When you embark on a very difficult and complex project (like building your first house for example), I guess it's helpful to have some graphical system like a flow chart to plan the smooth progression and coordination of the work. Can anyone recommend a shareware or freeware software for this purpose? Or do you prefer to use pencil an paper? Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.
PG
Fair comment; thanks. However, one thing attracts me to the software route: (1) space will presumably be virtually unlimited and (b) erasing and re-drawing will be much easier - and I anticipate doing an awful lot of erasing and re-drafting.
Having said that, I don;t want spend an age having to learn the software. Indeed, some of the project-planning programs I tried years ago wee way too complicated for my needs, with too many bells and whistles built in, etc.
I'll bear that in mind - thanks.
PG
Yes; I used M$ Project once, years ago, mid-1990s, on loan, but at the time, couldn't; justify the cost of buying it. I can't remember much about it now, axcept that it seemed quite easy to get the hang of.
Thanks a lot for the GanttPV suggestion; I'm just about to take a look..
PG
Couldn't get HanttPV to work on my Win98 PC. I've identified now that what I think I need is a critical path analysis program, rather than gantt chart software, though, the latter might just prove useful too.
Just about to download "Planner" via the fist link above.
PG
The one I downloaded turned out not to be win32, so I'll look for a win32 version. Meanwhile, I've just found one or two others that might do. I'm passing over the ones that cost $3,999 to register! $39 is more like my price range. Freeware better still, if it's worth using. I'd like something that will draw me an instant flow chart based on my list of tasks, durations and dependencies - and perhaps offer some suggestions that I wouldn't have thought of, using pen, paper and dopey human brain.
PG
Thanks. I'm currently trying another one I found that looks like it might suit me. It seems to do all the things I think I need it to do:
PG
The opensource "Mr Project" is available for Gnome, not seen a win32 port but should be feasible, actually I remember it went a bit quiet then came back with a new name
/me goes off to play with google for a while ...
Aha, it mutated into this
Frankly, this is one case where the job is not sufficiently complex to make the tool a time saver.
Pencil and paper I reckon.
Also, be aware that managing for shortest time and mimimum cost are two very different exercises.
Critocal ptahs are more about the simple order in which things are dne, than about complex interdependencies.
I.e. I never appreciated fully (though I had a rough idea) how amazingly difficult it would be to mocve a toilet from planned position once building work commenced.
I had a quick play with GanttPV too, installed OK on winXP but looked fairly primitive :-(
M$project and PMW handle that, it's part of handling the dependencies, resources and earliest start/latest finish dates, a Gantt chart is as good a way as any to view it.
On small projects the Gantt chart has a tendency to boil down to a diagonal line with only a few minor items not on the critical path :-(
|---+ +---+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-------|
Did you find a win32 version, or are you OK with a linux version?
I couldn't see one, plenty of other gnome (well actually gtk) based software ports OK(ish) to win32
Meanwhile, I've just found one or two others that might
Sounds like Hoskyns PMW price from over a decade ago :-(
Had another search
I liked the look of the Java one better, obviously intended to be familiar to anyone who's used M$project before, it has fixed/movable dates, subtasks, finish/start to start/finish dependencies, milestones and resource allocation, with completion tracking.
However you can't set calendars for resources, so it likes 24x7 work schedules, also it doesn't seem to redraw the gantt chart when you make changes, until you select the affected items.
it does identify over allocated resource, but not the critical path, but as I memtioned before on a "simple" chart the diagonal is fairly obviously the critical path, anything dangling isn't
Not run the planBee one, it looks a bit garish/win3.1 style, from feature list has all the functionaility of Java one and more, including your critical path analysis with float times and lead/lag, and does have a resource calandar so you can have weekends off ;-)
maybe drifting a bit ot here but Excel is very good for project managing software (apparently it's what all the ms coders use and so is somewhat built for that task) - I reckon it could be adapted to a building job esp. if your main concern is time management.
This is getting worrying cos I am agreeing with NP twice in two days
What you don't want to do is turn into someone who starred on one of the Property Ladder programs who had the whole project down to a T on their computer but failed to note that writing complex lists on interdependencies is not the same as actually doing the work. I'm sure its heresy but I reckon that unless each stage is straightforward enough to put on a sheet of paper then it will be ignored by the builders
Building work is notorious for throwing up problems which hadn't been scheduled for so allow lots of slack time in your plan
Anna ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|
In message , Anna Kettle managed to combine nouns and verbs in a pleasing form to communicate the following;
Planning projects is not just about producing pretty Gantt charts (but they do impress the management!), a thorough understanding of the whole job is needed before one even puts pen to paper (or fingers to keys).
My entry for free/open source is
HTH,
Andy
Fair enough and thanks for the input. However, I still fail to grasp why pencil and paper can be better than a good computer program, except perhaps that doing it on paper is less of a learning curve. I guess that anything that software can do can also be done with pencil and paper - it just takes longer, is more prone to calculation errors, takes up much more space, and is much harder to modify quickly
- wouldn't you agree?
That sounds like a singularly daft mistake; they must have been backward or rediculously negligent. Lesson: name the tasks clearly and accurately with no ambiguity, yes?
Sounds like good sense. On the other hand, maybe not too much slack, since, "Work tends to take the time allowed for its completion" etc... But what appeals to me most about software for planning is that the plan can easily be changed when you come up against some unforseen event such as the type you just alluded to. I'm no expert on this subject; just stating my impressions.
PG
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