Category: Best Practices

In the category Best Practices you will get introduced with ways of working that I’ve found to generate the best results. Most of these best practices are related to Microsoft Project and Project Online. But might sometimes cover more tools as well such as the Best tools for Project Managers series on TPC.

The content I write about is gathered from own experiences and things I read or hear about in the field. And it started all with a series you might want to start with called the 5 incorrect ways of using Microsoft Project Stand alone.

Take your time and soak in that Best Practices goodness. Then you will make sure you do not fall into traps others have already fallen into. Let me know if there’s a best practice you don’t agree to or if you have a practice of your own by reaching out to me in the comments.

Using predecessors in Summary tasks (flaw 6)

Hey People,

Let me start by thanking you for some of the great responses I got on my serries on incorrect way’s to use Microsoft Project stand alone version. Most people agreed on the flaws I noted in the series of blogs, and some had additions to the flaws.

I have picked a number of additional flaws, that I believe need to be discussed. Today I’ll post my thoughts on linking summary tasks. This flaw was suggested by Swagato Bandyopadhyay, thank you, I hope you like what I did with your suggestion. Continue reading Using predecessors in Summary tasks (flaw 6)

Not using the baseline functionality (flaw 5)

Hi there,

This is my last post in my series about incorrect way’s to use Microsoft Project stand alone version. In it I have discussed some of the common flaws people run into when using the Project application. This post will be about the baseline functionality, it is often forgotten or ignored by project managers. I will be talking about why you should want to have a baseline in your project. Again this is a very theoretical subject and you should always check with your company if there are any policies regarding baselining a project. Continue reading Not using the baseline functionality (flaw 5)

Too much detail in the schedule (flaw 4)

Hi there,

This is the fourth post in my series on incorrect use of Microsoft Project stand alone version. In my last post I talked about the lack of a Work Breakdown Structure, and this post will continue on that path. Please feel free to give your own insight on the subject because it is highly theoretical. Here goes!
Continue reading Too much detail in the schedule (flaw 4)

Lack of structure (Work Breakdown Structure) (flaw 3)

Hi there,

This is the third post in my series on incorrect use of Microsoft Project stand alone version. I hope you can relate to the situations I described so far and I hope you have learned some nice insights on the workings of MS Project. This post will be about structuring your project to an agreeable level. This structure is called a Work Breakdown Structure or WBS for short. Continue reading Lack of structure (Work Breakdown Structure) (flaw 3)

Capacity as Activity (flaw 2)

This is post number 2 in my series about incorrect use of Microsoft Project stand alone version. I started this series to get the most commonplace examples out in the world and help people understand Microsoft Project a little better. Once again, the images in these posts are build using the Microsoft Project 2013 Pro edition, but this series can be useful for all versions of the product. Continue reading Capacity as Activity (flaw 2)

Date related planning (flaw 1)

Hi there,

In my last post I announced 5 flaws that are common in using the stand alone version of Microsoft Project. Today I’m taking a closer look at “date related planning”.

So what is this flaw? Take a close look at this Gantt table, and more specifically the Indicators column (the blue i icon left to task mode):

Gantt table with calendars

Update 2018:

I started a YouTube channel in 2018. And on the channel I thought I’d add the incorrect ways of using Microsoft Project articles. It’s a new way of sharing the information that’s in this post and I hope you’ll enjoy:

 

Continue reading Date related planning (flaw 1)

Five incorrect way’s to use Microsoft Project stand alone version

Hi there,

As a consultant you come across a lot of different projects/companies/people. I’ve been doing this for 5+ years and there are some flaws that keep popping up, regardless of the company, project or person.

In this post I would like to announce 5 of these flaws, the next couple of blogs will be dedicated to explaining and subsequently solving the situation.

Here we go:

Flaw 1: Date related planning

Flaw 2: Capacity as activity

Flaw 3:Lack of structure (Work Breakdown Structure)

Flaw 4: To much detail in the schedule

Flaw 5: No way back! Not using the baseline functionality

Edit: 12 November 2013

I got some really great responses on the flaws mentioned above. And some people have suggested new flaws. I will post about these flaws as well and ad the links to this post to give you a complete overview.

Flaw 6: using predecessors in summary tasks

Flaw 7: What’s your status? Forgetting to set a status date

If you are done reading all the articles above here are two suggestions for more:

  • The TPC newsletter: a periodic newsletter with information about PPM and Project (management).
  • The TPC OneDrive: a place with valuable project content such as whitepapers and reports.