I’ve released my new e-Book, MS Project Hacks in PDF format, along with sample files for MS Project 2007 / 2010 and MS Project 2013, available for download under the My Books top level menu. It’s a compilation of polished versions of seven articles previously published here, including various improvements suggested by readers just like you. So if you’ve ever wondered whether it was worth your time to leave me a comment or send me an EMail, the answer is yes! Be sure to post your review or suggestions with a comment on the My Books: Microsoft Project Hacks page.

Here are the chapters:

1. Add Holidays to the MS Project Calendar – Start by accounting for all of your non-working days. It’s embarrassing when someone points out that a key task is scheduled to complete on a national holiday.
2. Crafting Formulas for Calculated Fields – You use Excel because you can calculate values from what is in other cells. Project is useful in the same way.
3. Add a Current Tasks Flag – I originally created this to be able to extract a list of tasks in progress or about to begin, for review at team meetings. It has since proven to be incredibly useful.
4. Add a Status Indicator to Detail Tasks – Show a calculated Red / Yellow / Green indicator on tasks in progress. This is by any measure the most popular article I’ve ever written.
5. Add a Negative Total Slack Flag – If you have a task with a fixed end date, you probably need this in order to debug your critical path.
6. Track Qualitative Risk – Most risks are retired during the course of a project. This approach incorporates elements of your risk register into your schedule.
7. Add a Cutover Weekend Calendar – Is your team performing one or two tasks over a weekend? Here’s how to represent it in Project without distorting the schedule for tasks that follow.
8. Additional Resources

After you read the first two chapters, you’ll have the background needed to skip to whatever other chapters interest you.