How to Optimize Project Management with Google Sheets

You might already be familiar with Google Sheets as a powerful tool for creating and viewing spreadsheets, but did you know that it can also be a game-changer for basic project management? While it may not have all the advanced features of dedicated project management software, Google Sheets allows you to create a spreadsheet that tracks the progress of your team projects. Let’s dive in and explore how you can leverage Google Sheets to optimize your project management workflows.

Get Started with a Project Management Template

To kickstart your project management journey in Google Sheets, you can choose from a variety of ready-made templates. While it’s not mandatory to use a template, it can provide a solid foundation for designing your own customized spreadsheet.

How to Access Templates in Google Sheets

• Using Google Sheets: On the Google Sheets homepage, click on the “Start a new spreadsheet” header. Below, you’ll find a row of thumbnails representing different templates. Click on the template gallery at the top right of the thumbnails to access a full page of template options.

• From Google Drive: On your Google Drive homepage, click the “New” button at the top left. Then, hover over the arrow next to Google Sheets and select “From a template.” This will lead you to a page with various template thumbnails.

On the template gallery page, scroll down until you find the “Project Management” header. Here, you’ll discover four templates to choose from: Gantt Chart, Project Timeline, Project Tracker, and Event Marketing Timeline.

For instance, the “Project Tracker” template enables you to track multiple steps or projects. Within each project or step, you can enter specific tasks, assignees, start and end dates, priorities, estimated hours, and much more.

Simply click on a thumbnail to start a new spreadsheet with your selected template. If none of the pre-defined templates suit your needs, Google Sheets offers the “Help Me Get Organized” feature. By describing the template you’re looking for, Google’s generative AI tool, Duet AI, will create a tailored template for you. You can find more details on this feature in the article “How to Use the New genAI Template Tool in Google Sheets.”

Once you’ve selected or designed a template, you can easily adjust it to fit your specific project requirements.

• To edit text fields, simply select the field and start typing.
• To edit date fields, type a new date or double-click to open a mini-calendar for selection.
• For dropdown lists, double-click the cell or click the downward arrow to access multiple options.
• Deleting unnecessary columns or rows is as simple as right-clicking and selecting “Delete column” or “Delete row.”
• To add a new column or row, right-click and choose “Insert 1 column to the left/right” or “Insert 1 row above/below.”

By optimizing the template to suit your project’s unique needs, you’ll have a solid foundation for effective project management.

Create or Customize Dropdown Lists

Dropdown lists can be a powerful tool for your project management spreadsheet. Whether you’re creating lists from scratch or modifying existing ones, dropdown lists help streamline processes and enhance efficiency.

In a project management context, having a dropdown list for task statuses (e.g., Pending, Not Started Yet, In Progress, Completed) can be incredibly useful. You can take it a step further by applying background colors to the dropdown options, enabling quick visual assessment of task progress.

Although creating dropdown lists is beyond the scope of this article, our tutorial on using dropdown lists in Google Sheets provides comprehensive instructions. In this article, we’ll focus on modifying existing dropdown lists and adding background colors.

Here’s how you can edit an existing dropdown list:

1. Click the small downward arrow at the end of the cell containing the list.
2. Click the pencil icon at the bottom of the appearing menu to open the “Data Validation Rules” sidebar.
3. In the sidebar, you’ll find each option in a separate text field. Edit any item by clicking on it and typing new text or numbers.
4. To change the color of an item, click the circle icon to its left and select a color.

If you created the dropdown list yourself, you can also add options or rearrange them. However, if you’re working with a template, you won’t have the ability to add or rearrange options.

To remove a dropdown list from a cell, follow these steps:

1. Click the small downward arrow at the end of the cell containing the list.
2. Click the pencil icon in the menu.
3. At the bottom of the “Data Validation Rules” sidebar, click the “Remove rule” button.

Dropdown lists offer even more flexibility in project management, such as applying conditional formatting based on values. For example, you can assign a color scale that ranges from red for a project completed at 10% to green for 100% completion. For a comprehensive guide on this topic, refer to our dropdown lists tutorial.

Identify Your Collaborators with Smart Chips

In Google Sheets, you can use the “@” symbol inside a cell to tag or mention individuals. This functionality opens a panel that suggests people from your contacts, allowing you to easily select and display their names or email addresses. Once tagged, a person’s name becomes a “smart chip” in the cell.

Hovering over the smart chip reveals a mini-profile card for that person. You and other collaborators can use this card to initiate various actions, such as sending an email, starting a chat or video call, or adding the person to a calendar event.

In a project management scenario, smart chips are particularly valuable for assigning tasks to your colleagues. This feature enables other team members to contact the assigned person directly from the project tracking sheet, ensuring smooth communication and collaboration.

Share and Collaborate on Project Management Spreadsheets

While you can use Google Sheets to track your personal projects, the true power lies in its collaborative capabilities. Multiple individuals can simultaneously view and edit a spreadsheet, creating a shared project management platform. However, it’s crucial to manage access permissions to maintain control and ensure data integrity.

To share a spreadsheet with others, follow these steps:

1. Click the “Share” button at the top right while viewing your spreadsheet, or select the spreadsheet on your Google Drive homepage and click the share icon (a head and shoulders silhouette with a +).
2. In the sharing panel that appears, enter the email addresses or names from your Google contacts of the people you want to share the spreadsheet with.
3. By default, the invited individuals can edit and share the spreadsheet with others. To change access permissions, click the “Editor” button beside the input field and choose between “Viewer” or “Commenter” from the dropdown menu.
4. Viewers can see all the data but can’t make changes or add comments, while commenters can add comments to specific cells without altering the spreadsheet’s contents.

For project management spreadsheets, it’s ideal to grant editing permissions to your core collaborators who need to update the sheet. However, for others, providing viewer or commenter permissions ensures data integrity and avoids chaos.

You can easily manage access permissions at any time by clicking the “Share” button and using the silhouette icon on your Google Drive homepage. This grants you control over each individual’s access, offering the ability to change their permissions or remove access entirely.

For more information on sharing spreadsheets, including preventing downloads, prints, and re-sharing, consult our Google Sheets cheat sheet. To understand the collaborative process further, refer to our Google Drive cheat sheet and explore “How to Collaborate on a Document.”

Take Your Project Management to the Next Level with Google Sheets

Congratulations! You now have a comprehensive understanding of how to leverage Google Sheets for project management. Start creating your own project management spreadsheets today, and revolutionize the way your team organizes and collaborates on tasks.

To discover more tools and resources for project management, visit Crawlan.com. We’re here to help you optimize your workflow, unlock your team’s full potential, and achieve project management excellence.