide you through the complete project life cycle. Starting with an overview of Microsoft Project 2019 and a brief introduction to project management concepts, this book will take you through the different phases of project management – initiation, planning, execution, control, and closure. You will then learn how to identify and handle problems related to scheduling, costing, resourcing, and work allocation. Understand how to use dynamic reports to create powerful, automated reports and dashboards at the click of a button. This Microsoft Project book highlights the pitfalls of overallocation and demonstrates how to avoid and resolve these issues using a wide spectrum of tools, techniques, and best practices. Finally, you will focus on executing Agile projects efficiently and get to grips with using Kanban and Scrum features. By the end of this book, you will be well-versed with Microsoft Project and have the skills you need to use it effectively in every stage of project management.
Table of Contents (32 chapters)
1
Section 1: The Iron Triangle – a Quick Primer for Project Management
3
Section 2: Project Initiation with Microsoft Project
8
Section 3: Project Planning Like a Pro!
13
Section 4: Project Execution – the Real Deal
15
Chapter 11: Overallocation – the Bane of Project Managers
18
Section 5: Monitoring and Control with Microsoft Project
23
Section 6: Project Closure with Microsoft Project
Appendix A: Using This Book as a Textbook
Appendix C: Keyboard Shortcuts
Appendix D: Glossary

Chapter 7: Tasks – under the Microscope

Imagine reading a textbook that had no organization to it, with no logical breakup into chapters, or even paragraphs, nor use of punctuation, or a progressive story within it. Such a book would be hard to read, and even more difficult to refer to. It would be an amorphous blob of information and its real-world value would probably be lost.

This same fate often awaits project schedules that are not meaningfully organized. In this chapter, we will learn how to go from a WBS-based task list to a well-designed project schedule. There are several aspects of a schedule that will make it well-designed rather than just a functional schedule. These aspects include non-functional requirements such as being able to read the schedule easily, being able to delegate work easily, and being able to track and monitor the schedule easily. In this chapter, we will discuss the techniques you can use to organize your tasks in such a way that these non-functional...