Special Edition Using Microsoft® Project 2002

Approaching the Planning Process

After securing approval for a concise but comprehensive goal statement that defines the scope of a project, your next major planning function is to draw up a list of activities, or tasks, that must be completed to achieve the project goal.

Starting the planning process typically follows completion of project initiation, which predefines the deliverables of the project. When the charter is created, the course of the project is set and the product of the project is defined.

There are two basic approaches to creating a task list: the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. In the top-down approach, you start ...