Thanks Tom,
I was trying to get a feel for the scale of what software was
appropriate for this group's application and you answered that well.
I am a devotee of the KISS theory and it sounds like that applies in
this case. The Excel formatting technique will be useful for them too.
If you want to print out the whole timeline... what do you do? ...
print it out on multiple pages and tape it together or do you send it to
an output shop for large paper printing?
db
Tom Piwowar wrote:
The office manager has always specifically wanted to have some big
picture time line ability but hasn't known how to best do so. She
asked me because I work in IT but I have never used any such software.
Given those details, which of your previous recommendations do you think
would be the best to pursue?
If they want timeline capability, seems like maybe they need more than
spreadsheets and docs?
I know how to use Project Management software and learned CPM in my
Operations Research classes in grad school. Despite this I make timelines
in Excel. I find that all that other project managemebt baggage gets in
the way. I would use Project Management software for a really big
project, like building an aircraft carrier, but for normal projects it is
overkill.
I adjust the spreadsheet's column widths to be the same as the row height
(looks like graph paper). I then run dates across the top and define
different stages of the project using rows. I color in different cells
(or use Dingbats/Wingdings font) to show important dates. I put text
comments into cells to clarify things. I find this works just fine.
On the other hand, as they only have Word processor, Excel and basic
membership Access database skills, and would be boggled by complex
enterprise level software, maybe that is all they can do... ?
That is a very good point. Keep it simple!
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