The answer lies with custom Gantt chart views.
There is no opportunity for the transcription errors that inevitably arise when updating a PowerPoint diagram by hand.You can show both baseline and “latest view forecast” milestone dates on the task bars so slippage is easy to see.Because it’s based on a “real” MS-Project schedule, you can add and delete lines, delay tasks, etc., and everything will move around in time automatically.Senior stakeholders (CxOs) like it – OK, maybe not as much as a manually-drawn Gantt in PowerPoint but it’s more Exec-friendly than a “classic” Gantt chart straight from MS-Project.Not a particularly efficient or rewarding use of your time.Ī better way would be to create a special view of a real, live MS-Project schedule, which has these benefits:
You could create something visually Gantt-like in PowerPoint, but that will end up with you dragging boxes around and lining them up with dates by eye every time you need to prepare a meeting pack. You also need to generate a view for the regular Steering Committee (SteerCo) meeting – but with less detail and with a whole lot less visual “clutter”. You need to generate a view for the programme team that contains all the detail and information needed to manage delivery. So you’ve created a useful programme schedule, and you want to create tailored views to suit stakeholder audiences.
