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Contents

• Prerequisites
• Scheduling
  • Why Microsoft Project
  • How to get Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft Project tips
• Meetings

Prerequisites

To understand the content in this page, you should know how to

• Read

Scheduling

Why Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project was the software chosen as the project management scheduling tool. It has been used by the team since at least 2021. Here are the main reasons why we decided it remained the best option available:

• It's free to us as VT students.
• Collaboration is easy.
  • A lot of the PM software available is free, but only for 1-3 people to use. Of course, one could use the shared email account for everyone to have access, but it was decided that this method of collaboration was too clunky. This point could be revisited.
• The resulting Gantt chart is compact and aesthetically pleasing. This makes us look professional and shows off our extensive planning.
• It's industry standard. The software is just, good.
  • It has more features and capabilities than we will ever need. The downside is the software is not as user friendly or easy-to-use at first, but the upside is in the end it has more functionality.

How to get Microsoft Project

If you are not using Windows, you may choose to install Windows (via dual boot or VM) or figure out how to use the online version of MS Project.

Assuming Windows...

Go to the engineering software bundle download page.

Search for MS Project.

Follow the onscreen instructions.

Once signed into https://azureforeducation.microsoft.com/devtools, select Learning Resources on the left sidebar, then Software then search for Project. I see two options: Project Professional 2019 and Project Professional 2021 - DVD. I chose to download the 2021 version. I recommend Ethernet. It is 4.2 GB.

NOTE: you can end up on the home Azure version even if you login to your VT account. Just click on the azure for education link above again to open the proper page.

Open the disc image file. If possible, with ethernet, run Setup.

Super then type Project and Enter. It should launch. Paste your product key (from Azure).

I Ejected the DVD and deleted the disc installer from my Downloads folder.

Microsoft Project tips

• To create a new task, press insert.
• To create a subtask, select it and then Alt + Shift + Right Arrow Key. The preceding task is now a Summary task.
• To mark a task as complete, the top menu bar under Task has buttons for 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Simply select the task and button. I have not been able to find a keyboard shortcut to do this unfortunately.

Meetings

Weekly subteam meetings have always been the go-to, but this year we held additional "work-in-lab" meetings (scheduled as needed) which were more effective than the normal meetings. Additionally, meetings have been best when the first 15 minutes were announcements and the remaining was group work time.

As far as admin meetings go, beginning the year with one admin meeting a week until the PMP was submitted, and then stepping back to one every 2 weeks worked well.

This is because we also met with our advisor weekly, which I also strongly recommend. If you think about the admin team as a subteam, we were meeting 3 times a fortnight. 1.5x a week. This helped reduce the impact of absences immensely.