Critical path when using Hammock Tasks

[Robin Roe]

Hi

In our organisation we have tasks that run the entire lenght of a project
such as Project Management. The duration of these tasks depend totally on the
duration of the entire project so we have created a hammock tasks for the
likes of the Project Management task using strat project and finish project
milestones.

The problem is that because these tasks will never have any slack, they will
always show up on the critical path. Is there anyway of excluding these
tasks? Have tried making them slightly shorter but it's really not an ideal
solution.

We are currently usong 2003, but perhaps 2007 has a more suitable solution
for this? Primavera uses "Level of Effort" tasks to get around this.

Thanks for your help

 

[John]

Hi

In our organisation we have tasks that run the entire lenght of a project
such as Project Management. The duration of these tasks depend totally on the
duration of the entire project so we have created a hammock tasks for the
likes of the Project Management task using strat project and finish project
milestones.

The problem is that because these tasks will never have any slack, they will
always show up on the critical path. Is there anyway of excluding these
tasks? Have tried making them slightly shorter but it's really not an ideal
solution.

We are currently usong 2003, but perhaps 2007 has a more suitable solution
for this? Primavera uses "Level of Effort" tasks to get around this.

Thanks for your help

Robin,
Other than simply ignoring the fact that the management (i.e. hammock)
task will show as critical here is a technique you can use that is a
variation of your "slightly shorter" task.
1. Create a finish milestone that is 1 minute less than the finish date
of your last task. To do that just create a 0 day milestone with the
following predecessor: [last task]FF - 1min. Then use the start date of
that modified finish milestone to drive the finish date of the hammock
task. It's not perfect, but it effectively does the job.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Saratoga]

Since most Project management tasks begin prior to the execution phase and
end after it is complete, perhaps you should consider decomposing the PM
tasks further.
Tasks such as capturing lessons learned and archiving the documentation will
fall outside the end of the execution phase.

Hi

In our organisation we have tasks that run the entire lenght of a project
such as Project Management. The duration of these tasks depend totally on the
duration of the entire project so we have created a hammock tasks for the
likes of the Project Management task using strat project and finish project
milestones.

The problem is that because these tasks will never have any slack, they will
always show up on the critical path. Is there anyway of excluding these
tasks? Have tried making them slightly shorter but it's really not an ideal
solution.

We are currently usong 2003, but perhaps 2007 has a more suitable solution
for this? Primavera uses "Level of Effort" tasks to get around this.

Thanks for your help

Robin,
Other than simply ignoring the fact that the management (i.e. hammock)
task will show as critical here is a technique you can use that is a
variation of your "slightly shorter" task.
1. Create a finish milestone that is 1 minute less than the finish date
of your last task. To do that just create a 0 day milestone with the
following predecessor: [last task]FF - 1min. Then use the start date of
that modified finish milestone to drive the finish date of the hammock
task. It's not perfect, but it effectively does the job.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[John]

Since most Project management tasks begin prior to the execution phase and
end after it is complete, perhaps you should consider decomposing the PM
tasks further.
Tasks such as capturing lessons learned and archiving the documentation will
fall outside the end of the execution phase.

Saratoga,
I guess it all depends on what you define as the "project". Normally ALL
activity charged to the contract is part of the contract. That includes
pre-execution work and post-execution work. However, there may be cases
where those activities are company funded - the cost of getting the
contract. In that case they should not even be a part of the main
project plan, but the project management activity while the project is
being executed should be a part of the plan. I do agree with you that it
might be a good idea to break project management into parts (e.g.
monthly) and particularly if there are any deliverables (e.g. quarterly
program reports) that fall under the project management task. I
personally never was a big fan of using the hammock task. It may look
appealing but it does have some drawbacks.

John

Hi

In our organisation we have tasks that run the entire lenght of a project
such as Project Management. The duration of these tasks depend totally on
the
duration of the entire project so we have created a hammock tasks for the
likes of the Project Management task using strat project and finish
project
milestones.

The problem is that because these tasks will never have any slack, they
will
always show up on the critical path. Is there anyway of excluding these
tasks? Have tried making them slightly shorter but it's really not an
ideal
solution.

We are currently usong 2003, but perhaps 2007 has a more suitable
solution
for this? Primavera uses "Level of Effort" tasks to get around this.

Thanks for your help

Robin,
Other than simply ignoring the fact that the management (i.e. hammock)
task will show as critical here is a technique you can use that is a
variation of your "slightly shorter" task.
1. Create a finish milestone that is 1 minute less than the finish date
of your last task. To do that just create a 0 day milestone with the
following predecessor: [last task]FF - 1min. Then use the start date of
that modified finish milestone to drive the finish date of the hammock
task. It's not perfect, but it effectively does the job.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Robin Roe]

Thank you both, for your input. Much appreciated.
--
Robin

Since most Project management tasks begin prior to the execution phase and
end after it is complete, perhaps you should consider decomposing the PM
tasks further.
Tasks such as capturing lessons learned and archiving the documentation will
fall outside the end of the execution phase.

Saratoga,
I guess it all depends on what you define as the "project". Normally ALL
activity charged to the contract is part of the contract. That includes
pre-execution work and post-execution work. However, there may be cases
where those activities are company funded - the cost of getting the
contract. In that case they should not even be a part of the main
project plan, but the project management activity while the project is
being executed should be a part of the plan. I do agree with you that it
might be a good idea to break project management into parts (e.g.
monthly) and particularly if there are any deliverables (e.g. quarterly
program reports) that fall under the project management task. I
personally never was a big fan of using the hammock task. It may look
appealing but it does have some drawbacks.

John

Hi

In our organisation we have tasks that run the entire lenght of a project
such as Project Management. The duration of these tasks depend totally on
the
duration of the entire project so we have created a hammock tasks for the
likes of the Project Management task using strat project and finish
project
milestones.

The problem is that because these tasks will never have any slack, they
will
always show up on the critical path. Is there anyway of excluding these
tasks? Have tried making them slightly shorter but it's really not an
ideal
solution.

We are currently usong 2003, but perhaps 2007 has a more suitable
solution
for this? Primavera uses "Level of Effort" tasks to get around this.

Thanks for your help

Robin,
Other than simply ignoring the fact that the management (i.e. hammock)
task will show as critical here is a technique you can use that is a
variation of your "slightly shorter" task.
1. Create a finish milestone that is 1 minute less than the finish date
of your last task. To do that just create a 0 day milestone with the
following predecessor: [last task]FF - 1min. Then use the start date of
that modified finish milestone to drive the finish date of the hammock
task. It's not perfect, but it effectively does the job.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[John]

Thank you both, for your input. Much appreciated.

Robin,
You're welcome.

John

Since most Project management tasks begin prior to the execution phase
and
end after it is complete, perhaps you should consider decomposing the PM
tasks further.
Tasks such as capturing lessons learned and archiving the documentation
will
fall outside the end of the execution phase.

Saratoga,
I guess it all depends on what you define as the "project". Normally ALL
activity charged to the contract is part of the contract. That includes
pre-execution work and post-execution work. However, there may be cases
where those activities are company funded - the cost of getting the
contract. In that case they should not even be a part of the main
project plan, but the project management activity while the project is
being executed should be a part of the plan. I do agree with you that it
might be a good idea to break project management into parts (e.g.
monthly) and particularly if there are any deliverables (e.g. quarterly
program reports) that fall under the project management task. I
personally never was a big fan of using the hammock task. It may look
appealing but it does have some drawbacks.

John

:

Hi

In our organisation we have tasks that run the entire lenght of a
project
such as Project Management. The duration of these tasks depend
totally on
the
duration of the entire project so we have created a hammock tasks for
the
likes of the Project Management task using strat project and finish
project
milestones.

The problem is that because these tasks will never have any slack,
they
will
always show up on the critical path. Is there anyway of excluding
these
tasks? Have tried making them slightly shorter but it's really not an
ideal
solution.

We are currently usong 2003, but perhaps 2007 has a more suitable
solution
for this? Primavera uses "Level of Effort" tasks to get around this.

Thanks for your help

Robin,
Other than simply ignoring the fact that the management (i.e. hammock)
task will show as critical here is a technique you can use that is a
variation of your "slightly shorter" task.
1. Create a finish milestone that is 1 minute less than the finish date
of your last task. To do that just create a 0 day milestone with the
following predecessor: [last task]FF - 1min. Then use the start date of
that modified finish milestone to drive the finish date of the hammock
task. It's not perfect, but it effectively does the job.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP