MS Project Time Management

MS Project Time Management Hints and Tips

First, let me remind you that managers are always writing ‘To-Do Lists’, and quite right too! But just making a list of (say) 10 actions that you need to take over the next few days, and then crossing them off as you carry them out, can lead to problems.

The first problem is that some of these tasks may change their priority during the day, with others new actions may arise, forcing you to re-prioritise your list, and…

…You did prioritise your list didn’t you?

No, sometimes I didn’t prioritise either; I just figured they were all important so I worked hard at getting all the tasks done as quickly as I could.

Any Time Management course will teach you to make two lists in the form of two columns; the first column is called “urgent” and the second column is titled “important”. As the theory goes, you should do all the urgent actions first and important actions second.

As an example, getting last week’s timesheet into the system is urgent and should be done first, even though preparing for your quarterly review with the boss is more important…

Okay, so how can Microsoft Project help? It fixes the following requirements:

Using MS Project Time Management

Let me show you how easy it is for Microsoft Project to act as a valuable Time Management Tool for you.

STEP ONE:

Open up a new file, and set todays date by selecting the Project Tab, and then the Project Information dialog box.

Enter in the list of actions/tasks that you need to carry out, for this example I have just named mine A, B, C, etc…

STEP TWO:

STEP THREE:

Using the duration column, enter your estimate of the elapsed time each task will take.

NOTE. If you wish to (say) enter the task duration of 2 hours, then type in ‘2h’. This task will then respect your project calendar settings (for example, finishing a task at 17:00, and completing the next day from (say) 09:00 when you turn up for work.

However, if you wish to use an ‘absolute hours’ approach when starting a particular task, then enter the duration as (say) 2eh. If your task starts at 16:30 in the afternoon and takes 3 hours, then the task will be scheduled to finish at 19:30 that same evening.

STEP FOUR:

This is the clever bit. Hover your mouse pointer over the header of the Start column so that you see a small downward pointing black arrow, right-click and choose Insert Column.

Then scroll down the Filed list and choose the ‘Priority’ Field.

You will have a new column called Priority and against each task it is set at ‘500’. You can enter any number between 1 and 1000. It does NOT matter what the precise number is that you enter, ONLY the difference between one number and another.

For example, if between two tasks, one had a priority of 600 and the other 610, then the higher number would schedule first. The idea here is to rank in terms of priority. As priorities change, you may over-write these numbers later.

STEP FIVE:

Select the Resource Tab, and Leveling Options.

Select the Minute by Minutes option, the Leveling order to Priority, Standard and un-check all the square button options.

Select the Level All button.

Your personal assignment asks have now been scheduled according to the project calendar and each task’s priority setting. Note that work on your tasks stop over the weekend. To proceed on a 7 day week, you will need to adjust your resource Calendars working hours (use the Resource Sheet view, double click on your name and use the Change Working Time button to adjust your working hours.

You can use the Start and Finish fields for each task to see when you can commence and complete each task.

I would suggest that you now sort the tasks by their start date so that you now have a top-down ordered task list. Do this by selecting the View Tab, and Sort By Start Date

Save the file to your PC, and print out your Gantt View for easy reference….

That’s it, you now have a method for helping you manage your time using Microsoft Project.

Just a final point: