Task type

[David M C]

Just a couple of questions.

What is the most common task type? Project seems to default to Fixed Units
but I would have thought (for effort driven tasks) fixed work was more
reflective of the real world. Surely, any given task has a fixed amount of
work that needs to be done? Examples of when you might use each type would be
appreciated.

Secondly, a bit more specific. I have a task that requires 48h of work. This
is a 6 day task with one resource assigned at 100%. However, I would now like
to shorten the duration of this task by 1 day, by assigning another resource,
at 100% for 1 day (ie, one resource does 40h work, the other does 8h). How
would I do this?

Thanks

Dave

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

IMHO the way Project handles Fixed Work is not very real world.
In a fixed work task, when you change duration, Project tells you how many
resouces you now need.
This is very very optimistic. Real life is you are given a set of resources
and it is extremely hard to convince management to get more.
That is why I like fixed units (BTW except for the changing of duration this
reacts exactly lke FW)

As for the second question, that depends whether you want to see the second
resource work 20% evenly or 8 hours the 1st day
If 20%, whether fixed work or Effort driven, add the second resource @200.

If you want teh 2nd to work all the first day, enter her at 100% then change
teh work quantities in RTask Usage to 40/8.
HTH

 

[davegb]

Hi,

IMHO the way Project handles Fixed Work is not very real world.
In a fixed work task, when you change duration, Project tells you how many
resouces you now need.
This is very very optimistic. Real life is you are given a set of resources
and it is extremely hard to convince management to get more.
That is why I like fixed units (BTW except for the changing of duration this
reacts exactly lke FW)

As for the second question, that depends whether you want to see the second
resource work 20% evenly or 8 hours the 1st day
If 20%, whether fixed work or Effort driven, add the second resource @200.

If you want teh 2nd to work all the first day, enter her at 100% then change
teh work quantities in RTask Usage to 40/8.
HTH
--

My experience has been that the type of task varies from situation to
situation. I've used all of them at times. The combination I've used
the most is to start with the task as fixed units, the default, then
when I change a resource assignment on that task later, change it to
fixed duration or fixed work before changing the assignment, depending
on what result I want as I add/delete/change resource assignments.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[David M C]

Thanks. I changed the working hours in Task Usage, but how comes you can
assign more hours in Task Usage than the total hours for the task (especially
when you have a Fixed Work task)?

Dave

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

What you enter is not controlled by Project; it will try to adjust the other
figures (such as total work or work for an other assignment) to make teh
figures match.
HTH

 

[David M C]

So really, the Task Type field doesn't indicate the "type" of task (in real
world terms), it merely selects which side of the equation work, units and
duration are on when making changes to assignments.

Would I be right in assuming resources and resource assignments are a
new(ish) feature in Project? It certainly seems a little underdeveloped in
this area.

Dave

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi David,

No, they're there at least since 1994 (my first use of Project)
And BTW, try to teach it... it's complex enough as it is.

 

[davegb]

Hi David,

No, they're there at least since 1994 (my first use of Project)
And BTW, try to teach it... it's complex enough as it is.

If I remember right, Project for Windoze came out in '90 or '91 (there
was a DOS version prior to that, I taught only once). The 3 types of
tasks appeared in Project 3.0, which came out around '92 or '93. It's
been basically the same since.
As to your question about manual input overriding the "fixed work", or
other status. The software assumes that if you estimate the work on a
task at 40 hrs, then manually enter in one of the Usage tables that 41,
or 400, hrs of work was done, than it took longer than you planned. Or
less if you enter a smaller number. Seems to me to be a reasonable
assumption. And you're right in your other statement, that the task
type doesn't fix the value, it fixes which variable is the independent
variable, and which are dependent. So if work is fixed and you change
duration, units will be adjusted to keep the W=DxU equation constant.
If you change units, duration will change. It tries not to change
whatever work value you entered, but does not prevent you from changing
the work value. Admittedly, this can be confusing, but not irrational,
at least not to me.
And I agree, as usual, with Jan, teaching it is difficult at best.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

I like to do this sort of resource assignment in the split screen of the
Gantt chart. Split the screen and in the bottom window add the second
resource showing him to be 100% units and 8 hours work, edit the other
resource to show 40 hours of work, then click OK.

 

[Trevor Rabey]

I find the only way to teach it, as well as to constantly remind myself, is
to set up 3 Tasks, each a different Type and then, with the Duration, Work
and Resource Names fields displayed (I have a Table called "AAA Task Type
Table"), change the work, units, durations, add/subtract resources etc over
and over again until it sinks in. No mere words can explain it, or rather,
you can't learn it by having it explained to you.
Best advice for beginners is be aware that it happens, watch for it, try to
leave the defaults alone, and above all don't panic and start to change
everything to try to "fix" it.

 

[davegb]

I find the only way to teach it, as well as to constantly remind myself, is
to set up 3 Tasks, each a different Type and then, with the Duration, Work
and Resource Names fields displayed (I have a Table called "AAA Task Type
Table"), change the work, units, durations, add/subtract resources etc over
and over again until it sinks in. No mere words can explain it, or rather,
you can't learn it by having it explained to you.

I wish I had time to do that in my classes. But it is what I reccommend
my students do when they have a minute. I don't know how many of them
actually do it though...