How you schedule your projects? (PM Poll)

[MPwannadecentincome]

Wow, I don't know what any of those are. And technically I am managing a project

so Mr. d000hg - how do you plan / schedule then, if you need help I am available on a part time basis

[opc]

To me PERT charts and network diagrams are just the initial stages of creating the activities and logic in a fully resourced Gant.

[d000hg]

so Mr. d000hg - how do you plan / schedule then, if you need help I am available on a part time basis

I guess I just look at the work required and the people I have available and figure out who can do what when.

My PM software runs about as far as an GoogleDoc spreadsheet right now, but there are only 2-3 of us on the project

[RSoles]

Another guy who works on small projects and uses spreadsheets.
RS.

[opc]

I don't understand why anyone uses spreadsheets for "planning". Regardless of the size of project, Microsoft Project or similar is specifically designed to make planning simpler....that's what it's for!

[BrowneIssue]

I don't understand why anyone uses spreadsheets for "planning". Regardless of the size of project, Microsoft Project or similar is specifically designed to make planning simpler....that's what it's for!

I'm glad you said that. Many moons ago when I was still a Senior Programmer, I used to try to use spreadsheets to plan who does what modules, when and so on but the dependency planning and correlation with calendars was a full-time job in itself.

There are loads of free, simple planning tools out there. I use jxProject until I get my mitts on the client's corporate MS Project. It is not polished, but it is free-ish (adware) and does the bare minimum. It is easily good enough for projects with 100 detail lines. It is quirky and buggy and there must be good, free, open source ones out there by now.

[minestrone]

A list of tasks and their estimated time to finish.

Software gets finished when it gets finished, ask the client what they want, put estimates on each job and then tell them to decide to think of an end date and they use the estimates to decide what they want in by that date.

You wonder how they ever finished the pyramids without excel.

[Tensai]

MS project and Gantt charts are good for forcing you to think carefully of the sequence, visualising all those dependencies, and highlighting chokepoints. The overhead of entering all the detail though means it's a PITA for smaller projects.

There's a great quote that often springs to mind when planning projects, something along the lines of "No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the enemy..."

Also, "I love deadlines, especially the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

[d000hg]

I don't understand why anyone uses spreadsheets for "planning". Regardless of the size of project, Microsoft Project or similar is specifically designed to make planning simpler....that's what it's for!

Yes but when my line manager used to use this, he seemed to spend most of his time fighting it... and he was a pretty on-the-ball guy and it was only a small (<10 person) project.
I think it's slightly over the top for a tiny project, especially if you have to train other people how to read the plans/reports.