Schedules, budgets, communications, resources. Projects big and small include them all, and Microsoft Project 2007 can help you control these variables -- not be controlled by them. But Project is complex software, and learning it is, well, a project in itself. Get up to speed fast with Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual. Written by project management expert Bonnie Biafore, this book teaches you how to do everything from setting budgets and tracking schedules to testing scenarios and recognizing trouble spots before your project breaks down. Find out what's new in Project 2007 from previous versions, and get help choosing the right edition, whether it's Project Standard, Project Professional, or Enterprise Project Management Solution. With Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual, you get more than a simple software how-to. You also get a rundown on project management basics and plenty of solid advice on how to use Project to:

• Define your project and plan your approach

• Estimate your project, set up a budget, define tasks, and break the work into manageable chunks

• Create a schedule, define the sequence of work, and learn the right way to use date constraints and deadlines

• Build a project team and assign resources to tasks: "who does what"

• Refine the project to satisfy objectives by building reality into the schedule, and learn to keep project costs under control

• Track progress and communicate with team members via reports, information sharing, and meetings that work

• Close out your project and take away valuable lessons for the future

Microsoft Project 2007 is the flagship of all project management programs, and this Missing Manual is the book that should have been in the box. No project manager should be without it.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 9 Ratings

How to look good at work - 2008-08-29
Reviewer Rating:

Microsoft Project is an unmatched tool for managing all aspects of a project, and the power of its integration with other MS tools is awesome. But its potential is very complex and not for the faint of heart. Before you start blithely loading your milestones and allocating your resources, you really need to understand the concepts of defining your project and conceptualizing the plan. The software won't teach you that and it's the easiest thing in the world to wind up with a Gantt chart that looks like the head of Medusa in no time flat.

That's where this manual makes its mark. Yes, it's a good primer on the software; yes, it's a good reference manual as long as you can guess the term for what you want to do. "Unhide columns," for example: that's what I wanted to do this week, and two minutes with the index and a page reference got the job done for me. (Hint: it doesn't behave exactly like Excel.)

Since I tend to shun manuals, I had not picked up this book until now. I took a moment to flip, and was impressed, and wound up starting at the beginning and going all the way through, reading here and there, checking the book's organization and the points it made about project management. What a great resource! It's an introductory project management course that will get the user started on the right foot.

Despite its name, Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual is much more than a manual. I recommend it for anyone who wants to brush up on the key points of project management, and especially for anyone using the software for the first time (or the first time in a while, which is my situation). It can't guarantee that your project will be a success, but it will greatly increase your understanding of what's going right and wrong. This book is going to make you look good!

Linda Bulger, 2008

Very Useful! - 2009-06-22
Reviewer Rating:
What I look for, in a book like this, is good info and a good index -- so I can use it as a reference for specific problems, rather than having to read the whole thing.

I give this book very high marks in this regard. It was useful to me in the first hours of learning my way into MS Project. As far as I'm concerned, it has already paid for itself. Good job.

very informative - 2009-08-20
Reviewer Rating:
The Author explains all things but goes off on tangents at times. I wanted a book on project and for me the chapters on Project Management were not needed. I just want to know the inner workings of the software not why the software is important. Sort of like buying a book on Microsoft Word and the author took you through an English lecture first.

Finally, a text I can understand..... - 2009-07-10
Reviewer Rating:
The author has successfully organized the overwhelming volume of info about project management into readable, digestible chunks. It's most helpful to skip around to the parts you're interested in at the time - and this book allows you to easily do that. MS Project 2007 is a complicated program!!!! I appreciate the examples and step-by-step breakdown of concepts that the author provides.

Must have text - 2009-04-12
Reviewer Rating:
Very well written text to guide you through the complexities of Project. Beginner or expert will find lots of great suggestions and assistance.

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