
Scheduling keeps your project on track whether that’s a $3 million construction project or a plan to clean out the garage over spring break this year. Anything that has more than 10 steps to it and relies on one action following another step by step deserves a proper schedule to have high quality and the fastest possible finishing date! Most classes don't explain this well because they either move too fast or are too boring. This is the class I wish I had 10 years ago!!
Class Project: Create your own custom schedule using Google Sheets
You will learn the tools, techniques, formatting, and editing needed to build a schedule and track whatever project is in your life. A list is not the right tool to use after it gets long enough. Anything more than about 10 tasks that all depend on each other demands a schedule! You will find that tracking the progress of your project becomes simple when you have the right tools for the job!
Watch this before we start building the template from scratch!
If you don't have a Google Account, this walks you through step by step to get one. You need one to use my schedule template or follow along in the rest of the class. Thankfully getting a Google Account is totally free!
Making a schedule template from scratch. This is the overall structure including how to setup tasks vs the timeline! I also share a lot of spreadsheet shortcuts to make your workflow faster.
Making the spreadsheet look clean, clear, and stylish. This helps it to be more interesting and clear to see! Adding colors, images, and personal touches. Plus I give you even more spreadsheet shortcuts!
Making the schedule easy to read regardless of the device you use to view it or how long the project is. This is especially helpful when your schedule gets really long!
The last part of building the template from scratch, adding finishing touches, and preparing to schedule out your project.
How to get your tasks onto the schedule in the best way.
How to assign dates to your schedule and how to read a Gantt chart schedule. This is the 2nd most impactful lesson in the whole course! Essentials of how to use a Gantt chart to know your project are here! The next class section is how to track activities!
The most impactful lesson in the entire class! How to utilize a schedule to actually track your project and know if you are ahead or behind! Learn what it means when your schedule has a lot of activities shown vertically, and what it means when your schedule is flat and is going horizontal. This section also shows you how to see into the future and forecast your finishing date in the middle of the project.
What a completed schedule looks like in action. This is a schedule I made a few years ago when I built a new car wash so its a great example to see what a long, complicated schedule looks like in a real-life application.
Let's build a schedule together as an example. We have a home remodel project planned and this course section shows what it looks like to build a schedule out in real time!
Showing how to use the schedule in your phone so you can plan and track your project anywhere in the world!
Concluding the class and reiterating how to schedule!
This class teaches you how to build a schedule from scratch using Google Sheets! You can start with no experience as a beginner and end with a working knowledge of Google Sheets and scheduling. We will build a Gantt chart-style schedule from start to finish so you will end the course with a schedule of your own to track your current project. (Or a theoretical one that you WANT to track!) The existing online courses on scheduling are typically dry, slow, and are not suited for beginners. This course changes that!
Brendan has used this kind of schedule to track dozens of commercial construction projects over the last 10 years of his career. This is the class he wishes he had back in 2014 when re-entering the construction field. It shares the foundational elements of the tools and techniques to build an effective and clear schedule as quickly as possible. A detailed and clear schedule increases the speed of any project and helps everyone involved to be efficient and come away satisfied.
In this class you'll learn:
How to get access to Google Sheets for free
How to set up and build a schedule
How to actually plan activities in order and organize them correctly in a Gantt chart style.
Formatting techniques for giving plenty of info without adding visual clutter
How to edit and change your schedule when the ideal plans don’t work out! (This always happens!)
You’ll be creating:
A custom schedule to track your own project accurately and simply.
Why make a schedule?
Scheduling keeps your project on track whether that’s a $3 million construction project or a plan to clean out the garage over spring break this year. Anything that has more than 10 steps to it and relies on one action following another step by step deserves a proper schedule to have high quality and the fastest possible finishing date! So why are we using Google Sheets and not a fancy, purpose-built scheduling program?
Why Google Sheets?
Google Sheets is an incredible way to make a schedule. After using 5 different dedicated programs for scheduling, Brendan has circled back to the simplicity and ease of Google Sheets for his professional work. Here’s why:
It’s free
It’s faster than other programs
It’s simple for other people to pick up and interpret
It’s highly customizable
It’s perfectly integrated to mobile devices like phones and tablets
It speaks a common language of the business word which is: the language of spreadsheet
Exports to excel well if you need that option
It is effective in practice
Do I need to be a spreadsheet expert to do this?
No! This course is built for anyone who wants to learn how to build a schedule and teaches everything you need to know to get started, even if you’ve never used a spreadsheet before!
Let’s get started!