Basic project management

[Guest]

In both my work life and my personal life, I have a lot of items that are
"projects" in the sense of being multi-step and sometimes having subprojects,
but are not "Projects" in the sense of having specific deadlines, budgets,
resources, etc. Outlook does not really provide enough tool to address these
needs (although I've found ways to sort-of-kind-of make it work), and MS
Project is way too much tool.

What I'd like to see is for Outlook to have some really basic project
planning functionality, in the sense that Word can be used for simple desktop
publishing tasks and Excel can be used for flat databases.

In my dreams, it would work like this: there would be a "Projects" module
parallel to Inbox, Tasks, Calendar, etc. Each new "project" would allow to
you build a hierarchical list of tasks, with dependencies where appropriate.
Each task can be marked as "Current" or not. "Current" tasks would appear in
the default Task folder. Project tasks marked as "complete" in Tasks would
be also marked as "complete" in the associated "project."

I suppose an alternate way of meeting needs like mine would to be able to
run MS Project in some sort of "basic" mode to make it usable in situations
like I've described.



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[ProfDD]

For some purposes you could try Progect [sic] for Palm and its
companion for Windows, now being rewritten. Progect lets you create a
project hierarchy (no non-hierarchical dependencies, tho) and make the
lowest level components tasks on the Palm task list. The Palm can be
synched with Outlook, of course.

 

[Guest]

I, too, would LOVE to see this kind of functionality in Outlook. Project is
overkill for day-to-day task management, but Outlook tasks don't quite cut it
because you can't group tasks beyond categories, and those categories aren't
reflected on the Outlook Today view or Calendar view.

The Calendar shouls show tasks assigned to a specific day and the amount of
time scheduled for the task. Something like appointments marked as free
(which I do currently, but then that means I have to creat two of everything
- a task for the taks list and a "free" appointment for scheduling time
visually).

-Caleb

 

[Judy Gleeson MVP Outlook]

Tasks' categories can be reflected in the Calendar - via the TaskPad - you
can add that column to it.
--

Judy Gleeson [MVP Outlook]
Acorn Training and Consulting
www.acorntraining.com.au

Everyone - turn on your Advanced Toolbars and learn how to use the Field
Chooser and Group by Box!!

I, too, would LOVE to see this kind of functionality in Outlook. Project is
overkill for day-to-day task management, but Outlook tasks don't quite cut it
because you can't group tasks beyond categories, and those categories aren't
reflected on the Outlook Today view or Calendar view.

The Calendar shouls show tasks assigned to a specific day and the amount of
time scheduled for the task. Something like appointments marked as free
(which I do currently, but then that means I have to creat two of everything
- a task for the taks list and a "free" appointment for scheduling time
visually).

-Caleb

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...0a5eb02cc&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.general

 

[Guest]

Judy,

I am familiar with field chooser, so your recommendation to add category to
the calendar task list isn't foreign. The problme is it still won't help
with what I want done. I want to see my caneldar in week view with tasks
listed for each day ON the calendar. I want to be able to look at a day and
see tasks reflected as blocks of time. I'm not really looking for a "how to"
to make this happen - I don't think it is a feature in Outlook and I'm
telling you and Microsoft that this would be something that would simply make
Outlook a better product. Innovation - another way to stay ahead of your
competition. Lack of innovation, a golden opportunity FOR your competition.

-Caleb

 

[Guest]

This is the missing feature that keeps me from using outlook tasks. In order
to make tasks useful, Microsoft would have to add two simple things:

1) subtasks. For both the “Tasks†and “Appointmentsâ€. I should be able to
lump tasks together and give them an appointed time to do and vice versa.
2) Dependencies. I should be able to show what tasks/appointments need to be
completed before another task/appointment can be finished.

If Microsoft added these two features, and allowed both the subtasks and the
dependencies to be as deep as the user wanted, they would double the value of
Outlook. Right now, the task/appointment section is almost worthless for
anything more than the most basic of functions.

I can't believe this would be difficult to do. does anybody know of any
third-party software, in addition to the palm software mentioned elsewhere,
that adds decent task functionality to outlook?

 

[Judy Gleeson MVP - Outlook]

I can do what you described using Outlook. It's about Categories and Views.

--
Judy Gleeson - MVP Outlook
Acorn Training and Consulting
Canberra, Australia

When you post in here, always include your version, SP level, and mode (if
applicable) of Outlook - you can find this information in Help | About. Also
include the type of mail account(s) you use and any other pertinent details.
Be sure to put a concise summary of your question in the subject line, and
the full details in the body of your post.



see what Outlook training can do to improve productivity:
www.acorntraining.com.au/pdfdocs/ProductivITwithOutlook.pps

www.acorntraining.com.au/productivit.htm

This is the missing feature that keeps me from using outlook tasks. In order
to make tasks useful, Microsoft would have to add two simple things:

1) subtasks. For both the "Tasks" and "Appointments". I should be able to
lump tasks together and give them an appointed time to do and vice versa.
2) Dependencies. I should be able to show what tasks/appointments need to be
completed before another task/appointment can be finished.

If Microsoft added these two features, and allowed both the subtasks and the
dependencies to be as deep as the user wanted, they would double the value of
Outlook. Right now, the task/appointment section is almost worthless for
anything more than the most basic of functions.

I can't believe this would be difficult to do. does anybody know of any
third-party software, in addition to the palm software mentioned elsewhere,
that adds decent task functionality to outlook?

http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=1f497f41-ce
be-4fbf-b1b6-b580a5eb02cc&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.general

 

[Guest]

judy,

One feedback: I find your answers too short. so kind of incomplete and of
less value to novice like me.

You wisdom in more detail in "how to do it yourself" format would be of
immence value to many

Anythanks for your efforts.
Nandan

 

[Judy Gleeson \(MVP Outlook\)]

Thanks for the feedback. Brevity is due to lack of time! Remember we're
volunteers here.

Also the more helpful the poster is in asking their question, the easier it
is to give a complete answer and not waste my time with information that
turns out to be irrelevant to them as they mislead or just didn't explain
enough about their situation.


--
Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au