{"id":995,"date":"2008-04-30T16:38:57","date_gmt":"2008-04-30T16:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/2008\/04\/30\/less-is-more-how-to-not-get-trapped-under-microsoft-project\/"},"modified":"2019-08-07T14:35:23","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T21:35:23","slug":"less-is-more-how-to-not-get-trapped-under-microsoft-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=995","title":{"rendered":"Less is More: How to Not Get Trapped Under Microsoft Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do a quick search for project management jobs and you will usually find an emphasis on the ability to create and manage plans in Microsoft Project.\u00a0 Although nearly every project manager has used this tool before, it is frequently misused and misunderstood.\u00a0 This often leads to frustration and reversion to other methods of planning and tracking.<\/p>\n

Keep it Simple<\/strong> – How much do you really need to know about Microsoft Project?\u00a0 To get through your career as a project manager, not as much as you think.\u00a0 Perhaps a small fraction of the actual features.\u00a0 But how can you distinguish useful features vs time wasters which don’t add value?\u00a0 One effective answer is a combination of a hands-on course led by an instructor with real project management experience; and, a commitment of time to work with the tool using recommended best practices.<\/p>\n

Don’t get overwhelmed in detail.\u00a0 Complex project plans should be worked from the top down.\u00a0 Project managers can keep things manageable by only going into as much detail as necessary.\u00a0 Using your judgement on the areas of risk within a plan can streamline the information and help maintain sanity.<\/p>\n

Understand the Tool<\/strong> – Microsoft Project is not a complete project management tool.\u00a0 In fact, there are some key areas in the process where you might need to supplement the tool.\u00a0 The front end planning and requirements gathering steps are key areas where project managers need to come up with accurate and meaningful information.\u00a0 Project was not designed to effectively support these steps.\u00a0 However, with a little creativity and some third party plug-ins, this process can be easily achieved.<\/p>\n

Get more information on an upcoming Microsoft Project course at UCSC Extension in Silicon valley – Managing Projects with Microsoft Project.<\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Park
\nInstructor, UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do a quick search for project management jobs and you will usually find an emphasis on the ability to create […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[13,294,338,171],"class_list":["post-995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goals","category-miscellaneous","tag-career-development","tag-education","tag-project-management-tools","tag-training"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13968,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions\/13968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}