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OneNote is a great product from Microsoft, and it's basically a digital series of binders that you can create and customize. You can create and label binders, sections, and individual pages. You can add notes, checklists, links to web pages, embed documents...almost anything you find can be placed there. The two most beneficial features: everything you put there can be made searchable, and your binders are sharable via SkyDrive (Microsoft's cloud) and by emailed link. A project manager could use this for anything from their own simple notes to an official file of collaborative information about a project! View a demo at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote-help/demo-what-is-onenote-HA010168634.aspx.

I use OneNote all the time and wonder how I managed without it! I tried Evernote, but the bugs finally drove me away and then I discovered OneNote. I don't know why Microsoft doesn't promote it better... it's a great tool!

I am also a big fan of OneNote. I use it a lot to share information with other teachers.

This site is a central resource for people learning and using MS Project. You can access demos, find training, and explore helpful "Tips & Tricks" (e.g., "Make Smart Scheduling Decisions with Task Inspector").

Free templates for all stages of Project Management. Great simple explanations of terminology and descriptions of what should go in each section of templates that are available. Not only are there documents you would expect such as Project Initiation Documents and Work Breakdown Schedule documents, but also Project Meeting Agenda and Minute templates. When you don't know where to start with compiling PM documents, this site offers some easy to use options.

Great resource! I appreciated that not only templates were included, but also lots of related information about "why and how would I use this."

Giselle, this is a great find! I can't believe these templates are free.

Although our class has already discussed MS Project, I didn't notice it on our resource list here. It is a great addition to MS Products, such as SharePoint. Teams can manage their parts of projects in SharePoint and add their smaller tasks as needed. Unfortunately it is still something feared and underused. Another disadvantaged is that users must have PCs to. Use it and to view the plans

Open Source desktop project management software. This is an awesome tool for those of us without access to the likes of MS Project.

Open Source desktop project management and can be used as an alternative to Microsoft Project. PM's can create GANT charts, and also many other templates.

It looks great, but I'm always suspicious about what type of Trojan I might download with these programs. Has anyone used it successfully?

Here is a free communication plan template laid out in Microsoft Excel. The template was provided to Microsoft by PCub3d, a project management consulting company.

This article, written by PCub3d, a project management consulting company, for Microsoft, provides a general overview of the importance and structure for communication planning in project management.

This is a free version of Microsoft Project. It does require you to download it to your computer

I can't hardly believe this is free! What is the world (Microsoft) coming to? Anyway, I downloaded this for my home computer, thanks!

Thanks, Laura. A friend was recently asking me if I knew of a free PM tool like MS Project. This should be perfect.

This is an open source project management tool which is comparable to Microsoft Project. It's a desktop application and it generates different charts such as Gantt chart, WBS, and networking. It also generates reports.

Sharepoint is a great project management tool, most especially for eLearning. Our online department utilizes it to manages tasks and build online resources for the department. It's a great place to share files and also comment on those files. It has discussion boards and announcement boards. Users can view files and edit them with versioning.

I agree that SharePoint is a great collaboration tool, although it's nice to have someone around who is an expert with using it. Sometimes it can be a little hard to handle. My favorite thing about SharePoint is that you can set up a workflow where a project manager can approve all document updates and new content before it goes live on the site. The manager can even leave comments to help the person revamp their submission. It's a great cloud-based collaboration and information management tool!

I agree, Melissa - it is a great tool but a bit cumbersome. We have a Sharepoint SME in our office who is working on revamping all of our sites. I am hoping it will make our teams use their sites to their fuller potential. If you have a content management plan, it is fantastic - but it can spiral out of control very quickly!

This is a good overview tutorial of MS-Project. Shows how to create tasks, assign resources, and schedule them in the Gantt Chart.

One reason PMs fail is their desire to get the product right the first time. This site says that this is an unrealistic expectation and that we should expect to get it wrong the first time and communicate this to our team. The dynamics will change making them more open and less pressured to "make the wrong step". This approach is modeled by Microsoft which generally takes about 3 times before they get a product right. Other useful tips and lessons follow such as Less is More. An uplifting site that reminds us that it is okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from them.

Very insightful article. The point the article made that I felt was interesting was the part about how it can be hard early on to not test what they are making. Easy to go down the wrong direction.

AceProject offers a collection of features pulling from the best of professional project management applications, such as Microsoft Project. Some of the features include storing and sharing documents online, using your interactive Gantt Charts to visually track projects & tasks progress, viewing deadlines & task dependencies. AceProject offers a basic account that is free: http://www.aceproject.com/signup/.

From their website: "Free, simple, fast online meetings. Share your screen instantly with anyone." I couldn't say it better myself. Join Me is a pretty great tool if you have meetings with remote members of project teams. The premium version has all of the features of WebEx and then some, and you can get a 30 day trial of the premium version for free. Even the free version that is available after the 30 day trial is useful. No one has to download anything or have a program installed except for the moderator (and it is a very simple download). The moderator gives everyone a code, they go to a website and type it in and can immediately share screens. My advice: Use Microsoft Paint to enhance your Join Me meetings by using it like the WebEx whiteboard.

Andi, thanks for sharing, sounds like a cool alternative to expensive or complicated ways to create an online meeting. I will try it for a couple of online interviews I need to conduct.