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Microsoft Project Hall of Shame
Microsoft Project, like most other management tools, can be extremely beneficial, even indispensable, when used correctly. However, if used inappropriately, it can make a PM's life miserable. What constitutes a bad project plan? The following examples, although borderline silly, illustrate real-life project plans I've reviewed over the years. Read on to learn why these projects qualify for the Microsoft Project Hall Of Shame, and five golden rules to adhere to when planning projects.
The project manager who published the above plan wanted to specify that he required four resources to work for 52, 32, 19 and 5 days, respectively. What this PM failed to indicate is the task each person is actually working on. Statistically speaking, on day 39, Justin should be 75 percent complete. Unfortunately, since this plan doesn't list any deliverables and/or tasks, the PM will be unable to assess progress.
In this case, the project manager uses her project plan as a mere checklist. If, for example, your task consists of a single individual writing a specification document, you do not need to replicate the entire table of contents in your project plan. A "Write Specifications" task with a 15-day duration will suffice. This example seems harmless, but the actual project plan, which had an overall duration of only 72 days and four resources, tracked 242 separate tasks!
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"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire |