Relevant Resources for Project Scheduling
There are so many resources available today that can provide assistance and guidance to a PM when they are developing a project timeline. Because of this, it can be overwhelming to know where to start or where to get help. For this assignment, I am going to provide two incredibly helpful resources I had never seen before until doing my own search today. I hope these resources can be helpful to you as you plan a project timeline or schedule. (*Note: I am providing only two of many resources out there. For the purpose of this assignment, I have tried to provide resources that are less well-known in hopes of providing new resources to others.)
Greer, M. (2011). The project management minimalist: Just Enough PM to rock your projects!
- Tom’s Planner: Tom’s Planner is a website that provides Gantt charts in a simple and easy-to-use format. When you start a project timeline, it provides you with the ability to add tasks, large milestones, and specific dates to the timeline. Icons, color-coordination, and drag-and-drop features make this platform easy and engaging to use while also creating a timeline that is clear and transparent. It stacks task timelines on top of each other in a vertical column so you can keep track of what is due each day. Although the platform is free, you can upgrade for special features such as inviting others to collaborate on your timeline and embedding schedules into the timeline. A variety of premade templates are provided on the site. So if you are planning to create a timeline for projects in construction, conferences, or even private events like weddings, all it takes is one click to be on your way towards creating a project timeline. What I find most helpful about this resource is that it allows you to categorize your tasks and activities into levels. PMs should always spend some time at the start of the project to develop a WBS, and incorporating this into the project timeline allows PMs to see what the main tasks are and what their associated activities may be (Talbert, 2022). Dr. Stolovich (Walden University, LLC, n.d.) says by doing this, PMs are able to keep their focus on the main tasks and not be bogged down by all the activities to ensure the top priorities of the project receive the most attention in the event of a timeline crisis during the project. Tom’s Planner makes doing this very easy, quick, and effortless, and I find this feature one I might use when I plan my next project timeline.
- Smartsheet: Another resource I found to be helpful is Smartsheet. It is a cloud-based project management software that has the basic management features of most project management software platforms, such as the ability to create project plans, collaborate with team members on project tasks, generate reports, and automate project workflow. However, I wanted to share this resource because it offers a free resource for people who do not want to pay for project management software for various reasons. Smartsheet offers free project timeline templates that are compatible with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and other products most individuals are already using for free. This resource is especially helpful to individuals who are looking to get involved in the PM world without paying a fee for project management software or simply wish to practice their PM skills on the side. Like Tom’s Planner, it allows the user to break large tasks into subtasks and activities to better track due dates and milestones. I found this resource extremely helpful because as I delve into PM work on the side, I want to have a clear, easy, and free management tool to create my project timeline. Despite popular opinion, you do not need to have a project management software to create an informative and useful project timeline (Greer, 2011). There is no shame in using free resources to your advantage. Another reason why this resource is so beneficial is that it offers you a variety of templates and viewing options so that you can view your project timeline in different time increments – week, 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year overviews. In addition, it allows you to track multiple project timelines on one document at one time. This provides the PM with visibility across all project timelines in one place so they can manage workloads and track progress with ease (Martins, 2022). Lastly, it important to note that Smartsheet also provides free templates for creating project budgets that would be extremely helpful for those who are looking for a clear guide at no cost. I will highly consider using these free templates from Smartsheet the next time I plan a project without project management software.
References
Greer, M. (2011). The project management minimalist: Just Enough PM to rock your projects!
(2nd ed.).
Martins, J. (2022, October 3). 9 strategies to effectively manage multiple projects. Asana.
Martins, J. (2022, October 3). 9 strategies to effectively manage multiple projects. Asana.
https://asana.com/resources/managing-multiple-projects
Talbert, M. (2022, October 18). Project schedules 101: Why you need them and how to make
Talbert, M. (2022, October 18). Project schedules 101: Why you need them and how to make
your own. Asana. https://asana.com/resources/project-timeline-schedules
Walden University, LLC. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Creating a project schedule [Video file].
Walden University, LLC. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Creating a project schedule [Video file].
Retrieved from https://waldenu.instructure.com
Hi Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteWow, love Tom’s Planner! UMMM… did you know it had an AI assist tool? I had to try it out, so I typed: “A three-day instructor-led training.” And boom, it populated a WBS for me with sub-tasks! *enter shocked emoji here*. Obviously, AI is not perfect, and one should not rely strictly on it, but it provides a great starting point and reduces a considerable amount of time that would have been spent creating and entering these. It is my opinion that one, AI will not replace humans or their jobs but instead make their jobs easier, and two, those who don’t learn to harness the power of AI will be left behind in the job market. A PMI article written in December of 2021 states that in the next three years, PMs expect the percentage of projects they oversee using AI will jump from 23% to 37% (5 Implications of Artificial Intelligence for Project Management). I also appreciate that there is a pop assistant to help you while you are clicking around in the Gantt chart. I clicked in to enter a hypothetical time to one of the AI WBS tasks that were auto-populated for me, and a message popped up asking if I was trying to add a schedule block and, if so, directions on how to do this. I appreciate this user-friendly attribute. I think this resource could be a great tool for freelancers or those ID PMs whose company doesn’t have a scheduling tool already in use.
Your second resource, Smartsheet, is something that I am very familiar with, as I use it at my current job. I recently dove into scheduling using this tool vs. being an end user. I appreciate the customizability offered, and using some formulas similar to Excel, one can auto-populate dates and progress updates, etc. One advantage to Smartsheet that I didn’t notice Tom’s Planner had (unless I missed it) is the ability to assign tasks. Smartsheet also has a forms tool (Lockhart, 2023), which I just learned! I love using google forms. As a side note, I helped my company create after-training opinion forms for participants. My manager told me he didn’t care which platform I used to create the surveys. However, after I had created them, the person doing the training told me people were weird about using personal emails for those kinds of things (since I had to use my personal email to create the Google form). Also that it was a security risk. So when I discovered that Smartsheet had a form function, I was elated! However, a clever trick for this function I found in my research is to use it as an intake form for the project sponsor. This is a quick way to gather information directly from the sponsor about the project, deadlines, stakeholders, and key contact info (Lockhart, 2023).
Thanks for the resources! I am excited to play around more with Tom’s Planner and develop my skills in Smartsheet.
References
5 implications of Artificial Intelligence for Project Management. (2021, December 8). https://www.pmi.org/learning/publications/pm-network/digital-exclusives/implications-of-ai
Lockhart, L. (2023, March 23). How to use Smartsheet for Project Management: Expert tips & tricks. The Digital Project Manager. https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/personal/hacks-productivity/how-to-use-smartsheet-project-management/
Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for finding all of these cool resources. Smartsheets has to be in the top 5 of PM tools since its so popular and easy to use! Tom's planner seems as if it would make choosing activities easier since it stacks vertically. Can't wait to try them.
Hi Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteI loved trying Tom's Planner. Thank you for posting about this resource. Like Faith, I was amazed to see how it identified the project activities. Tom's planner is a good site to start with when planning a new project. I typed in a simple description of a project and it presented me with a list of activities waiting to be scheduled. Thank you.