Well, hello there.
No, you’re not bothering me, come on in.
Take a sit down.
Me?
Oh, I’m just working on my list a honey-dos that Laura
gave me yesterday.
Seems we have a few things to plan over the coming
month, and if I don’t put them in some sorta-something formal, well, you know I’ll likely just
forget about ‘em.
Heh, heh.
Aw, heck no, Brownie!
You should know better than that - using email for these matters would be severely
inadequate.
I mean, well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness.
And just so I command a high level of trustworthiness,
I put my honey-dos into a Microsoft Project Schedule.
You know, one word sums up the responsibility of any President, and that one word is “to
be prepared”.
That’s why I use Microsoft Project or Project On the Line.
Because, if we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.
Come around here and take a look at my project schedule.
Yes, Brownie, it’s clearly a schedule.
It’s got a lot of tasks in it.
Heh, heh.
But what I really like about it is that it’s got this Timeline feature, also.
Lemme show ya how it works.
I just finished this plan, so there’s nothing
showing in the timeline at the moment.
But what I like to do is to put some of the key tasks in there so I can see when
and where things are falling into place.
For example, I want to make my task Mail Formal Invitations visible, high and tight, so I’ll
first click on my timeline, which auto-selects the Timeline Tools Format
tab.
Then in the Insert section of the Ribbon, I’ll click on Existing Tasks.
Pretty nifty how the pop-up shows me my tasks and keeps them in outline order, huh?
Sure helps me pick ‘em.
I’ll select Mail Formal Invitations, then I’ll
select some Summary tasks: Select and Hire, Ordering and
Delivery, BBQ Prep, and Setup.
And I’ll click OK.
Now these tasks are added to my Timeline, but notice how my first one leaves a little
to be desired, from a visucality standpoint.
Can’t even tell what is is, right?
Right.
Lemme click on it… now, in the Current Selection section of the
Ribbon, click on Display as Callout.
Presto-mundo, now we can see it.
I’ll do the same to the last one, Setup.
Here’s another little trick I’d like to teach ya, Brownie.
I’ma add another timeline to my schedule display here, and fill
it with my Milestones.
Like this…
In the Insert section of the Ribbon, click on Timeline Bar.
Next, I’ll click on the new Timeline that was just inser-tated… then
click on the Existing Tasks button again… and in the popup box, I’ll select me
some Milestones.
Okay, I’ll select all of my Milestones.
There.
Uh-huh, I can see that they’re hard to read on account a them being on top of one another.
But, I think you’ve misunderestimated my abilities with this tool!
Look at this – I’m the decider on how these should look.
You can grab the milestones on the timeline and move them
where you want to make a more visual impaction.
Excellent, Brownie.
Now that’s one heckuva schedule, wouldn’t you say?
…and now I can use the email.
Heh, heh.
I can send the timelines to Laura so she can stay instigated with the plan, so
we’re both on the same page.
Just right-click in the Timeline area and choose Copy Timeline… then select for the
email.
If I had an email open to Laura, I could cut & paste it there and send it.
What else I got… oh, here’s one.
Select a task from the top timeline and change the date format.
Make it better.
Use the Date Format picker in the Show/Hide section
of the Timeline Tools Format tab.
Here’s another couple.
With the Pan & Zoom checkbox selected, I can use the timeline to change my Gantt Chart
Timescale.
See?You can increase the thickness of the Bar-style items in your timeline by increasing
the number of Text Lines, like this.
Finally, and a really neat feature when you have a schedule that’s packed with activities…
you can quickly and easily navigate to that task in your schedule with
right-click on a Summary, a Task, or a Milestone in the timeline and
choosing Go To Scheduled Task.
That outta wrap things up for ya, Brownie.
But remember - our scheduling challengers are innovative and resourceful,
and so are we.
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our planning and our projects, and neither
do we.
There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that
says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you.
Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
So when you find yourself in a bind and someone fool’in with ya, and can’t seem to find
direction any which way you turn, be sure to reach out to the honest to
goodness Microsoft Project experts at EPMA.
They’ll swoop in and save yer tail.