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 2: Fundamentals of Microsoft Project

Welcome to your hands-on learning journey with Microsoft Project. Consider first an analogy—learning to ride a bicycle. You cannot learn to cycle by just learning about the parts of the bicycle from a book. It is important to actually get on the bike and learn to balance and pedal. In the same way, you will now learn Project by using it to create schedules over the course of this book. This is because being adept at Project requires you to both learn the techniques and then practice them yourself.

The single biggest hurdle to learning and using Project is that it appears complex and intimidating. This is the reason most new learners give up early or don't even start. There are a multitude of switches, buttons, options, and views. To compound the fact, sometimes working on one area of the schedule mysteriously seems to affect other areas. But fear not, my gentle reader, as my goal is to remove that intimidation factor and...