If your job involves any kind of task list or project where you need to organise what needs to be done to achieve the end result, you’ve probably jotted some ideas down on a notepad, or even on the back of a cigarette packet or beer mat!
We recommend using Microsoft Project where you can list all the tasks (even if there are hundreds!) and create dependencies between them. So you might need to write to all your customers for feedback before you introduce a new product. You might decide that the product cannot be created effectively without your existing customers’ feedback. Creating a link between these means that if the first task takes longer than you’d anticipated, the second task will need to start later.
Once your task list is all set up, you can add the people who will be involved in each task, any materials you might need to factor in, along with the cost of using each of these.
Making changes to your project such as the whole thing starting a month later than planned, or increasing costs, or a few days of downtime, can all be adjusted easily.
Add to this the reports which are automatically produced which means that your customers, managers, directors or stakeholders can quickly see whether the project is on target, or where it is falling behind.
People often try and do all of this in Microsoft Excel but Microsoft Project really is the better tool for the job. And both are infinitely better than the back of a beer mat!
If you want to learn more about the possibilities of Microsoft Project and how to best use them for your business, get in touch today!