Author: Sai Prasad

B Sai Prasad, PMP®, PMI-SP®, MVP Project, Senior Manager - Learning & Development, has been with service provider Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd since 2001 where he was named winner of the company's Global Trainer of the Year award. He has spent 13,000-plus hours in mentoring, coaching, training 9000-plus practitioners on project management topics ranging from project management concepts, project risk management, project scheduling, Microsoft Office Project® to software estimation techniques. He is a Champion of Project Management from PMI India and also Associate Champion Advisory Committee, PMI India. He is awarded the Champion of the Quarter (Q4 – 2012) and Delivery Excellence Award (2011-2012, 2012-2013) from PMI India. He's also the editor of the project management book, Forecast Scheduling with Project 2010. He is a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) in Project 2010. He is the leader of the MPUG Chennai India Group to promote and help practitioners on how to effectively use Microsoft Office Project.

What’s new in Project 2016?

Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs): This Webinar is eligible for 1 PMI® PDU in the Technical category of the Talent Triangle. Event Description: Project 2016 includes significant updates to Project Professional, Project Pro for Office 365 and Project Online. Project 2016 delivers on some of the most requested capabilities: Resource Management, Resource Capacity Planning, Multiple Timelines, Tell me, Office add-ins, link tasks using drop-down and much more. In this webinar, Sai would walk you through on some of these features through examples and demonstrations. Presenter Info: Sai Prasad, PMP, PMI-SP, MVP Project B Sai Prasad, PMP®, PMI-SP®, MVP Project, Senior Manager – Learning & Development, has been with service provider Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd since 2001 where he was named winner of the company’s Global Trainer of the Year award. He has spent 13,000-plus hours in mentoring, coaching, training 9000-plus practitioners on project management topics ranging from project management concepts, project risk management, project scheduling, Microsoft Office Project® to software estimation techniques. He is a Champion of Project Management from PMI India and also Associate Champion Advisory Committee, PMI India. He is awarded the Champion of the Quarter (Q4 – 2012) and Delivery Excellence Award (2011-2012, 2012-2013) from PMI India. He’s also the editor of the project management book, Forecast Scheduling with Project 2010. He is a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) in Project 2010. He is the President of the MPUG India Chennai chapter to promote and help practitioners on how to effectively use Microsoft Office Project.   Have you watched this webinar recording? Tell MPUG viewers what you think! [WPCR_INSERT]

The New Project: Link Tasks on a Dropdown Menu

Want to learn what’s new in Project 2016? Join author Sai Prasad as he explores updates to the latest versions of Microsoft Project in this MPUG webinar now available on-demand. Microsoft Project calculates the task start and task finish based on many factors: calendar, constraints, predecessors, resources, lags. (Tip: If you want to see the factors affecting the current task, turn on the Task Inspector, as this Microsoft article explains.) Ever since its first version, Project has provided multiple ways to set the task dependencies — via Predecessors and Successors columns, through the Task Information dialog and in the Task form view: Predecessors and Successors columns in the Gantt Chart view Task Information dialog The Task form view Each of these options comes with benefits. In the first option, you type the IDs of the tasks the current task is dependent on in the Predecessors column and the same applies to Successor columns too. In the second option, you can see the dropdown with task names to choose the task the current task is dependent on and set multiple predecessors in the Task Information dialog. In the third option you can combine the Task form view with the current view to review as well as change the dependencies set. Any seasoned Project user might complain that the user interface for setting task dependencies far from intuitive. In option one, you need to type the correct task IDs in the Predecessors or Successors columns and review your work through a Relationship diagram or Network diagram. In options two and three the names in the dropdown are sorted alphabetically and not displayed in the order present in the plan. Another confusion this design adds is that when the plan has many tasks with the same name, there’s no way to know which task is part of which phase. In this example, I don’t know whether the first “Determine project scope” task is part of Scope Phase 1 or Scope Phase 2. However, rescue is at hand. A new feature was added to Project Online Desktop with the March 2017 version 1703 (Build 7967.2139) release. Thank you, Microsoft. Let’s review the improvements in this update by examining each option we’ve already covered but as it displays in the new release. Predecessors and Successors columns in the Gantt chart view The Task Information dialog The Task form view Under the new design when you select a cell in the Predecessors column and then click the down arrow, you’ll see a list of all the tasks in your project. The task hierarchy and order matches your project exactly, making it easy for you to scroll to the right task and then select the checkbox beside it. Ellen Lehnert has published an interesting article on why it’s not a best practice to link summary tasks within a work breakdown structure. The new design moves us a step closer towards avoiding this mistake. What do you think about it? Tell us in the comments below.  

Critical Thinking: The Art of Thinking Clearly and Rationally

We like or dislike people even before we know more about them. We quickly jump to conclusions because we give too much importance to the information that’s right in front of us. Why does this happen? Let’s find out. Our life is made of moments. Each moment is created by the choices we made. What we choose and what we reject tells who we are, where we want to go and what we do next. If we make a wrong choice, there is no going back to the precise moment when we began on that track. In this information overloaded world, we have to make quick decisions on which information to follow, pursue, believe or seek out in order to move in the right direction. Let’s try a test. Recall a recent conversation. Did you develop a quick belief about a situation and then seek out information to support that belief? Did you spend more time discussing only a few options? Were you too emotional during the discussion? Were you over-confident that your decision was right? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, there’s a high probability that your decision was illogical and unbiased and will eventually fail you. To improve your decision-making ability, you have to undertake the process of becoming a “critical thinker.” The first step is to overcome the common barriers to critical thinking such as confirmation bias (finding evidence to back your own thinking), heuristics (mental shortcuts) and framing (deciding based on how something is presented). Overcoming these obstacles requires you to become more curious — to want to know more, to be persistent, to challenge everything, to ask questions, and to tune into the answers you get. To bring this transformation, you need clarity on your goal and a desire to dig out the information that will help you understand the facts and assumptions. If the information isn’t sufficient or doubtful, then continue asking questions, what I call “powerful questions.” These powerful questions should make the other person think deeply and help you to get relevant and authentic information. (Of course, this means you have to be prepared for the dialog so that your questions are relevant.) Once you have the information required, draw a conclusion that includes your decision as well as its justification. So remember: The next time something makes you nervous, get curious.  Image Source 

Your Personal Assistant: Highlight Tasks Due this Week

In this article, I will focus on a very simple tip – How to highlight the tasks due this week every time the project plan is opened. Looks very simple and it is indeed, very simple! Click View tab. Click Macros dropdown and select Visual Basic In the editor, double click your current project on the left panel. Now change the object and procedure to “Project” and “Open”. This will include a private sub-routine which will be invoked when the file is opened Within this sub-routine, include the below script Close the editor, and close the project Open the project file, and Project will highlight the incomplete tasks that should be completed by this week.    

When Did You Revise the Estimates?

Every project starts with a rough estimate, and these are usually referred to as preliminary. As the project progresses, the actual task performance may be different from the initial estimate. This difference is called variance. On page 16 of PMI’s Practice Standard for Project Estimating the authors write, “Even though estimates are developed initially at the onset of a project, it is important to think of estimation as continuous activity throughout the project life cycle.” The important words here are “estimation as continuous activity.” In other words, estimates of current and future tasks should be validated and revised periodically. Is this feasible? Yes, provided the project manager applies his or her skills of observation and decision making. As the project progresses, the project manager should observe the following areas to measure efficiency and do research to identify the root cause: scope and technology, the team, and the process. With respect to scope and technology, the observations should be on its complexity, stability, support, and interoperability. Within the team, observe participants’ attitude, capability, motivation, and performance levels. In terms of process, the observations should be on identifying inconsistent, ineffective, and inefficient steps. The next logical step is to take actions based on the observations. First, revise the (time, cost, and resource) estimates. Second, publish the forecast. In Microsoft Project, use the Tracking table of the Detail Gantt view (in the View ribbon, Data group) to record the actual work progress. Also revise the forecast on the remaining amount of time, cost, and resources based on the actual performance. After revision, use the Variance table to measure the schedule slippage. Forecast the scheduled start and finish using the Entry table of the Detail Gantt view.  

How To Display Lag between Tasks in Your Gantt Chart

By default, the lag set between tasks is displayed in the Predecessor column of the Gantt chart view. Neither Microsoft Project 2007 nor Project 2010 has a separate field to display the lead or lag of specific tasks. You can display the lag as a separate field by following these steps: In Project 2007 choose Tools, Customize Fields. In Project 2010 choose Project ribbon | Custom Fields in the Properties group. In the Custom Fields dialog, select the Task radio button. Then choose the Type drop down and select Text. Select Text1 and click the Rename button. Change the name to “Lag” and choose OK. This will display “Lag (Text1).” Click the Formula button of Custom attributes, enter the following formula, and click OK:IIf(InStr([Predecessors],”+”)<>0, Mid([Predecessors],InStr([Predecessors],”+”),Len([Predecessors])), “”)You’ll get a warning message that existing data in the Lag field will be deleted because now all values will be calculated by the formula. Click OK. Insert a column with the Field name as Lag (Text1) in Project 2007 by choosing Insert | Column. In the Field name dropdown, choose Lag (Text1). In Project 2010, just right-click on the column next to which you want the new column added and choose Insert Column. Scroll down to Lag (Text1) and select it. You may be wondering about that formula I’ve asked you to enter. What does the code mean? For the purposes of illustration, let’s say the lag between Prepare and Review tasks is 1FS+2days (translated to: “The task is planned to Start with a lag time of two days after the Finish of its predecessor task”). The part of the code that specifies: InStr([Predecessors],”+”) returns the position of + in the [Predecessors] field. That’s four in the example shown in the screenshot. This code: Mid([Predecessors],InStr([Predecessors],”+”),Len([Predecessors])) extracts the text from + to the end of the string, which is “+2days.” If you want display the lag to the right or left of the task bar, follow these steps: In Project 2007 choose Format | Bar Styles. In Project 2010, choose Format ribbon | Bar Styles in the Bar Styles group. Select the rows in the top area that you want the lag displayed next to. Select the Text tab in the bottom and choose the dropdown for Left or Right. Select the field name Lag (Text1) and press OK.

The Case of the Broken Task in Microsoft Project

A few months ago, a colleague expressed concern to me that when a tasks duration was reduced, the start and finish dates for subsequent tasks weren’t reflecting the change. Figure 1: Here’s where we were… When the duration of the “Plan” task was reduced to one day, the “Build” task was still reflecting the old start date. Why? Figure 2: …but when we reduced Plan by a day, Build didn’t shift. To validate the completeness of the schedule, I asked three questions about the schedule: 1. Is the project schedule set up from project start date or project finish date? To find out, I opened the “Project Information” dialog box (Project | Project Information) and found that the project was scheduled from “Project Start date.” This was critical to know. If a project is scheduled from “Project Finish date,” then by default all the tasks would be scheduled “As late as possible.” Figure 3: Scheduling from project Start date. 2. Are the tasks properly linked to each other? I viewed the network diagram of the schedule (View | Network diagram) and found it was closed. The right critical path would be identified by project only if the dependencies between tasks were logical. Figure 4: A view of the links between tasks. 3. Are there any schedule constraints attached to the task? I checked out “Indicators” to find any constraints. Bingo! The task information for “Build” indicated a “Start No Earlier Than” constraint, which was set, preventing the task from starting earlier. Figure 5: The Indictators column provides clues about schedule constraints. Figure 6: A drill down on that task divulged the constraint. To solve the problem, I changed the “Constraint type” of “Build” task to “As Soon As Possible” and then checked to see if the schedule was now flexible. Yes, it was! Figure 7: Problem remedied. Lessons Learned I can extrapolate the solution provided in general to the following principles: Create a unique deliverable. Each task should create a verifiable, tangible deliverable. Set up a closed network diagram. All the tasks in a schedule expect the first and last task to have at least one predecessor and successor. Minimize date constraints. Add date constraint (Start-No-*, Finish-No-*) to a task only if it is dependent on a non-project activity outside the control of the project management team, such as approval of government order or software installation by vendor.

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