Basic Project Management tutorial with MS Project
To get the most out of Microsoft Project we need to first understand some common terms because ambiguity can cause confusion later as we move through how to use Microsoft Project.
Ambiguity is perhaps one of the greatest causes of failure of projects. Ambiguity causes scope creep, missed deadlines, run-away costs, under/over utilization of resources, and others.
It’s your job as project manager to identify and eliminate ambiguities, otherwise your project plan is nothing more than a guess.
Let’s first look at what is and what is not a project. We’ll use the definition of project from the Project Management Institute, which is:
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.
A project is consider temporary since once the projects objectives are met,
the project team will break-up and go onto other projects. The goal of a project
is to create something new, or unique.
Elements of Project Management
All projects have three basic elements: tasks, resources and time.
These are interrelated and any change in one has an effect on the other two.
This is one area where Microsoft Project excels. Whenever you make any changes,
the affect of those changes will become instantly visible through Microsoft
Project’s graphical presentation of your project.
Think of tasks as individual pieces of work which need to be done. Some
typical tasks may include:
- Reports to management
- Pieces of code for an application
- Project definition documents
- Any small (or large) item that contributes to reaching the state goal of
the project
read more here
