General Project theory

[Broodmdh]

I am tracking the progress of a software development project, and I'm
having trouble making Project work as I would expect it to (which may
mean that my expectations are unrealistic). I have a predetermined
number of tasks and resources, but I also have surprise-tasks (bugs,
issues in other unrelated systems which demand my resources etc). The
lifecylcle for each task takes it through several people's hands, over a
long period of time.

For example, one specific page may pass between 4 people before
completion. They will all devote varying amounts of time to it, and
most will not address it immediately after it's assigned to them (a lag
of several days is not uncommon). How can you use project to track the
effort (and whoever the task is currently assigned to etc) without
playing havoc with timelines? i would also prefer to have tasks
'unassigned', because otherwise I end up juggling tasks from person to
person. Ideally, a task wouldn't be assigned to a resource until that
resource is actually working on it, but it would still be taken into
account for determining the overall projects timeline. Is that even
possible?

I'm relatively new to MS Project, and I'm learning as I go, so I'm sure
that there are better ways to accomplish what I'm doing. Any advice
would be appreciated.

 

[Rob Schneider]

To clarify, you are trying to use Project on a number of different projects:

Project 1: The Development Projet with pre-determined tasks and resources

Project 2 through N. The "projects" involved with fixing bugs on this
or other products.

This a hard question to answer in the newsgroup; but I am biased and
will try anyway giving you a view. It may or may not be right for your
organisation as one "peels the onion" and discovers more facts.

To plan the Project No. 1, I would do it it Project and tell Project
that they are, say, 40% available. Then, based on the tasks, resources,
and work estimates for each task, Project will compute an end date.

I would not try to use Project to manage track bug fixing; instead us
the bug tracking system/tool to keep track of time. Analyse the time
taken and use that to validate or change the 40% assumption on
availability for planning the development project.

The main value for you, I think, is to develop a credible plan for the
Project No. 1 and let Project help compute and set the end date and
interim targets. Then use Project to track progress on the Project and
it will tell you if you are ahead of or behind schedule.

Track progress on deliverables in Project. People track their time in
the bug tracking system (which I presume/assume you have).
Theoretically can track time in Project; but I feel that too complex for
your team. Let Project focus on the project and it's deliverables.