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Situation: You Don't Want the Complexity of a Full Blown PM Software Package...
ProjectSheet, TaskSheet, and TopSheet are really, really simple Excel-based project planning tools offered by Business Arts. Even today with literally 20 million MS Project licenses out there, MS Excel is often the line PM's scheduling tool of choice. It's not really built for that purpose, but "Accidental project managers" love it for its simplicity. The folks at Business Arts have ridden that wave and taken Excel one step further. As a Design Firm, they are highly focused on simplicity and ease of use, rather than high-end functionality. TopSheet is even a simple way to manage PPM efforts. Who's to say that's a bad thing?
Chris Barnes, President and Creative Director was kind enough to share his views with us today. Here are his responses to our questions.
ProjectSheet, TaskSheet, and TopSheet are really, really simple Excel-based project planning tools offered by Business Arts. Even today with literally 20 million MS Project licenses out there, MS Excel is often the line PM's scheduling tool of choice. It's not really built for that purpose, but "Accidental project managers" love it for its simplicity. The folks at Business Arts have ridden that wave and taken Excel one step further. As a Design Firm, they are highly focused on simplicity and ease of use, rather than high-end functionality. TopSheet is even a simple way to manage PPM efforts. Who's to say that's a bad thing?Chris Barnes, President and Creative Director was kind enough to share his views with us today. Here are his responses to our questions.
Q: Your products are incredibly simple and straightforward, which is certainly a strength in terms of usability. They appear to basically be Excel spreadsheets with simple embedded functions. Why would a user buy these rather than just use Excel from scratch? Are there complex functions that are not readily apparent?
A: ProjectSheet and TaskSheet offer the benefits of time and cost savings. Creating a custom solution from scratch takes time, and programming requires expertise that many casual Excel users don’t have. Also, we carefully designed the interface and output of our products to be attractive and readable, so users are free to concentrate on content rather than formatting.
Our products do contain several fairly sophisticated features like concurrency, task groups, and task-level weekend settings. Because we do not use add-ins or VBA, our tools do not require installation or trigger security alerts, so they can be deployed organization-wide with a minimum of hassle.
Q: Some say simplicity is key in the creative environments where you consult. Do you feel that is true and related to your product approach? With creative projects, which elements need to be kept simple and which get more complex?
A: Simplicity is key because it helps people focus on and engage with content. We believe strongly in that approach and used our best thinking to decide what not to include in our products.
One result is an interface that enables users to spend more time thinking about their project and less time learning software.
More importantly, our approach helps users communicate effectively about their project. ProjectSheet and TaskSheet schedules aren’t cluttered with distracting formatting or extraneous information; they purposefully focus the viewer’s attention on the flow of the project. Users can always add their own worksheets or other documentation to flesh-out project details as needed.
Even on our largest creative projects, we find that it is fairly easy to specify the tasks involved; it’s far more challenging to inspire a team to work together to pursue a common goal. Human interactions are complex; we think tools should be simple and effective.
Q: Is "planning backwards" a typical approach to building a plan in your experience? If so, why?
A: ‘Planning backwards’ is both a thought process and a calculation mode in ProjectSheet.
The ‘Backward from finish’ mode in ProjectSheet is helpful when working toward a fixed deadline like a tradeshow or other event, and helps users quickly answer the question, ‘When do we have to start in order to meet the deadline?’ As tasks and duration are entered, the project schedule is calculated backwards from the target finish date to identify the earliest date the project would have to start. Once the rough schedule is established, we recommend users switch to Forward from start mode to refine and manage the project plan.
As a thought process, planning a project backwards is reverse engineering: start with a vision of the end product and break it into component parts. This approach is both typical and useful, mainly because it is easier to start planning with the most tangible piece of information you have (i.e., what the project is intended to accomplish) rather than the nebulous, ‘How do I get started?’ But its true value lies in the fact that it helps you keep the project goal in sight at all times.
Posted on: March 27, 2007 11:20 PM |
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