Very rarely does someone use the word “Controversial” when referring to changes in a software product.  Manual Scheduling in Microsoft Project 2010 might just be one of those features falling into that unique category.

Why would something called Manual Scheduling be considered controversial?  Primarily because this feature allows you to turn off most of the scheduling engine for tasks marked as “Manually Scheduled”.  For example, I could hand-entered a duration, start and finish for a task that could conflict with calendar settings and not require a critical path.  Further, you can enter Durations and Start/Finish dates as pure text.  For example, a task that is Manually Scheduled could look like this:

At first, I cringed and thought this is going to be a nightmare trying to manage tasks like this but the more I used it the more I liked the feature.  Here’s why:

1. For small 1-3 month projects with a small team, we often get carried away with creating a perfect critical path and implement resource plans that are too granular.  This becomes a burden on new project managers so they switch to Excel or SharePoint and manage the project there.  In Project 2010, you can just set the dates for tasks, assign the resources and manage the small project in a more simplistic way.
2. For top-down planning, when you are not sure of dates and are trying to define the ultimate structure, this capability is perfect because you are trying to get alignment on dates and can use those Duration, Start and Finish dates almost as notes columns.  I kind of like using the function for this reason.
3. For large, multi-year projects we tend to know the “real” dates and commitments not more than 6-12 months out.  The rest of the activities tend to be best-guesses and subject to change.  Why not hand-enter some key dates we need to meet and then re-visit the plan every few month to add all the required detail and reset the tasks to an auto-scheduled mode?

The short video below covers the Manual Scheduling feature and talks about some of these scenarios.  Whether you like the feature or not it is best to know how it works and consider how you might use it.  This is the fourth video in a 10-part series called “Adapting to Project 2010”, which is designed for users of previous versions to get up to speed on Project’s new capabilities.

-Bill

If you like my videos, please subscribe to my ProjectNation channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/projectnation

If you are familiar with previous versions of Microsoft Project, setting most any default would be found under the Tools->Options menu.  With the new version, you will find that menu option is gone and the Task Level 0 display option has been moved.  This video will step you through finding all the default settings you might be familiar with in Project 2010. -Bill

Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get more videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/projectnation

This is the second in a 10-part video series focused on helping Microsoft Project users adapt to new version of Project Professional 2010.  The first video, posted on May 7, was an introduction to what’s new in 2010 and what the series will cover.

This second video is a demonstration of the ribbon UI and some of the user interface improvements you will find when using Project Professional 2010.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/projectnation

-Bill

Note: I am posting this at 12:30pm PST on 5/8/2010.  If you are watching this immediately, YouTube usually takes awhile to improve the video quality so check back later and see if it’s any better.

When I started beta testing Microsoft Project Professional 2010 some time ago, it was a bit of a struggle to find all my original settings, get around the new user interface and use the new features.

Once familiar with the interface I can tell you I did NOT want to go back.  The streamlined Ribbon (tabbed) user interface makes common tasks more accessible and some of the new capabilities really make using Microsoft Project 2010 so much easier than previous versions.

Today, I am excited to announce a new series on Adapting to Microsoft Project 2010.  I used the word Adapting because this series is really designed for a seasoned Project Manager already familiar with previous versions.  Once you have watched the series you should be ready to start making use of Project 2010.  If you are new to Microsoft Project 2010 you might find there to be some real gaps since I’m really talking about changes rather than how to start using the tool from scratch.

I hope you find this helpful and really appreciate your feedback! –Bill

P.S.  Please subscribe to my YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/projectnation

Well, I was able to download SQL Server 2008 R2 today so it looks like the whole stack is now available on MSDN.  One important note is if you are downloading from MSDN, you might find that SharePoint Designer 2010 is not available.  This is now a free product so I guess it is why Microsoft put it in a different location.

To download SharePoint Designer 2010, go to http://microsoft.com/downloads and search for them.  Here are the current working links as I found them today:

SharePoint Designer 2010 32-bit Edition:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=d88a1505-849b-4587-b854-a7054ee28d66

SharePoint Designer 2010 64-bit Edition:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=566d3f55-77a5-4298-bb9c-f55f096b125d

-Bill