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Subject:Re: Project Management Skills and Tech Writing. From:Kris Olberg <KJOlberg -at- AOL -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 30 Aug 1995 15:50:34 -0400
In a message dated 95-08-30 15:27:42 EDT, psu01055 -at- ODIN -dot- CC -dot- PDX -dot- EDU (M. Crane)
writes:
>I'm curious about the phrase "Project Management Skills" seen in so many
>position descriptions. Is it fairly common for TWs to juggle three or
>four projects simultaneously? And, if this is true, were you born with
>this ability or did you acquire it out of necessity? Finally, does
>anyone use project management software to control their writing projects?
Yes, I think it's common for writers to juggle several projects. In my case,
I acquired PM skills out of necessity--without any training. It has been a
matter of survival, mostly.
Regarding software, I have used MS Project and others but have found that
most writing projects do not need the breadth of functionality provided. I
was spending as much or more time PM'ing as I was writing. I find it easier
to create a paper schedule that contains the following info: milestone,
original schedule date, revised schedule date, and actual schedule date.