Project Management On The HP Palmtop
Solutions for a Small Business
by Ed Keefe
About This Document
About This Document
Project Management on the HP Palmtop: Solutions for a Small Business is both a document and a project.
From Your Point of View
For you, the reader, this document provides a comparative review of some of the Project Management programs that work on the HP Palmtop along with a lot of background material, just in case you're not familiar with PM.
How Do You Read It?
The preferred way to read this Hypertext Markup Language document is with an HTML reader such as Netscape Navigator 2.0 on a desktop machine or Andreas Garzotto's HV HTML reader on the Palmtop.
In an ordinary document, where you'd see a cross-reference to another article, in an HTML document you'll see a cross-reference presented as colored text (on a desktop) or shown in a box (on the Palmtop). Simply move the cursor to the reference and press Enter or click on the colored text and the HTML reader will display the cross-referenced document. To get back to where you left off, just press the ESC key(on the Palmtop) or click the on-screen BACK button (on the desktop).
From My Point of View
For me, this document is a small project. It was undertaken as part of a larger project that involved learning HTML, the language of the World Wide Web. The HTML document could also be thought of as an experiment. I wanted to see if this kind of document really works? Is it just a fancy "electronic page-turner" or is it a viable means of communicating ideas? In places you may think that the document reads like a text book. You're right. Parts of the document will be removed when I try using it as part of the material in a Systems Analysis and Design class later on. I've left those parts in just so you can have some background reading material.
Here's What's Included in This Document
The Project Management on the Palmtop document contains six topics:
- Tales : several scenarios that come from textbooks and real life. All of these illustrate the need for project management. If you're not familiar with PM, here's a good place to start.
- Terms : a separate document that contains a list of the more widely used terms in PM. This is a good place to turn if you don't understand what I'm talking about.
- Tips : There are gazillions of tips in the field of PM. The best tip is to join the Project Management Institute. Jump to this cross-reference if you want to learn more about PMI.
- Tools : Go to this "hot-link" or cross-reference if you want an overview of several PM programs. Most of these programs run on the HP Palmtop: a couple are for use on a Windows equipped desktop.
- Toys : This cross-reference will show you how to use some of the built-in applications, on the Palmtop, to emulate PM software (kind of)
- Theory : So what is a Gantt chart? What's a Critical Path (CPM)? How is it different from PERT (whatever that is)? What are milestones? How do you estimate the time it will take to complete a project? Turn to this section if you want the answers to these questions.
Click on BACK or press ESC to go to the top of the document
Tales (Short and Tall) from the Field
The following list will let you access some scenarios that illustrate the need for Project Management along with suggestions for possible implementations. Most of the scenarios are "textbook" cases. The one for WebPage Creation is an actual project that I undertook while developing this document.
Terms Used In Project Management
The world of Project Management has become a subculture, complete with its own language or at least a set of buzzwords. Click on the text to access a glossary of more than 60 such terms.
Glossary of PM Terms
Tips, Traps and Techniques
Here is a collection of tips, traps and techniques from professional project managers.
Tools: from Elegantly Simple to Simply Elegant
The items in the following list will let you read about various Project Management Tools that are available for the HP Palmtop and your WinTel Desktop.
Using Other Tools to Implement PM
Toys? Here are a few things you can do with the HP Palmtop's built in application to emulate true project management software. The attempts are not really toys, but they just look like toys in contrast to such heavy-hitting PM tools as Primavera, SureTrak, Project: VISION and ProTracs.
The Theory and Background for Project Management
There are many proven methods for planning a project. The methods deal with the plan's contents, time, and costs. The Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) are two of the most commonly used charting tools that show the time needed to complete a project. Gantt charts and milestone charts are also valuable methods for planning and tracking when events take place within a project. The following list of topics will let you explore these topics in more detail.
A long time contributor to Hewlett-Packard Handheld support publications, Ed Keefe is an author, editor, programmer, computer science instructor, and part-time consultant in the computer industry. Ed's articles appear in The HP Palmtop Paper. He is also the editor of the book PC In Your Pocket: Information When You Need It.