How do I add slack to a task?

[Pete DeLorme]

I inherited a project from another manager. At first, no critical path was
showing. Now, many tasks are showing up as critical. I'd like to remove
some of these tasks from critical status by adding slack to them. Can this
be done? How?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

The purest of purists will tell you "No way. Slack is calculated and you
cannot change it".
But in some instances you can.
Total Slack is the difference between late finish and early finish of the
task.
So maybe you can influence either of these two to modify slack.

Can you put the early dates even earlier?
Does any of these tasks or a predecessor have a start no earlier than
constraint that isn't totally justified?

Can the late dates be put later?
Can you decrease duration - by using a different technique or more resoruces
for instance?
Can you draw the final task in a chaiun of tasks later (for instance by
putting a must finish on constraint or to the contrry, by removing a finish
no later than constraint or a deadline?

These are a few ways to "add slack to a task".
HTH


Well, it depends.
If you have "multiple critical path" on in

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Why do you want to remove the critical indication? When Project marks a
task as critical it's giving you some extremely important information about
that task. Critical doesn't have anything to do with importance or urgency.
"Critical" means that if anything happens to delay that task's completion,
your project WILL, under no uncertain terms, have its finish delayed. The
critical tasks are the tasks where you have leverage to exercise managment
control, they're the tasks where you get some benefit from spending money on
extra resources or overtime for example. They're the tasks that you must
watch like a hawk because they have embody most of the risk in the project
(delay to a non-critical task won't cost you a customer, delay to a critical
task just might when you deliver the project to him late). While you can
always "fudge" and make Project show you about anything you'd like to see,
IMHO one does so at great peril.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Pete,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Please see FAQ Item: 42. Guide to Network Analysis

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Brian K - Project MVP]

I inherited a project from another manager. At first, no critical path was
showing. Now, many tasks are showing up as critical. I'd like to remove
some of these tasks from critical status by adding slack to them. Can this
be done? How?

Im one of the purists that Jan talked about. The only way to add slack is
to make the task finish sooner in relation to the finish date of the
project (the last task). Start it earlier, put more people on so it
finishes early or work overtime so it finishes early.

Anything else is just adjusting reality so that it is no longer real.

 

[davegb]

I inherited a project from another manager. At first, no critical path was
showing. Now, many tasks are showing up as critical. I'd like to remove
some of these tasks from critical status by adding slack to them. Can this
be done? How?

I'm somewhere between the purists and the infidels. The methods
mentioned will add slack, but probably at some peril in most cases. I
like to create overall project slack by putting in what's called a
"buffer" in Critical Chain scheduling, "UEWS" (Unexpected Events Within
Scope) by the person that taught it to me long before there was
Critical Chain scheduling. At the end of the project, right before the
Finish milestone, put in a task called UEWS. Estimate it's duration
based on experience, level of uncertainty, etc. It's just like putting
contingency money in the budget. That's why some call it "Schedule
Contingency". Then, the name of the game is to decrease the UEWS as the
rest of the project slips, trying to finish the project before you run
out of UEWS.
Done this way, it doesn't really show up as total slack in the
schedule, but as an additional critical task at the end of the
schedule. Nonetheless, it acts as slack. Once I started doing this, I
seldom overran a schedule.
The purists might have a fit about doing this, which I've never
understood. One of the more significant goals of doing PM in the first
place is to finish on time most of the time. Any tool short of out and
out lieing that helps me bring in my projects on time is valid.
Best of luck finding what works best in your world.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Dave,

I don't disagree; this is one of the methods I suggested (though I dodn't
callit UEWS )

 

[davegb]

Hi Dave,

I don't disagree; this is one of the methods I suggested (though I dodn't
callit UEWS )

For shame, Jan! That is the official, correct and only right name for
it!
See, I can be a "purist" too!

I learned that term for it in the mid-eighties from a consultant, Bob
Sebald, from whom I took an excellent PM class. I don't care if they
call in "rhinocerous", as long as they use it!