Author: Ronald B. Smith, MBA, PMP
Ronald Smith has over four decades of experience as Senior PM/Program Manager. He retired from IBM having written four books and over four dozen articles (for example, PMI’s PM Network magazine and MPUG) on project management, and the systems development life cycle (SDLC). He’s been a member of PMI since 1998 and evaluates articles submitted to PMI’s Knowledge Shelf Library for potential publication. From 2011 - 2017, Ronald had been an Adjunct Professor for a Master of Science in Technology and taught PM courses at the University of Houston’s College of Technology. Teaching from his own book, Project Management Tools and Techniques – A Practical Guide, Ronald offers a perspective on project management that reflects his many years of experience. Lastly in the Houston area, he has started up two Toastmasters clubs and does voluntary work at various food banks.
Projecting Project Success
Success or Failure of a Project is a People Thing Although technology and software development tools are essential for most projects, it’s the leadership of a project that makes the difference between a project’s success or failure. Leaders must create a work environment that sets people up for success. I believe that for a productive work environment to be created, a project manager should have in mind, the following goals: Provide the essential training, processes, and tools: Employee productivity is at its highest when the team knows what to do and how to do it. Giving employees or teams the right foundational skills is critical to success. If this goal is obtained, it will be much easier to track and measure the progress of your projects. Encourage mentoring: This is a follow-up on the first goal. The reason why I am a good project manager is because the first company that I worked for as a financial PM, Fisher-Price Toys, had a formal mentoring program. I had an excellent senior mentor by the name of Arthur Gunther, who provided me with a strong foundation in project management and a sense of accomplishment. Regardless of whether an organization has a formal program for mentoring or not, the process of skill development needs to be established and pursued. Foster teamwork: The more participation is encouraged, the greater the likelihood that a project’s objectives will successfully be met. Treat others as you would like to be treated. It shows respect for the individual. Don’t be blinded by the ease of these words—there is precious treasure (or Golden Rule) here! Boost positive risk-taking: Having a risk-supportive environment that rewards risk and does not penalize failure can allow the imagined to become reality. Positive risks could even be listed in the project charter with their associated benefits. Regardless, they should at least be documented as part of a project’s lessons learned so they can add value to future projects. Remember, the movers of tomorrow are taking risks now. Besides meeting the above goals and working towards a productive work environment, to increase your chances of success I also suggest that organizations need to develop one-page simple workbooks that will help them in predicting a project’s success. By researching their industry and related industries, they should find different ways of discovering their probability of success, review weak areas, if any, and/or cancel the project when it’s called for. Let’s look at some workbook examples in the following section. How to Predict a Project’s Success Countless studies over the last four decades point to similar findings. About 50% of projects undertaken will be completed late and/or exceed budget. Approximately 25% will be cancelled. The success of a project depends on people—not technology or tools. This fact crosses all industries, from manufacturing to financial services. The below workbook is intended to be used to perform a quick risk assessment. I hope you’ll be able to use this matrix to determine the probability of success on a current or new project. Anything less than 75% suggests that you could be headed for trouble. You can add critical success questions that apply to your project. Be sure to add a corresponding success weight and recalculate. In the below table, fill-in your own numbers under “Your Project,” and do the calculations. Column “A” assumes the weight is constant for the questions, but, through your experience, you might change some of the weights you use over time. How to Forecast the Success of Technology Projects Considering how much and how rapidly technology has evolved since the start of this century, one would think the ability to implement successful enterprise projects would have improved at a comparable pace. According to a 2015 chaos report by the Standish group, it hasn’t. The study found that 29% of IT projects were successful, 52% were challenged, and 19 % failed. These numbers were about the same in 2011. Because technology advances so rapidly (with significant revisions every 6 to 12 months), IT projects tend to have high degrees of uncertainty. This can cause changes in methodologies being used, high personnel turnover, and a lack of having standard benchmarks for evaluating a team’s abilities and skill levels. As I’ve said, a project’s success ultimately depends on people. The below workbook will help you perform a quick assessment to determine your chances of success. Note: the Oracle Upgrade is an example. INSTRUCTIONS: Fill in your own risk numbers (0 – 5) under “Your Project – Risk Scale.” The higher the number, the greater the risk. Multiply your risk number by its corresponding “Success Value,” and enter the “Score” value for each reason in the last column. Add up the scores to get your Total Score and go to the bottom of the table to find your probability of success and the action that may be required. Do you have any other ideas or workbooks on improving projected success for projects? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
Cloudy Conditions: Clarifying MS Project’s Plans and Pricing Structures
The Microsoft Project product family has so many solutions, pricing structures, and platforms to choose from that it can be confusing to many people on what to use. In this article, I hope to clear up some of this confusion and make some predictions. Let’s begin by comparing the different solutions. On-Premise Solutions The players here are Standard and Professional. Microsoft Project (MSP) Standard 2019 ($620) doesn’t have collaboration or other advanced tools and is a light version of MSP Professional 2019 ($1,030). Professional is a comprehensive management solution with a permanent license. However, there are no updates. MSP 2013 and 2016 ran on Windows 7 or 8. MSP 2013 contained a major upgrade (for example, all the text reports were replaced with graphical reports), and MSP 2016 and 2019 (running under Windows 10) included minor upgrades. My Recommendation: If you have MSP 2013 or 2016, I wouldn’t recommend upgrading to MSP 2019 because it is not worth the money. Additionally, I predict MSP 2019 will be the last major ‘version upgrade’ eventually being replaced with an online cloud service (see below). The reason for this is that all the other Project solutions are based in the Microsoft cloud, which allows for continued updates. Project for the Web Project for the web is used by administrators, portfolio managers, team members, and project managers (PMs). It is delivered through Microsoft Office 365 with an active subscription. Going forward, all innovations for Project for the web will be based on user feedback and usage data. This solution is built on the MS Power Platform. MS has three Project plans: Plan 1 – $10/User/Month. This plan provides fundamental project management capabilities online with no pre-built reports. This is meant for simple project plans. Beyond this level, Kanban boards, task priority boards, and sprint features (Agile) to expose progress and manage workflow, as well as many other features are included. Project for the web is already available for users of Project Online. MS provides automatic updates with new features. Plan 3 – $30/User/Month. Formally known as Project Online Professional (or desktop client with up to 5 PCs), this plan includes all the capabilities of Plan 1 plus timesheet submission, resource management, and much more. Plan 5 – $55/User/Month. Formally known as Project Online Premium (or desktop client with up to 5 PCs), this plan includes all the capabilities of Plans 1 and 3 plus demand management, portfolio selection and optimization, and much more. It also includes access to Power BI functionality. Power BI (Business Intelligence) is a full-fledged, cloud-based analytical and visualization service (with executive summary, portfolio dashboard, and other reports). I view Power BI as the next generation of Excel because it has faster processing power and can handle larger amounts of data. If you are an Excel power-user, I recommend learning Power BI because many organizations are looking for people with these specific skills. Power BI links its’ data stores very easily to Project for the web, Project Online, and resource data. The Power BI Pack for Project for the web includes reports for portfolio details, projects/tasks/assignment overviews, resource governance, and calendar. BI is a long-term growth strategy for Microsoft, so I expect we should see more related web apps and innovations. Project Online Project Online provides access to the latest version of Project (up to 5 PCs), priced at $30/user/month, and the Project Web App (PWA), which is the web interface to Project Online. Project Online is a flexible solution for Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and everyday project management work. I predict that in the future Microsoft will focus its innovations on adding features to Project for the web, rather than Project Online. This will be like the way it upgrades its cloud-oriented, subscription products over the ones with permanent licenses. For the short-term, Project Online will be around for key performance and security improvements. Long-term, if you use Project Online, you should be planning a transition to Project for the web. Eventually, Microsoft plans to provide standard migration tools to move your Project Online data to Project for the web. Project Online Desktop Client Desktop Client used to be called Microsoft Project. Some PMs use this as a personal productivity tool for their needs; however, Project for the web provides most PMs with what they need now and in the future. Project for the web has about 50% of the features (such as Gantt view) which are found in the Desktop Client version. Based on user feedback, features, such as tracking deadlines, from the Desktop Client might be added to Project for the web. If Project for the web reaches feature parity with the Desktop Client, it’s possible that Microsoft would retire the Desktop Client and Project Online. Project Server 2019 Server is a project portfolio management product that uses Microsoft’s Sharepoint as its foundation and supports MSP Professional as a client application. It’s the premise-based sibling to Project Online. The server drives efficient and effective management across projects, programs, and portfolios with strong team collaboration from anywhere. Server pricing is as follows: Project Online Essentials – $7/user/month Project Online Professional – $30/user/month Project Online Premium – $55/user/month Dynamics 365 Project Operations Microsoft introduced Dynamics 365 Project Operations in the first quarter of 2020. The application brings together capabilities from existing Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation, Project for the web, and project management accounting within Dynamics 365 into a unified integrated offer. Like Project for the web, Dynamics 365 Project Operations is built on the MS Power Platform and includes additional Dynamics 365 applications. The bottom line is that Dynamics 365 Project Operations provides users with a unified online system for project management, resource management, sales, collaboration, and financials. With this, you now have two ways of obtaining Project for the web: as a separate application or through Dynamics 365 Project Operations. Your choice! I’d love to hear your thoughts on these solutions and the future of MS Project in the comments below. Thanks to my friends, Bonnie Biafore and Eric Uyttewaal, for their useful input.
Picking a Project Management Methodology
The Essence of an Approach Organizations that perform IT projects may select a project management methodology that follows the same system of practices, policies, procedures, techniques, and rules as others developing new projects within their organization. Is that always the best choice? How exactly does one pick the best methodology? Before we investigate which methodology to pick for your organization, let us first understand what a project really is. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The nature of a temporary endeavor means that a project has a definite beginning and end. The duration could be short, or it could be long. Deliverables may exist beyond the project and could even last for centuries (for example, the pyramids of Egypt or the Great Wall of China). Projects drive change! PMBOK Guide and Projects A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Sixth Edition was published in 2017 by the Project Management Institute (PMI). This is considered by most project managers as the standard for project management. The PMBOK Guide is not a methodology, but a foundation or set of principles upon which organizations can build methodologies, practices, policies, procedures, techniques, rules, etc. These principles should cover the system life cycle phases needed to manage a project. The following are examples of factors from the PMBOK Guide that lead to said project’s creation: We also should consider what types of organizations/industries have the need for projects. The answer is all types, from exceptionally large to small; from suppliers to manufacturers to retailers; from for profit to non-profit organizations. Here are some of the major industries: Even if you do not have defined model in place, you probably have some processes that could be used as part of your selected methodology. An examination of current practices can provide the baseline for methodology selection and deployment. All organizations should strive to have as few development models as possible. Project members will be most effective and productive using a model that they understand and/or have experienced. Familiarity with an acceptable model that adds value to your environment and organization will aid significantly in the successful implementation of projects. Some of the key factors to consider as you search (via the internet, trade/user groups, and associates) for the right model include: Organizations need to practice what they preach to be successful. This includes management being engaged in project improvements, as well as related classroom training, workshops, and mentorship opportunities. Management has the ultimate responsibility to insist that each new project complies fully with the approved methodology or model. It is important that the notion of improving a model is well understood before you start using your chosen model. Since no model is perfect in its original design and because rapidly changing business needs will continue to challenge the model to be improved, it is essential that all members of an organization understand that the model will always be undergoing change with their support and feedback. Defining the right methodology or development process for your organization will have a profound impact on controlling the schedule, costs, and quality of a project. A methodology should include templates, forms, checklists, techniques for measuring progress, and ways of supporting resource management used over the project life cycle. I am a strong believer that quality should be the last parameter to be sacrificed, if ever. If you do not produce quality projects, products, or services, the customer will eventually take their business elsewhere. I have found that most people will pay more for higher quality or even the perception of higher quality. Project Methodology Models After a methodology or process model has been selected, the next step is to clearly identify the primary activities that need to be implemented to satisfy the needs of your organization. The list of activities should be thorough enough so that team members of new projects can pick and choose activities from the list as they customize the process to meet the distinctive needs of their new project. I am going to review two of the most popular methodologies (see Figure 1) that you may choose to be best for the type of business you are in. Waterfall Project Management Method The name is derived from the appearance of the model—when one stage is completed, the next one starts and there is a downward flow. This model is generally suited for medium to large projects with well-defined requirements. It’s presented in the form of structured specification, which should at least contain: Since there is an emphasis on documentation, knowledge is not lost for replacement team members and potentially becomes useful for future projects. This was the dominant or traditional model used in the second half of the 20th century. According to a Standish Group Study in 2015, it was found that 29% of traditional projects failed outright and were cancelled, but that number decreased to 9% for Agile projects. Keep reading! Get an Agile Project Management Certificate Agile Project Management Course Agile Project Management Method During the last century, there was another development model called Iterative, developed. It works well when the solution for the project is not clearly defined. Iterations are used to gradually identify the solution as the project develops. Each iteration forms the base for the next. In 2001, new methodology pioneers met in Snowbird, Utah to share their experiences and to suggest ideas for improving the world of software development. They came up with the Agile Manifesto to streamline the development process. This all sounds like the next generation of the Iterative model to me. The Agile model is lightweight, uses an informal communication style, is less document-oriented, and uses less defined rules and policies. This is the opposite approach from that which is used in the structured Waterfall model. It’s important to note that Agile can help increase revenue opportunity sooner by decreasing time to market or creating a scenario that is self-funding of future new product features. Over the last 10-15 years, Agile has become mainstream. It’s now been incorporated into Project as a scrum-focused template. In 2011, PMI introduced a new certification, the Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP). The number of professionals obtaining this new certification has grown exponentially (there are over 35,000 holders). PMI also recently started a series of Discipline Agile certifications for professionals working in Enterprise class settings/development. When you purchase the PMBOK Guide, you receive a free copy of Agile Practice Guide. This was developed jointly between PMI and the Agile Alliance (www.agilealliance.org), and I have found it to be an excellent reference to have and learn from. Transitioning to Agile means starting in small steps and being willing to change when necessary. Furthermore, organizations need qualified people trained in Agile to be coaches and mentors and to help in the adoption process. An excellent way to start implementing Agile is to bring in a consulting firm that specializes in Agile methodology. Expert coaches and scrum masters can help an organization adopt an Agile strategy that is right. Summary Most organizations are trending towards using both models. With the adoption of a hybrid approach, flexibility is available regardless of which type of business and/or what type of project is being worked on. For a hardware upgrade and/or maintenance project, an organization would probably use the Waterfall model, but if it is a small to a medium software project that is not well-defined (i.e. in the research or development process), the Agile model may make the most sense. On many projects, both models are appropriate. As a project manager, you need to consider the project’s goals and choose the model or Agile/Waterfall hybrid approach that fits best. Agile Project Management Training
How to Improve Your SWAG
When I turned eighteen, I ran away from a disconnected home and joined the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Periodically, I heard the term “SWAG” from officers and didn’t understand what they were talking about. I eventually learned it stood for “Scientific Wild-A** Guess,” which really meant a high-level estimate, a ball-park number, or guesstimate. The bottom line was that one could expect a high rate of error. For example, the number of troops that needed to be deployed. When you start a project with initial work packages, you probably have a SWAG estimate of cost and duration, but you also should know that these estimates must be studied and revised for better accuracy. So, let’s look at some ways to improve your SWAG and increase your chances of success. Do you have any other tips to add that we all may benefit from on improving that SWAG? Leave your comments below.
Timesavers 2.0
My first article on the topic of “Timesavers” was published about two months ago. I covered many of Project’s data manipulation tools and best practices for setting up easy access to different commands. Following these recommendations allows you to perform required steps faster and hopefully with less mistakes. My suggestions will also give you the advantage of having better control over your work schedule. Part 2 is really a continuation of this theme, but mainly centers on the Ribbon’s first tab, File, and its key underlining commands, especially that of Options. When you click File, you will see a backstage view, which displays organized tabs that appear along the left side of the Project window. These tabs contain customization and sharing options that are applicable to your plan, in addition to the necessary commands for file management such as New, Open, Save, Save As, Share, and Export. The most interesting tab is Options. Clicking on it opens the Project Options dialog box, which contains several pages through which you can adjust a wide range of default settings in Project (i.e. Quick Access Toolbar, Customize Ribbon, and Advanced settings). So, let’s dive in and look at how a few setting changes can improve your ability to save time while managing your projects! Quick Access Toolbar Navigating to File > Options > Quick Assess Toolbar gets you there, and you’ll find over 40 Popular Commands (see Figure 1). Most of these commands you will have no need for, as they easily can be found in one or more of the Ribbon tabs anyway. Standard or “out of the box” Project has icons for Save, Undo, and Redo because project managers use these commands so often. These three are also the first listed in the right-hand column shown below. There is no reason to clutter this toolbar with a lot of added commands, but it’s nice to add your favorites like I did. Print Preview and Project Information are ones I frequently use. To save and activate your updates, click the OK button at the bottom of the Toolbar. Note: If you back out of the backstage view to see all the Ribbon tabs and look in the upper left-hand corner of your Project screen, you will see the Quick Access Toolbar displaying small icons for Save, Undo, and Redo. To the right of the Redo icon is a down arrow. If you click this and More Commands, you will see the same dialog box, again shown below in Figure 1. Customize Ribbon Go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon. In Project, there are many Ribbon tabs (eight to be exact), and it’s nice to know how to customize them to your preferences. I happen to bounce back and forth between the Project and Report tabs most often. I’ve noticed after the Project tab’s commands, there is enough space to the right to add-in the Report tab’s commands, and to the right of this, the Help tab’s commands. This means the Report and Help tabs can be hidden from the entire Ribbon for a more streamlined look. Let’s start by looking at Figure 2 below. Under Choose commands from, I used the pull-down menu to select Main Tabs. In the center command column (shown in Figure 3), I clicked Open (plus sign) on the Report tab to display related sub-commands. The Help tab is a different animal, as one has to click Open on the Help tab AND the sub-Help tab to show individual commands. In the customize column to the right, I did the same thing for the Project tab and renamed it “Project – Report – Help” (right-click Project and select Rename). Proofing is highlighted (see Figure 3) under the Project – Report – Help tab. By right-clicking, I selected Add New Group, and listed a new group. We can rename it, in this case: Report. From the Choose Commands column, I highlighted Project under the Report tab, and clicked the center Add button, which was added after the custom Report group. I then added View Reports and Export from the Choose Commands column. Finally, I highlighted the newly added Export command, right-clicked, and selected Add New Group. As you can see, a new group is listed after Export. I renamed that one Help. From the Choose Commands column, I highlighted “? Help” under the Help sub-tab, and clicked the Add button to include the Feedback and Show Training from the Choose Commands column. From the Customize column list on the right (see Figure 4), I unchecked the Report and Help tabs, so they would be hidden from the new Ribbon shown in Figure 5. To complete your updates, click the OK button. Advanced Under File > Options > Advanced > General section, I recommend being sure you have a checkmark in front of “Open last file on startup” because most of the time when you open Project, you’ll want to work on your last file. If you choose to make this update, click the OK button to save your change. Schedule Schedule options reside under File > Options > Schedule. In the “Scheduling options for this project” section, change the first line (New tasks created) from Project’s default “Manually scheduled” to ”Auto scheduled.” You’ll want this selected most of the time for accurate task scheduling. Click the OK button to save your change. If later you have a reason for a task to be manually scheduled, right-click on it, and select Manually Schedule. Save In the “Save projects” section under File > Options, make sure “Auto save every” is turned on and the timeframe is set for at least 10 minutes (or whatever timeframe suits you). This protects from unexpected interruptions that have the potential to distract you from working on your plan. Legend Tab Finally, under File > Print > Page Setup > Legend, click “None” under “Legend on.” This will save you valuable time and some trees (i.e. paper) as this selection will keep Project from printing the legend that classifies the bars shown at the bottom of every page. Click the OK button to save your change. Another option under “Legend on” is “Legend page,” which allows you to include one page with a legend if you ever have a need for it. To the left of the Legend tab is the Footer tab. For historical purposes, I recommend adding File Name, Page Number, and Current Date. In what ways do you save yourself time when working with MS Project? I’d like to hear from you in the comments below.
Exploring the Virtues of Inactivating Tasks
The Benefits of Documenting Nice-to-work Tasks Microsoft Project (MSP) comes in two editions, Professional and Standard. The Professional version costs almost twice as much as the Standard, but it comes with more features and communication tools. One of Professional’s features is the ability to inactivate a task (or group of tasks) keeping the task information in the plan, but removing the scheduling and cost impact (as well as any related, linked relationships). This may cause some active tasks to be rescheduled depending on predecessor and successor relationships. So, let’s look at some of the details of the Inactivate feature, as well as its’ advantages. The Details One benefit of using this feature is that you can keep tasks in your plan for which you don’t want to lose the details, even if you choose not to use them. If you decide later you need these tasks (especially after you baseline your plan), you can reactivate them since you haven’t used the delete option. In this way, inactivated tasks remain a part of the plan and can always be brought back if/when necessary. It’s important to note that you can only inactivate tasks that have not yet started, meaning if a task has begun or been completed, the Inactivate feature will not work. It’s simple to Inactivate a task. Simply select one or more tasks, and click Inactivate from the Task tab’s Schedule section. The selected task(s) instantly turns light gray with strikethrough text, which is not easy to read. Note that if you highlight a summary task to be inactivated, its’ subtasks will automatically be inactivated also. See Tables 1 and 2 below which show a small project plan example before and after using the Inactivate feature. As you can see, the finish date has been changed from 6/26/20 to 6/18/20, and Task 4 and 5 have been inactivated and now show text that is hard to read. To make the strikethroughs more readable, you might want to highlight inactive lines and “edit” the font color to red, for example. If you later decide to Activate Task 4 and 5, highlight these lines, go back to the Task tab’s Schedule section, and click Inactivate again. Potential Benefits of Inactivating Tasks There are many reasons, historical or otherwise, why you might want to use the Inactivate feature. You may wish to reduce scope or cut back on quality because you are over budget and/or missing deadlines. Or it may be helpful to create what-if scenario plans to evaluate alternatives in these uncertain times (Note: MSP has a Compare Projects feature found within the Report tab menu). In addition, you might want to inactivate change-request tasks waiting for approval until you need them. If the users or stakeholders happen to change their minds and revert to an earlier version or the original schedule, you can reactivate previously inactivated tasks in a snap. If you happen to have a large project plan with many Inactivate tasks, I would recommend saving paper and tired eyes by going to the View tab’s Data section and selecting the Filter feature, Active Tasks, which result in Inactivate tasks not being displayed or printed. What do you think? Do you find the Inactivate feature to be useful? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
MS Project: An Ever-Evolving Solution
From DOS to Windows 10 I started using Microsoft Project (MSP) in its earliest DOS beginnings around 1986, and it reminded me of Microsoft’s Excel. In other words, I initially felt Project was a subset of Excel. Project and Excel have something very much in common: every row is a single record, and when new versions are added, new fields are also added to each row, making the record longer along with adding new overall features. At the time, I really would have liked it if Microsoft had combined these two products because there were many Excel features that I wanted to use in Project. But let’s face facts: Microsoft is in the business of selling software, and they were not going to combine these two! I got to thinking about my history with the MSP the other day, and thought the software’s evolution might be an interesting topic to explore. First, let us look at the different MSP versions and some of their key features: MSP (version1 or V1) was released in 1984. Microsoft bought the all the rights in 1985, and released V2, V3, and V4 for DOS. V4 was the final DOS edition. MSP 3.0 was a significant upgrade occurring in 1990, and ran on Windows 3.0. It introduced many new features (for example: macros, toolbars, print preview, spell-checker, resource allocation review, and planning wizards). MSP 4.0 (16-bit version) was a 1994 upgrade, which ran on Windows 3.0 and subsequent versions (3.1 and 3.5). It was first iteration to use what we now think of as the common Office menu. Also included were right-click context menus, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming language, the calendar view, assign resources dialog, recurring tasks, and the ability to create reports. MSP 95 (V4.1) was an upgrade released in 1995. It was the first 32-bit version and was designed for Windows 95. It introduced Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) support, autocorrect, and answer wizard (like all Office 95 applications). MSP 98 was a significant upgrade (1997), and although it ran on Windows 95 still, it introduced Office Assistant, new view bar, AutoFilter, task splitting, Assignment Information dialog, Resource availability dates, new task types, Tracking Gantt and Resource Usage views, Web features, PERT analysis, resource contouring, effort-driven scheduling, and cross-project linking. Also, the ability to analyze time-scaled data in Excel and to save Excel pivot tables was a part of MSP 98. MSP 2000 was a system transition featured upgrade that ran on Windows 95 and 98. New features included ability to create personal Gantt charts, ability to apply filters, Autosave, task calendars, and the ability to create projects from templates. It introduced a project management server called Project Central using Microsoft SharePoint as its foundation. MSP 2002 was another system transition featured upgrade that ran on Windows XP, and for the first time, came in two editions. They were the Standard (less features) and the Professional (more features and the version required for Project Server 2002/portfolio management). This upgrade included task panes, safe mode, smart tags, import/export mapping wizards, and the ability to save multiple baselines. MSP 2003 was a minor upgrade, which contained SharePoint support and ran on Windows XP. It provided users with the ability to create charts in Visio, an add-in for comparing projects. Office Project Server 2003 also arrived at this time, although it was less than user-friendly. Next, we saw MSP 2007, a minor upgrade and the last to contain the menu bar and toolbars of Windows XP. Most of the new features were not overly exciting (for example, background cell highlighting and change highlighting), but MSP 2007 included new visual reports and the desktop OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) cube. Alongside this release, we also saw Office Project Server 2007, which was much more manageable/user-friendly that previously available. MSP 2010 was a significant upgrade, and the last to run on Windows XP. The new features included a ribbon interface that organized all the commands. Plus it was customizable with Excel-like column filtering, it introduced task modes (Auto Scheduled and the new default Manually Scheduled), and you could save your files using PDF and XPS formats. For MSP Professional, you had new features that included the Team Planner view, the Inactivate tasks feature, and SharePoint Task List integration that could be used with Project Server 2010. Inactivate tasks is an interesting feature because it allowed the user to experiment with project plans and perform a what-if analysis. At this point, we also saw Microsoft bring volume licensing activation. MSP 2013 ran on Windows 7 or 8. The biggest (and my favorite) change was replacing all the text reports with graphical reports. The report features included a lively mix of tables, charts, and textual content—and still do! In addition to these reports being highly customizable, I believe, this iteration helped to make MSP 100% truly its own product. One other important feature to note is the task path, allowing project managers to quickly identify Gantt bars of the selected task’s predecessors and successors. For MSP Professional, we saw Skype integration. The project server came in two flavors: Project Server 2013 and Project Online (a cloud version). MSP 2016 was a minor upgrade and the last to support Windows 7 and 8. One of the new features released here was timeline view updates, which meant you could display multiple timeline bars with custom date ranges. Of course, along with MSP 2016, we got the server upgrades of Project Server 2016 and Project Online. When MSP 2019 came along, it improved task linking and timeline view updates with more options. The Task Summary Name field was added, so you add a task’s immediate summary task name to different tables. Project Server 2019 included new timeline options, as well. MSP 2019 runs only under Windows 10. I’ll admit, I did not want to purchase MSP 2019 when it came out. I was happily using MSP 2013 Professional, and had little use for the new features, but I finally decided to take the plunge and buy it. I purchased MSP 2019 Professional for $1,030.00 plus tax for a grand total of $1,143.00 (the Standard Edition is $620 plus taxes). Immediately, I noticed some “freaky tweaks” that add zero value (and maybe even some confusion). For example, when you right-click a task, the short-cut menu box pops up, and the last item shown is “Linked” (this replaced Hyperlink). The user is taken to the expected Insert Hyperlink dialog box. I asked a Microsoft expert on why this change was made, and he told me Linked and Hyperlink are one in the same and it does not matter. This is basically true, but there is a difference. I discovered you can only have one Hyperlink per task, but you can have multiple Links for the same task or other tasks. For example, using the Insert button in the Notes area from the Task Information dialog box. My recommendation is if you have MSP 2013 or 2016, do not upgrade to MSP 2019. I feel it is exceedingly overpriced, and not worth the money. I am hoping; however, that the next MSP version upgrade will be a significant one. In fact, here are a few ideas on improving it that I have submitted through MSP feedback feature ( Go to File > Feedback > Send a Suggestion > Post a New Idea). Automated Workflows: When a task is completed, a notice or e-mail could be automatically sent out to team members that their next scheduled task(s) can start. This would help to improve productivity and could possibly be done easily by utilizing Power Automate (already used to create automatic processes and support day-to-day work). Portfolio Features: For starters, I’d like to see a new field called “Portfolio.” Furthermore, the ability to have a Portfolio project plan template that automatically calls in defined related projects would significantly save time. Excel Features: I’m an advocate for incorporating more Excel features! For example, Zoom to Selection, so that the selected range of cells fills the entire screen, and Freeze Panes, which freezes a portion of the sheet to keep it visible while you scroll through the rest. It would also be nice to have Page Layout, so that one could preview how the printed plan would look. What versions of MSP have you used? Have you upgraded to MSP 2019? What ideas would you like to see incorporated into the next version?
Timesavers
Saving Time with Tips, Keyboard Shortcuts, and Macros. Project has many data manipulation tools and ways to set up easy access to different commands. Implementing these shortcuts will allow you to work faster and with less mistakes. Also, it will give you the advantage of having better control over your work schedule. Let’s get started! Tips In your scope statement, make sure you clearly define what elements are not in your project’s scope to help you avoid scope creep, as it causes an increase to the financial plan and timetable of the project. If stakeholders decide they want an additional “pet deliverable” after your project has begun, they will have to decide whether the request is worth the price or should be moved to a follow-up project. Even if you are starting a new project, do not start it from scratch. Avoid reinventing the wheel! Your project might be a unique endeavor, but I am sure there are many similar projects that have the basic tasks you’ll need to use even if you will have to update the dates and resources. Templates (*.mpt) are often used as a basis for a new file (*.mpp) because they contain features that are common to many projects. Just edit the tasks, names, dates, and so on to fit your current project. Numerous pre-built templates come with Project to help you get your project started on the right track. You can find more templates online (for example, https://www.smartsheet.com/microsoft-project-templates). Note that Project has an option for specifying your template folder. Go to File > Options > Save to see saved template folders (Browse for more folders), as shown at the bottom of Table 1. From this location, you can find templates that you’ve previously created or downloaded. This may be helpful to other PMs in your organization. To save time and the drudgery of defining the same resources over and over, create a Resource Pool for resources you will be using on many different projects. Other PMs can use the same pool for their new projects. In Project, create a new file, and in the View tab’s Resource Views section, select Resource Sheet. Import your resources or fill in the information about your shared resources. When done, save the file with a name that makes sense (for example, Resource Pool). When you want to utilize, open the resource pool file first and then your regular project plan, which is now the active file. In the Resource assignment tab’s Assignment section, choose Resource Pool and Share Resources. Then, select the active resource pool file. It’s usually best to select Pool takes precedence because the resource pool has the final say about resource information (see Table 2). Then, click OK. Insert the Resource Names column, and, to select a name from that task cell, click the down arrow, turn on the checkbox for your chosen person(s), and press Enter. If you are jumping back-and-forth within a group of related projects or a portfolio, save time by inserting the projects into a master project (or consolidated file), so you have one place to go to do your updating. When you update the master file, it will automatically update sub-projects and vice versa. You will also be able to view the critical path for the entire master file (not by sub-projects), which will give you a better perspective for managing your entire portfolio. For more in-depth information on creating a master file, read my previous article. If you look in the upper left-hand corner of your Project screen, you will see the Quick Access Toolbar, which shows small buttons for Save, Undo, and Redo. Click the down arrow and the below box or table will show up. In this way, you can add a new command to your toolbar to save you time. A mark appears to the left of the commands that are currently on the toolbar. If you want to use the Print Preview command, for example, just click it to add it to your toolbar. If you click More Commands, you will be able to pick from more than 40 commands to put on your toolbar. Another approach for doing all this is by way of File > Options > Quick Access Toolbar. Add, remove, or reorder your most used commands to save yourself time and effort. Keyboard Shortcuts Project has over 60 keyboard shortcuts. The below list shows the most popular ones used. These should be at the top of your list to know and use, too! Some of the same shortcuts can be used in other Microsoft Office programs. You will likely have little use for and a hard time remembering the remaining keyboard shortcuts (for example, Remove all task dependencies from the selected tasks: Ctrl+Shift+F2), so focus on those shown in Table 4. Note: If you have a problem that Project Help (F1) can’t resolve, you should try Microsoft’s support website (https://support.microsoft.com) or use your favorite search engine to look for an answer. Type in the error message, number, and/or keywords that describe your problem. Macros Many activities that you perform in Project are repetitive (for example, showing the critical path or creating a weekly graphic image snapshot of a view to be shared with others). The series of steps for doing such tasks can be recorded in a macro. Macros are recorded using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is a built-in macro programming language for Project and other Microsoft products such as Excel. Macros save you time and reduce mistakes because you are not typing and clicking as much. Ok, let’s start with the process of recording. In the View tab’s Macros section, select Macros and then, Record Macro. A dialog box opens (see Table 5). In this example, I will show you how to view the Critical Tasks report. When you first see the default Macro Name, delete it, and put in a name (no spaces allowed, so put underscores (_) between words) that is meaningful to what you are recording. It’s nice to have a Shortcut key set up to automatically run your macro, but because most of the alphabet letters are used with the Ctrl key for Keyboard Shortcuts, only the letters A, E, J, L, M, Q, and T are available to use. You can Store macro in the Global file (global.mpt), so you can run it in any Project file or choose from the pull-down menu to save it only in This Project file, depending upon your needs. In most cases, go with the default Row and Column references. When finished, click OK (the dialog box will disappear) to start recording. When you’ve performed and recorded your steps, go to the View Tab’s Macros section, select Macros, and then Stop Recording. To run this macro later on, use the shortcut of Ctrl+Q. Alternatively, in the Macros dialog box (View Macros), select the macro you want (in this case it’s CriticalTasks), and click Run to see the Critical Tasks report in a second. In what ways do you save yourself time when working in MS Project? What shortcuts do you use? I’d like to hear from you in the comments below.