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SPEAKER: So some challenges to project management
include breaking down complex tasks,
prioritizing multiple deadlines, working
with several collaborators, maintaining a team's
motivation, navigating long-term goals,
and keeping stakeholders informed.
You may have managed these kinds of challenges before.
And if you've taken our little workshop,
you may have already developed strategies using digital tools,
like project plans and shared drive folders.
Today, though, we're going to focus mostly
on tracking a project while you're actually working on it.
So tracking a project is a major part of making it successful.
If you're working on a long-term project with a team,
you might already have a good idea
of your goals or your milestones and deliverables.
So let's talk about one of the most important phases
of project management, tracking your progress.
To track a project, you ask, what
are the tasks that need to get done, by when, right,
and who is in charge of these tasks.
First, I'll open a basic project tracker,
like the one you might already have in progress.
The image on this side shows a completed project tracking
spreadsheet.
And next, I'll show you some spreadsheet tools
you can use to manage a project, including
linking relevant resources to your spreadsheet,
sorting and filtering the spreadsheet to help you easily
find information you need, even creating dropdown
lists with using data validation,
applying conditional formatting to color code
the status of your tasks, and even collaborating
with your team.
So the image on the right actually
shows a computer screen containing a basic project
tracker.
That contains categories for task, status, start
and due dates, some notes, and a completion field.
To use the skills I demonstrate today,
you should start from a project tracker you already
have in progress, like this one you see here.
But if you don't already have a tracker,
feel free to just follow along and apply the skills
and concepts later on.
To get started, you would open your project tracker
and review the categories in the first row of your spreadsheet
or the row that basically contains our headings.
This spreadsheet includes some basic categories.
So like I said before, we have our task, status--
which is simply the progress of those tasks--
the date the task started, the date the task is actually due,
the owner of the task who is the person
is actually responsible for that task, a column for notes
to record that additional information related
to each task, and a column that shows when the task is
complete-- simple checkbox.
These categories are the major aspects of your project
that you will update and track.
You may have already started to fill in the sheet with tasks
and other relevant details.
I'll talk you through the process
briefly now in case you're starting from the beginning.
All right, so as you move forward with your project,
you fill your spreadsheet with the information
you need to manage.
The image on the right actually shows a project tracker
with information that's typed in.
List at least five tasks that need
to be completed for this project to meet its goals.
Listing these tasks can help you break your project
into large components.
And then you can take those and break those into smaller ones.
Then, make your tracker more specific.
Enter the name of the task owners,
remember, the person that's responsible for each task
in each appropriate column.
Now, you can use this column to keep
track of a task you're assigned and easily gauge how much work
each team member has to do.
So you can actually balance the load
by seeing someone's name too many times.
Finally, list at least a couple, few dates.
You can record the date when you start the task
and then when you plan to finish it.
And of course, these can always be
changed as you are adjusting accordingly.
First, let's sort the spreadsheet by person
and see what everyone is working on.
You would simply select the whole column.
Now select Data from the menu.
And then select Sort.
And you can sort this sheet A to Z.
This rearranges the rows by person in alphabetical order
so that you can see each team member task altogether.
The animation on this slide shows a user sorting
the spreadsheet by owner.
They select the column that contains the task owners.
Then they use the Data menu to sort the spreadsheet.
You can use sorting to quickly see all kinds of information.
For example, if you wanted to see
the tasks that are due soonest, you
can sort the spreadsheet by Due date.
Or you could sort based on the priority of the task.
So if you had a column for priority,
you could sort the sheet to see which tasks are most important.
Now, sorting can be handy if you're
OK with looking at everything in numerical or alphabetical
order.
But you may want to isolate a particular piece
of information.
And in order to do this, you would actually use a filter.
A filter is a tool you can use to simplify your spreadsheet
and to view just the information you want to see.
For example, you can actually add a filter
to see only the tasks that belong to a team member,
not all the team members in alphabetical order.
To do this, you would select the Data menu
and then Create a filter.
The animation in this slide shows a user creating
a new filter for task owners.
They select the Owner column, and use Data, Menu,
and then Create a filter.
To use a filter, decide on which information to show.
For example, select only your name
to see the tasks that belong to you.
The filter temporarily removes tasks
that do not meet this condition from your view.
The animation on this slide shows a user applying a filter
to see only their tasks.
The user opens the filter, selects their name--
in this case, Yara--
and filters the spreadsheet.
In this sample tracker, we'll create a dropdown menu
that allows you to easily select the progress of a task.
The image on this slide shows a spreadsheet tracker.
In the Status column, the user has added a dropdown menu
showing different options to mark the task statuses.
You can create one of these yourself
by using the Data Validation function.
So to add a Status Update dropdown list,
you want to add a new column for Status.
And this animation on the right shows
the user adding a new column and then labeling it Status.
If you want to. you can totally delete the Complete checkboxes
since this new Status column will
contain the same information.
We don't really need the duplicate information.
So we can get rid of that if you want.
Or you can keep it.
Next, select the cells and the Status column
down to the bottom of your task list.
And then open the Data menu, and then choose Data Validation.
Notice that the cell range you highlighted appears in the box.
These cells are where your dropdown list will appear.
The animation on this slide shows a user
selecting the cells in the Status column
where their dropdown list should appear.
And then they open the Data menu and then start
adding Data Validation.
Next, decide on what options should appear in your lists.
So choose List of items-- this is
important-- from the Criteria menu.
Then type in terms that will appear in your dropdown menu.
In this case, we'll use some basic terms--
just like in the animation here--
to describe the status of the task,
so Not started, In progress, Paused, Needs Attention,
and Complete.
Make sure that you separate the items in the list with commas.
If you don't do that, you'll have a single choice
for all those in just one word.
It won't look right.
So separate each item with a comma.
To finish your list, make sure the Show dropdown
list in cell box is checked.
And then save the Data Validation.
The project tracker now has a dropdown menu
in each of the cells of the Owner column.
The animation on this slide actually
shows the user saving the Data Validation list,
then select their dropdown menu next to the task
and mark it Complete.
So when you're working with multiple collaborators
on many tasks, you might also use a tool called
"conditional formatting."
Now, you can use conditional formatting
to add color to certain cells.
For example, you might want to change the completed items
to green and any tasks that are held up that
need to be reviewed in red.
Conditional formatting changes the color or formatting
in the cell if the contents of that cell
matches a particular criteria.
Now you can think of conditional formatting
like an "if/then" sentence.
So if the cell contain certain information,
then the spreadsheet will change the formatting of the cell.
For this example, let's say, if the task is complete,
change the fill color to green.
OK, so first, you need to select the Status column.
So select Format after that and then Conditional Formatting.
The cells you highlighted will show up
in the box as the range.
The range is a group of cells that will change.
The animation on this slide shows a user
selecting the Status column and then
opening Format menu to begin adding Conditional Formatting.
Next, we want to create the "if" part of the statement.
We want to change the format if the cell says Complete.
So choose Text Contains from the dropdown menu.
And then, below that, type Complete.
Now, make sure when you type in Complete, you spell it right,
because this is probably one of the biggest
issues people run into.
They either type it wrong in the dropdown menu or they
type it wrong in their conditional formatting.
So make sure those match.
And so don't put "complete" and completed."
You're not going to get a match.
Under Formatting style, choose a color to go with the status.
Green usually means, go or done.
But use whatever colors you like.
The animation on the slide shows the user taking the steps
to create conditional formatting using rules
and then adding a color code.
To start collaborating digitally with your team,
give them access to important files.
You can share a Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation
with other people.
And then you can choose how much they can do with it.
The image on this slide shows the Share dialog
that allows users to grant different levels of access
to their colleagues.
There's Viewer, Editor, and Comment.
If you want them to only see the progress of the project,
you might give them View access.
Investors and stakeholders may only
need to be able to see and add comments.
If you wanted teammates to update
a sheet with their progress, they may need Edit access.
So when you share a document, you and your team
can collaborate digitally at the same time.
This is an important thing to note.
So they can actually open and work
on the spreadsheet on their own computer and device.
And then, you can also open it up in your device
and make edits at the same time from anywhere around the world.
Another way you might collaborate with your team
is to add a comment, to include someone in the conversation.
For example, you should ask team members how long
they think a task will take.
And they can let you know if they encounter
any problems along the way.
The animation on this slide shows
a user adding a comment into one cell in the spreadsheet.
Let's say one of the tasks is close to its due date.
Imagine you want to check in with the task order
to see whether it's on track.
So you can simply select the cell that
contains the due date, enter the comment,
and then write a short reminder or question about that task,
and then click Comment.
So when you add a comment, you can also
designate someone on your team as the actual, specific owner
of that issue.
To do this, you would type the plus symbol
and then add their email address.
And you can ask for an update.
Or if you have a specific task that you or your teammate
need to do, you can mark your comments as an action item.
So as opposed to just making the comment, when you plus them in,
you'll have the ability to make it an action item
by clicking Assign.
The person will receive an email with your comment.
And they will be responsible for completing the task
and marking it as Complete.
The animation on the right actually
shows the user selecting the cell in the spreadsheet
tracker, they insert a comment, the type a short message
and mention a teammate.
Then they assign the comment to that teammate.
And this is a quick way to flag an outstanding task
or ask for a good report or remind your team members
of something they need to do.
You don't have to write a whole email
or call them, just simply select the text
and then add the comment.
They can visit the spreadsheet or even
write back if they want to.
Plusing someone in into a comment in a project tracker
is also one way you can get your team's input
on an overall goal.
And you can also use this feature in other Google Apps,
like Google Docs, if you want to work collaboratively
with a big group of people.
You can communicate regularly with the team to unblock them
or just to make sure they're not hung up
on a particular challenge.
And then also let them know any important changes that
have been made to the project goals or processes.
And remember, checking in with your team,
even if it's briefly, can help you
anticipate any possible challenges
and adjust your schedule accordingly.
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