In this video, I'm going to show you
how to create a basic project timeline, or Gantt chart,
in Microsoft Project 2016.
Gantt charts are a great way to get a bird's eye
view of your entire project.
At the end of this video, I'll also
show you an alternative that might be a little bit easier.
But first, here's how to do it In Project 2016.
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To build our project timeline, we first
need to have our list of tasks.
It's best to list out your tasks in the order they
need to be done, so your project stays
organized and easy to read.
I've already opened a blank project
and added the first few tasks for my project.
I'll add a few more so you can see the process.
Just click in the task name field and type
in the name of the task.
If you have tasks that are related to each other,
it might be a good idea to group them together as sub-tasks.
To do that, just highlight the task rows that are related
and click the right indent button in the ribbon.
This will make the highlighted tasks sub-tasks of the item
directly above the highlighted rows in the task list.
I'll do that one more time.
You don't have to use sub-tasks, but they
can be helpful on larger projects
since they allow you to collapse sections of your project
down to save some screen real estate.
Now that we have all of our tasks entered into the list
and organized as sub-tasks, it's time to give them start and end
dates so we can start building the actual project schedule.
Click in the Start Date field and used the date picker
to select the start date for the task.
You can also manually enter the date into the field.
Now, click in the End Date field and use the date picker,
or manually enter the end date for the task.
If you prefer, you could just enter a duration
into the duration field and Project will automatically
calculate the end date for you.
Now that all of our tasks have start and end dates,
it's a good time to add some milestones to the project.
Milestones are a great way to make
sure your project is running on time,
as well as signal the end of specific phases
of your project.
There are a couple ways to add milestones to your project.
The first is to just enter a duration
of zero days for a task that is already in the list.
Project will automatically convert that task
into a milestone.
The other way is to insert a row where
you want the milestone to be and click on the Milestone button
in the ribbon.
OK, our project is looking good so far.
Only a couple steps left.
Since milestones are usually used
to mark the end of a phase of the project,
it's a good idea to link appropriate tasks
to those milestones.
To do that, highlight the tasks that
should be linked to the milestone
and click the Link button in the ribbon.
Now you have a basic project that
includes all of your tasks.
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Microsoft Project is powerful, but it can be overwhelming
if you're new to project management or your projects
are on the smaller side and you don't need the huge feature
set.
If you think you might want to powerful but easier
to use solution for your projects, try TeamGantt.
TeamGantt is a web-based project scheduling tool
that makes creating your project plan as simple
as drag and drop.
As a comparison, I'll create a small project in TeamGantt.
First, I'll create the tasks by clicking Add Task.
Then just hit Enter and create the next task.
You can even create groups for tasks, which can really
help keep you organized.
Once I have all my tasks organized how I want,
I'll just drag the task bars out for as long
as each task should take.
You can also add dependencies to make
sure each task gets pushed back in the event a preceding task
takes longer than expected.
I also have some coworkers already
invited to this project, so I'll go ahead and assign
some of these tasks to them.
They'll be notified by email that they've
been assigned some new tasks.
As progress is made, it's super easy
to update the percent complete of a task
so everyone on the team knows how things are going.
You can also see at a glance how busy
the team is so you know whether you
can assign more tasks to them.
As timelines change, tasks can be
updated by simply dragging the task
bar to make it longer or shorter,
or you can just move the whole thing if necessary.
You can even leave comments and upload files
to tasks or the main project.
TeamGantt makes it incredibly easy for project managers
and non-project managers alike to plan, schedule, organize,
and share their projects.
To try TeamGantt for free, go to teamgantt.com/signup.
I hope you'll give TeamGantt a try,
and don't forget to like this video
and subscribe to our channel for more great content.
Thanks for watching.
We'll see you next time.