In order to manage how you input tasks (and how Project assigns units of duration or resources to them), you first have to understand the kinds of tasks Project works with, and how it uses algorithms to then further change different elements of the project. Although it all sounds technical, some real-world examples, rather than just talking theoretically about how to project manage, will create a far better understanding of this system and how it can let you do YOUR tasks better, too.

In this example, let's say that the project is the design and manufacture of a new car. That is the overall start-to-end project that you're using Office for. The tasks are split into three "fixed" kinds by Project, duration, units and work. Duration is of particular note, as you will learn later. There are two ways of entering data into Project when considering your planning - depending on your start and end deadlines. In this case, it could be that the project has to start this year - so that the marketing team can promote the new car, and so on. Or the overriding deadline can be next year - when the dealers are expecting to receive the new model in their showroom. This date will probably be "fixed" in your mind, but it's actually more likely to be flexible for a week or two. Other, more realistically "fixed" elements will be the days needed in the factory, for example.

Your units could be your factory workers - if you have more of them, and tell Project so, then it will reduce the duration accordingly, and bring forward the task end date. If you have less, the reverse will happen - thus the relationship works between the two. If you were to change the duration (or extend the finish date), you will need less people to do less work, or give your people (units) shorter hours, or pay for less factory time (which then has a domino effect on the budget - another thing Project can do for you). Project will also warn you if you are "forcing" data into your planning that is probably not going to work. For example, if you need 10 factory workers to do 100 hours of work (10 hour days each), and some go off sick, you are pushing the remaining workers to doing more than 10 hours a day. It is always worth mentioning that you cannot measure certain human elements with software - that is, morale, productivity, and health!

Project's default stance is work-driven (units multiplied by resources - or people multiplied by time) in order to finish a task and calculate its duration. Changing the duration of a task can make Project work differently and perform other calculations. Upon launching a new project, it will get assigned a duration of a day (oh, if only, I hear you cry). Another "human" element that MUST be considered when working with Project is that it does not inherently 'know' how long a task should take in the real world. It does not, therefore, know how long the next model of car will take to design, manufacture, launch and sell. The company knows this and data should be entered based on this knowledge (that's project management, of course). The best thing about using software is that it will make nuanced calculations that it would take you much, much longer to do on paper as far as your staffing, costs and meeting deadlines go.

You have to provide Project with task durations yourself. In our ongoing example, most companies would know how long each stage took and will be able to enter it accordingly. An added bonus is that you can use Project for performance management - if something took much longer to do last time, was it because you overworked people? Didn't have enough money or resources? Reporting on past projects can pave the way to better ones, and Project will help you produce such a report and analyse when things started going wrong (or right!) and why, so you don't make the same mistakes when working on a new project.

People often forget that you can (and should, if you're a good project manager), be editing the data as you go along. Only you know the level of experience with your staff, for example. A 10-year veteran of the factory floor is going to perform a lot better than the new intern or work experience person, yet project will not "know" this - you will and be able to revisit your project data based on the information you have available. You can also tell Project your positive (optimistic) finish date or duration, and the negative, worst-case-scenario one, which can also be altered as the project moves along.

A good manager will always understand and evaluate their tasks before they assign time, workload and deadlines to meet them. The more work you put into Project, the more it will reward you with successful, on-time, on-budget projects completed and who could argue with an end result like that?