Avoiding Microsoft Project

Over on Agile Kiwi, John has posted a new article talking about a simple graph he’s using to track progress on a few projects. The suggested approach is a lot like the Scrum methodology Burn Down Chart but with additional information that relates to budget spend.

I’m going to suggest that we include a graph like this in a major project that is just ramping up for me - should make the weekly project status reports a lot more informative.

One small point, though … I think John is being far too nice when he talks about Microsoft Project. In my view, a typical Gantt Chart has only one real redeeming feature: You can use the back for notepaper.

Why am I so negative about Gantt charts? Mostly because they have little or no relation to reality - and because some Project Managers mistake “Updating the Gantt Chart” for “Managing the Project.”. But, the details of that can wait for another day - another post.