My name is Matt Galen, and I am a master’s student at Claremont Graduate University. I am primarily interested in evaluating educational and medical programs, and I have had the pleasure of contributing to several evaluations recently. I have had the opportunity to fulfill many roles, including an immensely satisfying period as a project manager. As a newcomer to project management, I was overwhelmed by the scope of the task. Here are a couple of resources which helped make my life a little easier:
Rad Resource: GanttProject is a great resource for anyone involved in project management (hint: everyone is, even if they don’t know it). This is a gantt chart program for people who don’t want to shell out the money for expensive software. GanttProject is a free, opensource program which has most of the same powerful features of other, more expensive gantt chart software. The website includes a link to download the software, instructions, and a forum. http://www.ganttproject.biz
Rad Resource: Method123 is a frequently-updated website which contains a variety of project management resources. Most of the website is dedicated to promoting somewhat expensive project management template software. The “Free Tools” section, however, includes a free book about project management, a newsletter, free project management templates, and weekly articles. http://www.method123.com
This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.
These sound like great resources. However, please be aware that when I attempted to download the free GanttProject software, a bunch of adware that made changes to my computer and incessantly generates popups was dumped onto my computer along with it. I terminated the download before receiving the project software, but still got the unwanted adware (AVG toolbar, PC cleaning and backup notices, etc.), and I have no idea how to get rid of it.
Please do not recommend links before first testing to ensure these types of things don’t happen. Thank you!
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