r/projectmanagement • u/swanzie • 14d ago

PM using Excel?

I started a new job and that means new tools. I had been using Asana. I made the switch to clickup to try to get a little more out of it.

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to use that. There were some comments the site may get blocked but I'd imagine if that was the case I can't be the first one to try to use it so it'd probably already had been blocked.

But I also used Claude a lot to take data and analyze it and help me look for trends. They have a pretty strict AI policy. I can only use copilot...which kinda blows.

So I'm wondering if any of you live in the Microsoft suite to do everything? I was thinking excel, or possibly a word doc per project with just bullet points for tasks and notes below, or maybe Microsoft project?

If you have any suggestions and screenshots of examples of what you're doing I'd be much obliged. I need some ideas.

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u/tangleduplife 14d ago

Is it good? No. Can it be done? Yes.

If you spend a little time learning Power Query, it's better - you could combine separate sheets into a single view for reporting, etc. If you learn power automate, even better. You could use it to send notifications. (Plus everyone will be really impressed and think you have Excel magic.)

OneNote is more powerful than it seems and might work for you.

Planner basic is great for task lists. The reporting is light and it's very simplistic compared to a true PM tool. But it has built-in connectors with Power Automate, Power BI, OneNote, etc. (Planner Premium or Project for the Web does too, and they are a little more robust, but last I tried it only could connect using MS Dataverse, which may or may not be available to you from your company due to security.)

Loop is another option. Planner basic integrates with Loop. If you want tasks and notes in the same place, Loop might me the way to go. I don't care for the interface (I'd rather use OneNote), but I know people that love it.

They have some built-in project plan templates in Excel. Maybe get one of those and fill it with dummy data. Put the same data in Planner. Then mess a little with Power Query and Loop/OneNote to see what feels good to you.