becoming a better project manager

an Project Management eBook

Becominga BetterProjectManager

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contentsThis content was adapted from Internet.com'sProject Manager Planet Web site. Contributors:Morris Panner, Michelle LaBrosse, Amy Zuckerman,Cynthia West, Will Kelly, and Jed Simms.

Becoming a Better Project Manager, an Internet.com Project Management eBook. © 2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

2 Five Steps to Becoming aStrategic Project ManagerMorris Panner

4 Overcoming Project JamsMichelle LaBrosse

7 Using ISO 9000 as aProject Management ToolAmy Zuckerman

9 Building ReusableProject TemplatesCynthia West

12 Reading GANTT Chartsfor Fun and ProfitWill Kelly

Becoming a Better Project Manager[ ]

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The fate of the project manager is not all that differentfrom that of IT — if we rewind the clock 10 or so years.It wasn't that long ago that upper management

thought of IT as something akin to an auto repair shop:These people have talent, the logic went, and they get thejob done, but we wouldn't consult with them for anythingbut repairs.

Fast-forward to the present:Today, it's hard to find a toporganization that doesn't have aCIO in the boardroom. IT is notjust a business tool, but a businessdriver and CIOs are every bit asvaluable as other C-level execu-tives.

This trend has had a trickle-downeffect. The middle managers in IThave more of a voice. They havethe proper channels to communi-cate through, so the daily insightscoming from people in the trench-es regarding security, Web traffic,new applications for collaboration,and new trends like Web 2.0make their way up the chain of command and influencethe organizational at a global level.

The same can be true for project managers and the

service professionals they lead. Bringing a project in ontime and under budget is a mechanic's way of thinking.Investing in lead generation, employee satisfaction,customer loyalty, up-sell opportunities, branding, andother broader organizational goals is how a strategicproject manager should examine each and every proj-

ect (and how project managerswill deliver bottom-line value tothe organization, of course).

Five Steps for ChangeThe first step is to change howyou think about projects. Projectmanagers must stop thinking ofprojects in a transactional sense,and begin thinking like upper-level managers. They have toextend their core leadership skillsand start building data communi-cation skills. We all know greatPMs create great teams. Theirstock in trade is leadership. Theybring people together to achievegreat things.

These are critical skills, but to joinupper-level management, these are table stakes.Organizational management involves something more.It requires that managers abstract the data needed to

2 Becoming a Better Project Manager, an Internet.com Project Management eBook. © 2008, Jupitermedia Corp.


Five Steps to Becoming aStrategic Project Manager

By Morris Panner

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IT is not just a business tool, but a business driver and CIOs areevery bit as valuable as other C-level executives.

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drive executive decision making from the more basictactical considerations. This is what IT did to breakdown the boardroom door. The first CIOs bridged thebusiness-technology divide and convinced upper man-agement to invest in them.

Tactical victories were translated into the language ofstrategic corporate governance. The first CIOs showedhow IT tied into profit and loss. They showed how eachtechnology project impacted the organization's bottomline. If you want to make an impact in the boardroomand influence the direction of your company, you'llneed to follow a similar path.

The second step, then, is to invest the time in under-standing organizational financials. This is more complexthan simply subtracting payment received from timeplus resources spent. There is no question that runninga profitable project is a prerequisite to success. Butthere is more. The impact to the bottom line involvesthings like lead generation, client loyalty, up-sell oppor-tunities, marketing, and branding, and more.

Step three is to go negative — but turn those nega-tives to your advantage. Each and every project man-ager has met the project "from hell." You probablyhave several of these under your belt. These are proj-ects that seem beneficial because they generate rev-enue, but once you dig into the nitty-gritty details, theydon't look so good.

A high-profile project is often a mirage. On the surfaceit looks like a profit center, due to the high-dollar rev-enue it generates, but are we blinded by dollar signs?If we dig into the metrics, looking at the time andresources we have to devote to the project, does it stilllooks so good? What about when you account for theopportunity cost of passing on other projects? Thedevil is in the details, and those details often turn themirage of the high-profile project back to sand.

This may seem like basic accounting and business man-agement, but since services are so notoriously difficultto measure, it's anything but basic. The organizationneeds to be made aware of this. Is there a pattern tothese projects? Are there customers you just mightneed to walk away from? Is there a way to change thespecifics of the under-performing project so it doesn'tdrag you under?

The fourth step is to make the role of project managera go-to position in your organization. This was a criticalstep for getting IT managers out of the shop and intothe boardroom. Every knowledge worker in the organi-zation has to turn to IT for help at some time, and thereputation of IT benefits. Put simply: the organizationcan't live without IT.

With this in mind, your sites should be set beyond theboardroom. PMs need to have a voice within the salesand marketing teams. Although the relationshipbetween projects and sales is a column in and of itself,suffice it to say that there is ample reason and opportu-nity to work closely with sales to drive opportunity forthe whole organization.

The strategic PM can also act as an early warning sys-tem for the product and service teams. As customerproblems are addressed and solved, these experiencesshould influence future product releases and servicedelivery.

The final step is to make the board aware of you andyour strategic importance. Just as IT managers had toconvince organizations that they were more than tooljockeys and troubleshooters, you will need to commu-nicate your strategic value.

Externally, each and every service project is linked toopportunities. Internally, the completion of every proj-ect and the reports it generates is an opportunity foryou to highlight your strategic value. If upper manage-ment isn't aware of this and if complementary teams(such as sales and marketing) aren't brought in to closeon those opportunities, the opportunities are wasted.

As an obvious example, think about the best form ofmarketing: word of mouth. Do you have a way tomeasure when existing clients refer you to new ones?Do you make upper management aware of how you'veturned one-time customers into repeat ones? Have youoffered insight into what types of small projects lead torepeat engagements?

When you have, you'll be well on your way to filling astrategic role in your organization. �



We all have a need for speed when it comes to hit-ting our deadlines. If you ever find yourself in aproject jam wondering how to unclog it, you're

not alone. While there is no magic formula, there are severalways that you can get your project moving again and regainany lost momentum.

The first step is to set up the project correctly so that itis built for speed and efficacy.This means getting the teamaligned on what is required todo the project: setting up theproject agreement and proj-ect plan together, and thenagreeing on the overall proj-ect priorities.

Once a project is in motion,there are many things that canslow it down. Here are themost common project jams towatch for and tips for tips fordealing with them:

Feature CreepThis is the monster that we all fight in every industry.We want to make things better, but instead the act ofcontinuing down the road can make things worse.

There comes a time in every project when it's time tosilence the engineer in your head and finish the project.

To make decisions about suggested feature changes,we use what is called a change impact matrix. We alsofreeze the design of the product or service, includingthe set of features, at a specified time in the project.The earlier this is done, the faster your project willmove. Save your future feature ideas as upgrade possi-

bilities for later versions ofthe product or service.

Changes andDetoursLet's face it, things happen.Customers change theirminds about what theythought they wanted, mar-ket forces change, newthreats and opportunitiesarise that make the goals ofthe project obsolete, andnew priorities surface. All ofthese changes pull money

and resources away from a project.

When a project is directed by the project agreement,project changes often mean a re-launch of the project.



Overcoming Project Jams

By Michelle LaBrosse

When a project is directed by the project agreement, project changesoften mean a re-launch of the project.

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In my experience, it's better to spend half a day re-launching the project based on the new project agree-ment then to create a final deliverable that no onewants, or to attempt to complete a project with inade-quate resources and lack of support from the projectsponsor.

When you're developing a new project plan from thenew project agreement, you may also be able to usethe interim deliverables you've already created for thenew project, ultimately shortening the project cycletime for the new project.

Dysfunctional TeamsAn inability to work together toward a common goalcomes from lack of commitment, lack of interaction,and a lack of interest in constructively resolving conflict.Many projects also lose and gain people during theexecution of the project. When this happens, it isimportant that the team spend a half hour togetherdeveloping their new team guidelines and meetingprotocols.

With any new people joining the team, it becomes anew team. Re-developing your guidelines and proto-cols is done for the same reason it is done initially — tofacilitate working relationships, to create a way to posi-tively interact, and to prevent destructive conflict.

Lack of FocusWhen team members have to work on multiple proj-ects or multiple tasks within the same project, there is atendency to multitask. People work quickly and effi-ciently when they work on one task to its completion,and don't juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. If peo-ple are working on multiple projects, it's best if they setaside blocks of time to focus on one task at a time.

Overzealous Time ManagementSure, people are capable of doing the occasionalmarathon week to complete a project. If this becomesroutine, however, they will find ways to get out of workresponsibilities during the workday. We all need to takecare of our basic living needs, such as dentist appoint-ments, grocery shopping, and so on. We also have aneed for socialization, connection with family, and timeto relax and unwind.


Becoming a Better Project Manager[ ]What Should You Expectfrom Your ProjectLeadership Team?By Jed Simms

You're a team, working together to deliver theproject's business outcomes. If you can't trusteach other you won't succeed.

You need to be able to trust your team's competency,honesty, and loyalty. They'll do what they said they'ddo, on time and to the required quality. Their wordis their bond, and you can trust their reporting.Once a decision is made or a direction agreed, thedebate is over and they'll overtly support it and nottry to undermine it behind the scenes.

A prerequisite to expecting trustworthiness fromyour project leadership team is to be trustworthyyourself. (Those who don't trust others are usuallyuntrustworthy.) But you need to set the groundrules with your team upfront.

Competency. Tell them, "You have a specific role toplay and I won't second guess you as long as youperform. I'll be there to support you. But, if thingsstart to go wrong and you don't put your hand up forhelp; I'll be down on you like a ton of bricks."

Make not asking for help a capital crime!

Honesty. Tell them: "I want to know the truth, wartsand all. Not the cleaned up version or the almostright version. If you haven't finished a task, butexpect to finish it tomorrow, then you haven't fin-ished. Don't gloss over the edges, the minor prob-lems, and the slight delays. We're all in this togeth-er, so let us all know how things really are. Projectsgo off-the-rails one degree at a time. We all need toknow every degree or degree of a degree we'readrift."

Make dishonest reporting a capital crime!

Loyalty. You don't want "yes-men"(or women)around you; that's fatal. Equally, you must be honestand openly welcome debate and prepared to changeyour mind. So, when issues, challenges, options,and opportunities arise you want a full and sensibledebate — no personalities, just professional argu-ment. Then tell them:

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If people are too over-scheduled because of projectwork, they will create ways to take care of their respon-sibilities while they are doing their project work. Thenext thing that will happen is they will get furtherbehind, necessitating more over-scheduling. The bestway to prevent this from happening is letting the teammembers create a schedule that they can do in a nor-mal workweek. If things get in a crunch, do not requirepeople to work more than one extended workweek ata time. This keeps the project moving along. If extend-ed hours do become necessary, it's better if teammembers take turns during the crunch.

Inefficient Business ProcessesIt's the job of the project sponsor to knock down barri-ers so that the project team can work fast and efficient-ly. If the team gets stuck mucking through the bureau-cratic maze to complete their interim deliverables, itwill slow down the project and cause frustration due totheir wasted time and effort. When the project sponsoridentifies bureaucratic time wasters and gets rid ofthem, the entire team will operate more effectively.

Chaotic Work EnvironmentsHow long does it take you to find the information youneed to get your job done? Office clutter, on your deskand on your computer, slows down project work. It isalso distracting and causes multi-tasking.

Are You "5-S" Compliant?To keep your work productive it is a good idea to havea 5-S event with the team, both at the beginning of theproject and as part of the project status reports. A 5-Sevent is a technique adopted from the Japanese quali-ty movement and it has been used effectively aroundthe world to increase productivity.

The 5-S approach stands for:

• Sort: Only have items in your work area that you useon a daily basis. Everything else gets put away in itsplace. Create filing systems for quick retrieval for bothpaper and electronic based information.

• Straighten: Have a designated place for all moveableitems, such as desktop organizers. Everything is labeledin macro-work areas, and there is a logical workflow for

shared office machines, such as copiers and printers.

• Shine: Everything in the area looks like new condi-tion and operates perfectly. Recycle bins and wastebaskets are emptied nightly.

• Standardize: This includes visual controls for com-mon areas, such as how to use the copier, and wallplanning calendars.

• Sustain: Have a daily and weekly system to keep upwith the improvements that you have made.

Know Before You GoBefore you start your next project, take the time to cre-ate your project plan, so you know where you're going.Once the project is in motion, continue to do realitychecks along the way to see if any project jams areslowing you down. When you're tuned in, you can finetune along the way before you've lost too much time.When you unclog your project jams, you put your proj-ect pedal to the medal. �


Becoming a Better Project Manager[ ]"But once we've agreed, that's it. Debate over. Weare all agreed. It can be hard when the project lead-ership team takes decisions you fundamentally dis-agree with, but you're either on the team or not. Youneed to follow the party line and not make com-ments to your staff like, 'Of course, I think this isstupid.' You must support and work with the agreeddecision.

"If you think the decision is fatally wrong we'll takeit to the sponsor. If you're still concerned with theescalated decision, then maybe you should not bepart of the team anymore."

Having the escalation process to the sponsor allowscritical issues to be aired thoroughly and to avoid"group think." However, if a team leader is seekingweekly escalations, they probably don't fit on theteam. (Just be sure they're not right!)

Make disloyalty a capital crime.

If you give and receive full competency, honestyand loyalty you are a long way towards a successfuland well-run project. Even if you get a little toomuch honesty at times, at least you'll know whereyou stand. �

Back in the early 1990s you couldn't attend a tradeshow or open a business publication without encoun-tering the term "ISO 9000" blaring at you in gold

emblazoned letters.

American companies talked about this internationalquality standard, which wasbeing pushed hard inEurope, with a combinationof fear and loathing. Forthose early birds who hadmastered the process andcould hang ISO 9000 ontheir building, the processwas touted as almost holy;something not to be ques-tioned.

In reality, ISO 9000 neverlived up to its early hype asthe pathway to uniting aglobal economy. Companies with ISO 9000 certificationwere supposed to be able to provide an imprimatur ofquality, and therefore be considered reliable candidatesfor business from Bangladesh to Turkey.

Early on, many quality experts from Tom Peters to thehead of quality for Motorola Corp. (not to mention

Scott Adams, the author of the "Dilbert" comic strip)rejected ISO 9000 as a mere benchmarking tool thatwould recognize cement life preservers as long as theywere built consistently. The U.S. auto industry was sowary of foreign registrars that it created its own stan-dard, QS 9000, and its own certification/registration

rules.

The revised versions of ISO9000 (1994 and 2000)changed the focus frompassing a number of ele-ments to continuousimprovement and customersatisfaction. Process wassupposed to become king.Companies organized theiremployees to properlygather the documentation,which would lead to build-ing what's called a quality

management system (QMS), and started to experimentwith using these tools for other purposes.

For example, Cliff Weeks of the former head of Qualityat Sunstrand Corp., found that ISO 9000 was a greatway of organizing employees from the bottom up, andcould be applied to gathering all sorts of useful infor-



Using ISO 9000 as aProject Management Tool

By Amy Zuckerman

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The revised versions of ISO 9000 (1994 and 2000) changed the focus frompassing a number of elements to continuous improvement and customer

satisfaction. Process was supposed to become king.

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mation from the shop floor to accounting. Besideswhich, it could provide a framework for managing anynumber of projects that required large-scale employeeinput and involvement such as technology deploy-ments.

Making It BetterThis year, the standard — actually a suite of standardsto be applied to different types of enterprises — isheading for revision again. Roger Frost, head of publicrelations for the International Organization forStandardization (ISO) in Geneva, Switzerland, the stan-dard's publisher, said the updates of ISO 9000 to bepublished in August 2008 and later in the fall shouldinclude "explicit requirements for achieving customersatisfaction and continual improvement; more logicalstructure; an approach based on managing organiza-tional processes, and is easier to use for service sectorand small businesses…"

In general, those who work the ISO 9000 turf believethe standard is evolving in ways that make it very usefulfor a variety of purposes. Project managers don't haveto be interested in actually earning ISO 9000 certifica-tion for them to glean use from the process.

For example, Reg Blake, vice president for corporatedevelopment and regulatory affairs at BSI ManagementSystems, America in Herndon, Va. — the U.S. arm ofone of the biggest ISO 9000 global registrars — haslong decried those who ignore the standard's "focuson continuous improvement." Yes, he's in the businessof luring companies to pass the ISO 9000 test, yet haslong wanted to see customers derive more from theexperience than a sign on their building.

Blake cites the ISO 9000 "Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDAC)"cycle as particularly useful as a tool for measuring notonly the ISO 9000 process, but any project a companywants to tackle. PDAC provides a means of measuringthe process. Without this step "you won't know theheck what's going on," he said.

"Throughout the process there are lots of inputs andoutputs; lots of opportunities and chances to check theprocesses and see if it is functioning and measuring itcorrectly. A process is just a subset. Any stage offers achance for testing and benchmarking."

The Truth About ISO 9000Blake argues that ISO 9000 isn't just about outlining anumber of steps that correlate with activities and thenfollowing a checklist. "Structure, ownership (from theshop floor to senior management), and commitmentare things it brings as part of the process." ISO 9000provides a structure to ensure a company has the rightresources in place to support whatever it chooses toaccomplish.

That's what Karen Miklic, senior vice president atPackard Transport, a trucking and logistics providerbased in Channahon, Ill., has been learning. Certifiedto ISO 9000 since 1998 because of customer demand,she's finding that ISO 9000 is a great tool for managingall sorts of projects. These range from transferring volu-minous amount of data companywide to a database foranalysis to creation of an internal auditing team thatnot only tracks the sort of corrective actions required toearn ISO 9000 certification, but also focus on makingimprovements outside the realm of the company'squality system.

Packard doesn't have employees who wear the titleproject manager, but Miklic said those who drive proj-ect work at Packard have adopted ISO 9000 auditingpractices as a tool for analyzing and adjusting theirapproaches to project work.

"It's led to leveraging all types of IT solutions that haveemerged from our exploring our processes during theISO 9000 process," she said. "So, for example, alertshave been built into software to help dispatchers andbilling people with data accuracy."

Dan Nelson, an ISO 9000 consultant based in Denver,agrees that although ISO 9000 was not intended as atool for general project management, it could be usedthat way depending on how a company's "quality man-agement system is structured and defined." �



As we all know, the Project Management Institute (PMI)definition of a project is a "[t]emporary endeavorundertaken to create a unique product, service, or

result." By definition a project is unique, meaning that notwo are exactly alike. However, most organizations haveprojects that they repeat on amonthly, quarterly, or even morefrequent basis. For these efforts,it makes sense to create a proj-ect template.

To create a good projecttemplate, get your teamtogether in a meeting roomor virtual conference call, andencourage participation. Thepurpose of this meeting is togather all of the tasks or workthat the project requires.Each participant may havevaluable information to add,which is why you want all team players involved. Plus, ifyou build a project schedule with everyone's input, youwill earn more "buy-in."

Activities or TasksWrite down all of the individual tasks on sticky notesand place them on a white board or wall. Initially, do

not worry about the task order just get all of therequired steps down. Once the team is satisfied theyhave listed all the activities or tasks that will compriseyour project, you can create the order or work break-down structure (WBS). Do this by putting the sticky

notes in outline format onthe white board. It is helpfulto use a work breakdownstructure (WBS) format,which is like an outline for-mat for your project tasks.For example:

1.02.03.0

3.13.1.13.1.2

3.23.3

Group your tasks under appropriate umbrella or sum-mary tasks. Once you have ordered your tasks and theteam agrees to the order and structure, you shouldthen ask to what level do we want to manage thework? Some teams outline every miniscule task butthen decide they do not want to manage at that levelof detail. This seems particularly true of fast-paced



Building Reusable Project Templates

By Cynthia West

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To create a good project template, get your team together in a meetingroom or virtual conference call, and encourage participation. The purpose of

this meeting is to gather all of the tasks or work that the project requires.

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environments. The faster the pace, the higher level theteam should manage the work. Otherwise, the teamwill rapidly get bogged down in updating tasks, ratherthan performing work.

Once the above is complete, you can build the tasksinto a formal schedule, using either Microsoft Projectdesktop or enterprise project management solution.

Resource Types or Skill SetsThe next step is to associate the appropriate skill set orresource type with each task or activity in your WBS.Because you may vary the actual resources you end upassigning to tasks, a good template is built withresource types in them so you can make assignmentsat the last minute.

If you do not have a standard list of skill sets requiredfor your projects, you would first need to build consen-sus on what that list should contain. Once the list ofskill sets is agreed upon, then you may associate eachtask with a skill set. The value of associating tasks withskill sets is when you turn to forecast your resourceneeds, you will know what types of resources yourequire prior to making assignments.

Duration and WorkThe next step is to decide how much time in days eachtask should take. This is called duration, or the totaltimeframe given from start to finish. This is distin-guished from the work or effort of a task. For example,a task might take eight hours to complete, but aresource may be given five working days to completethe work.

Once approximate duration is given to each task, thenmove to adding in the amount of work or effort eachactivity requires. It is always a good idea to pad theestimates a bit, but not too much, so you build a bufferinto your template. Adjustments may be made laterdepending on the seniority of the ultimate resourceassigned and the like.

DependenciesYour template will require task dependencies as well.Project tasks are best managed as a network of interde-pendent tasks requiring accurate duration estimates asthe basis for project planning. Dates should be calcu-


Becoming a Better Project Manager[ ]ManagingInformation OverloadBy Michelle LaBrosse

Weresearched and developed a number ofdifferent techniques to help our projectmanagement students speed up assimila-

tion and retention of information as they prepare topass the PMP exam. After the exam, many studentse-mailed us to say these techniques also help themat work and at home to manage projects and theinformation overload in their lives.

You can experiment with these techniques to speedup the way you do your projects or even to reducestress due to information. The six key techniquesfor fast retrieval of information are (in no particularorder):

1. Color, Size and Shape coding2. Keyword identification3. Mind mapping4. Timed reading in short bursts5. Storytelling6. Repetitive practice

Color, Size and Shape CodingWhen you color code various elements of a projectplan, it makes it very quick and easy to see who hasto do what, when. You can also use size and shapecoding for even further differentiation. The visualdisplay and sharing of information between theproject team members improves communicationand shared understanding of the project work, proj-ect progress and project dependencies.

The Power of KeywordsKeywords trigger your instant recall. When you'rereading any kind of written material, look for thekeywords to help you remember key ideas or con-cepts. Similarly, when you're writing material forothers to read, make sure you have embedded key-words that capture what you want people to takeaway from your communication.

Mind MappingUse mind mapping to help you remember key ideasor concepts by using a visual diagram like the onebelow. Mind maps can also help you to organizeyour project work and the key deliverables.

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lated based on the relationships of the tasks and theduration of the tasks that must be completed for thesuccessful completion of the project as a whole.

The following are the basic task types:

• Finish-to-start• Start-to-start• Finish-to-finish• Start-to-finish

Once these dependencies are defined in the projectschedule, they may be displayed in a GANTT chart.

BudgetsIf you are planning to track labor costs and/or fixedcosts, you will need to input a general budget into yourtemplate as well. Stay as generic as possible with yourfigures so that you may copy over as many budgetedtasks as possible. Naturally, you will need to review alldata in your template upon launching an actual project.

ConclusionAfter completing all these steps, you should have adecent project template that you and your projectteam can re-use for similar projects or efforts. If youtake the time to create a complete template, this willsave you a lot of time moving forward when launchingprojects of a similar nature. Remember to include allteam participants in the planning stages and to havefun. �



Timed ReadingFrom e-mails and reports to trade publications andhow-to manuals, we are reading and learning all daylong. If you're like most knowledge workers, youoften have a lot of material to review in a short peri-od of time. Give yourself a specific amount of timeto read the material you have to read and createuninterrupted space and time for 15 to 20 minuteincrements. This will increase your ability to con-centrate on that material and remember it better.Storytelling

People not only like stories, but stories are powerfulmemory tools. Write stories that evoke visualimagery and give people visual cues that will keythem into the points you want them to understand.

RepetitionRepetition improves memory. In advertising, themaxim is that people need to see an ad eight timesbefore they will remember it. For the key points youwant to convey to people on your project times, findat least three different ways to convey them, anddescribe those three ways at least three times.

When you're having one of those days when you feeloverwhelmed by all the information flying out you,try one of these six techniques and bring your bloodpressure down and your memory retention up. �

Let's face it, brevity isn't one of the GANTT chart's strongsuits and one of the format's chief limitations is thesheer size it requires to communicate project informa-

tion. It's not uncommon for the GANTT chart behind theschedule of a multiple month long project to cover tens of 8½" x 11" pages sometimes spanningthe average cubicle or office wall.Controlling the page count of aGANTT chart can leave you with ahardcopy print out with such minisculetype you can't read it.

This article offers up some advicehow you can best read GANTTcharts and some measures yourorganization can put into place tomake your GANTT charts morereadable to all audiences that maybe tracking a project throughout itslifecycle.

Many usability pundits haveattacked the GANTT format decry-ing that its use can lead to a com-munications breakdown, so youneed to leverage Microsoft Project as an applicationthat best communicates project status to your projectteam, stake holders, and executive sponsors.

You shouldn't dismiss the visual aspects of GANTTcharts because there are people who get a lot fromsuch a representation of a project schedule. However,it's easy to find yourself on a team where this is far fromthe case, which means you need to know the views and

limitations of Microsoft Project,Primavera, or any other projectmanagement application you havein place to track your project.

Breaking Down aGANTTMy best advice for reading aGANTT chart is to first break itdown and not try to read thewhole thing. In the case ofMicrosoft Project 2003 and Project2007, you should first focus on theleft side of the GANTT chart. Themost important columns thatencapsulate the current state ofthe project are as follows:

• Task Name, which lists the nameof the task• Duration, which tracks the duration of a given task inhours or days• Start, listing the start date of the given task.



Reading GANTT Charts for Fun and Profit

By Will Kelly

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My best advice for reading a GANTT chart is to first break it downand not try to read the whole thing.

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• Finish, listing the finish date of the given task.• Predecessors, documenting the predecessor to thegiven task• Resource Names, listing the resource name(s) for thegiven task

You can run an entire project schedule review sessionfrom just these columns without ever having to ventureinto the GANTT chart itself. In fact, I've gotten a lot ofmileage in the past with clients and project teams with-out ever having to resort to the GANTT chart itself byworking only with the columns mentioned above.

Delving into the GANTT chart itself is like reading a barchart — just one thatstretches out for pagesupon pages. Here aresome graphical elementsyou need to know whenperusing a GANTT chartto get the current statuson a project:

• Project tasks are a com-mon element in allGANTT charts and are thebasic building blocks of any project schedule.

• Project Subtasks are a best practice when creating aGANTT chart so you can flesh out any large tasks intosubtasks by entering the overall task and then enteringsubtasks.

• Task links illustrate interrelationships between tasks.

• Summaries appear when you mouse over a task orsubtask and provide a text summary of the project taskor subtask.

• Milestones document important project milestoneslike release dates.

Other ViewsMany users of Microsoft Project and other leading proj-ect management applications never realize the fullpotential of the reporting capabilities. These enableyou to create hardcopy or electronic reports in multipleformats you can send to stakeholders or post on aninternal Web site. In particular, Microsoft Office Project

2003 and Microsoft Office Project 2007 enable you tochange up views so you can forgo the GANTT chartentirely.

Both versions of Project include the following viewsavailable from the View menu:

• The Calendar View is a traditional calendar view ofproject tasks and probably the most palatableMicrosoft Project views.

• The Network Diagram view might actually be moredaunting and confusing than the GANTT chart view,however it does a show the interrelationships between

project tasks.

• The Task Usage view dis-plays the hours appointedto each task in the projectschedule.

• The Tracking GANTTchart can be just as con-fusing as the GANTT chartto begin with so skip it.

Project 2003 does include other views but they delvemore into resource management versus overall projecttasks. The good news is the tips in this article are alsogoing to apply to other leading project managementapplications like Primavera P6 and OmniGroupOmniPlan.

While the GANTT chart might be the standard formatfor project managers and PMOs (Project ManagementOffices) they may not be the ideal communicationsmedium for project information to project team mem-bers, stakeholders, and even executive sponsors. Thusit's important that all GANTT chart readers know how tobreak down a GANTT to retrieve critical information.You also need to know how you can best exercise viewsin your project management application to communi-cate the status of the projects in your project portfolio.�

This content was adapted from Internet.com's ProjectManager Planet Web site. Contributors: Morris Panner,Michelle LaBrosse, Amy Zuckerman, Cynthia West, WillKelly, and Jed Simms.



You can run an entire projectschedule review session from just

these columns without everhaving to venture into the

GANTT chart itself.

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