Create tasks

Tasks represent the work to be done to accomplish the goals of the project. Every task in a plan is given an ID number, but the number doesn’t necessarily represent the order in which tasks occur.

Every task in Project has one of two scheduling modes that controls how the task is scheduled: manually (the default) or automatically scheduled. Think of a manually scheduled task as an initial placeholder you can create at any time without affecting the rest of the schedule. You might not know more than a task name to start with, and that’s OK. As you discover or decide more details about the task, such as when it should occur, you can add those details to the plan. You’ll work with automatic scheduling in “Switch task scheduling from manual to automatic,” later in this chapter.

As you might suspect, naming the task is the first step in creating a task. For this reason, it’s worth developing good practices about how you name tasks in your plans.

Task names must be recognizable and should make sense to both the people who will perform the tasks and other stakeholders who will read the task names. Consider these guidelines for creating good task names:

• Use short verb phrases that describe the work to be done, such as “Edit manuscript.”

• If tasks will be organized into an outline, don’t repeat details from the summary task name in the subtask name unless doing so adds clarity.

• If tasks will have resources assigned to them, don’t include resource names in the task names.

Keep in mind that you can always edit task names later; don’t worry about getting them exactly right when you’re initially entering them into a plan. Do aim to use concise, descriptive phrases that communicate the required work and make sense to you and others who will perform the work or review the plan. When necessary, you can also add more details in task notes, described later in this chapter.

To enter task names

1. Select an empty cell in the Task Name column.

2. Enter your task names and press Enter after each one.

To insert a new task within a task list

1. Select in the Task Name column where you want to insert the new task.

2. On the Task tab, in the Insert group, select Task.

   Project inserts a row for a new task and renumbers the subsequent tasks. Project names the new task <New Task>.

3. With <New Task> selected, enter the task name and press Enter.

To delete a task

• Right-click or long-press (tap and hold) the task name and select Delete Task.

Switch task scheduling from manual to automatic

By default, Project sets new tasks to be manually scheduled. In fact, so far in Part 2 of this book, you’ve worked only with manually scheduled tasks. In Project, you control the scheduling of tasks in two different ways:

• You work with manually scheduled tasks to quickly capture some details but without scheduling the tasks. Think of a manually scheduled task as an initial placeholder you can create at any time without affecting the rest of the plan. Initially, you might not know more than a task’s name, and that’s okay. As you discover or decide more details about the task, such as when it should occur, you can add those details to the plan.

• You work with automatically scheduled tasks to take full advantage of the powerful scheduling engine in Project. You can see some of the differences between automatically and manually scheduled tasks in Figure 4-1. In the Task Mode field, a rectangle with an arrow represents automatically scheduled tasks; the thumbtack icon represents manually scheduled tasks. On the chart, the solid light-blue bar style represents automatically scheduled tasks; the aqua bar with a faded area at the start and end of the bar represents manually scheduled tasks.

  

When you create automatically scheduled tasks, Project assigns a duration and start and finish date values to them. With automatic scheduling, Project automatically updates calculated schedule values such as task durations, start dates, and finish dates in response to changes in a plan. Changes to factors such as task relationships and calendars can also cause Project to recalculate affected tasks.

To switch a single task from manual to automatic task scheduling

1. Select the manually scheduled task you want to change.

2. Select in the Task Mode field of the selected task, and then select the arrow that appears.

3. In the list that appears, select Auto Scheduled.

To switch several tasks from manual to automatic task scheduling

1. Select the manually scheduled tasks you want to change.

2. On the Task tab, in the Tasks group, select the Auto Schedule button.

To switch the currently open plan from manual to automatic task scheduling

• On the Task tab, in the Tasks group, select the Mode button, and then select Auto Schedule.

Or

1. Select the New Tasks status bar text as shown in Figure 4-2.

2. Select the scheduling mode you want.

   

To change the default scheduling mode that Project applies to all new plans

1. On the File tab, select Options. Then in the Project Options dialog, select the Schedule tab.

2. In the Scheduling options for this project box, select All New Projects. Then in the New Tasks Created box, select Auto Scheduled.

3. Select OK.

Enter task durations and estimates

A task’s duration represents the amount of time you expect it will take to complete the task. Project can work with task durations that range from minutes to months. Depending on the scope of your plan, you’ll probably want to work with task durations on the scale of hours, days, and weeks. Giving your tasks duration values is one of the benefits of using a scheduling tool such as Project instead of a simple checklist or to-do approach to organizing work.

Project uses standard values for minutes and hours for durations: 1 minute equals 60 seconds, and 1 hour equals 60 minutes. For the durations of days, weeks, and months, you can use Project’s defaults (for example, 20 days per month) or define your own values in the Project Options dialog shown in Figure 4-3.

Let’s explore task durations with an example. Assume that a plan has a project calendar with working time defined as 8:00 AM through 5:00 PM, with 1 hour off for lunch breaks Monday through Friday. That schedule leaves nonworking time defined as evenings (after 5:00 PM) and weekends. If you estimate that a task will take 16 hours of working time, you could enter its duration as 2d to schedule work during two 8-hour workdays. You should then expect that starting the task at 8:00 AM on a Friday means that it will not be completed until 5:00 PM on the following Monday. No work would be scheduled over the weekend because Saturday and Sunday have been defined as nonworking time.

The practice tasks in this chapter use Project’s default values: 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week, and 20 days per month. In fact, throughout this book, we use Project’s default settings unless noted otherwise.

You can use the following abbreviations when entering durations.

As noted earlier in the “Create tasks” topic, Project handles task scheduling in two ways. Automatically scheduled tasks always have a duration (1 day, by default). Manually scheduled tasks, however, do not initially have any duration. A task’s duration is essential for Project to schedule a task, so it makes sense that a manually scheduled task, which Project does not schedule, does not require a duration. Of course, you can enter placeholder duration values for manually scheduled tasks. You also can enter regular duration values by using the abbreviations shown in the preceding table—for example, 3d for 3 days. Additionally, you can enter text values, such as Check with Bob or Sometime next quarter. Such text values are replaced with the default 1-day duration value when you convert a task from manual to automatic scheduling. Project doesn’t allow you to enter a text value (such as Check with Bob) for an automatically scheduled task’s duration, start, or finish values.

If needed, you can schedule tasks to occur during nonworking as well as working time. To do so, enter an elapsed duration to a task. You enter elapsed duration by preceding the duration abbreviation with an e.

You might use an elapsed duration for a task that goes on continuously instead of just during normal working hours. For instance, a construction project might have the tasks Pour foundation concrete and Remove foundation forms. If so, you might also want a task called Wait for concrete to cure because you don’t want to remove the forms until the concrete has cured. The task Wait for concrete to cure should have an elapsed duration because the concrete will cure over a contiguous range of days, whether they are working or nonworking days. If the concrete takes 48 hours to cure, you can enter the duration for that task as 2ed, schedule the task to start on Friday at 9:00 AM, and expect it to be complete by Sunday at 9:00 AM. In most cases, however, you’ll work with non-elapsed durations in Project.

To enter a task duration

1. Select a cell in the Duration column for a task.

2. Enter a duration value.

Project initially sets all new tasks that have a duration value to start at the project start date. This is true whether the tasks are manually or automatically scheduled.

For manually scheduled tasks, you can enter a duration as either a numeric value, suchas 2d, or as placeholder text, such as Check with Marketing team. For any columns that are too narrow to display the full value, point to the cell; its full value appears in a ScreenTip.

For both manually and automatically scheduled tasks, Project draws a Gantt bar in the chart portion of a Gantt chart view. The length of the bar represents the task’s duration.

To schedule a task to span nonworking and working times with an elapsed duration

• When entering the task’s duration, precede the duration abbreviation with an e. For example, enter 1ed to indicate one full 24-hour day, or 1ew to equal seven 24-hour days, or 1emo to equal thirty 24-hour days.

To calculate the duration of a manually scheduled task

• In the Start and Finish fields for the task, enter or select the start date and finish date values you want.

Project calculates the Duration value. Note that when the task gets switched to automatically scheduled, the start and finish values might change based on predecessor relationships, the project start date, or other scheduling factors. The duration value, however, is preserved.

Enter milestone tasks

In addition to entering tasks to be completed, you might want to account for an important event for your project’s plan, such as the end of a major phase of the project. To do this, you can create a milestone task.

Milestones are significant events that either are reached within the plan (such as the completion of a phase of work) or are imposed upon the plan (such as a deadline to apply for funding). Because the milestone itself doesn’t normally include any work, milestones are normally represented as tasks with zero duration. To visually distinguish milestones, their Gantt chart symbol appears as a diamond instead of a bar. However, you can flag any task of any duration as a milestone.

To enter a milestone task

1. In the Task Name column, select where you want to insert the milestone.

2. On the Task tab, in the Insert group, select Milestone.

   Project inserts a new row for the new task and renumbers subsequent tasks. Project names the new task <New Milestone> and gives it a 0-day duration.

To mark a task of any duration as a milestone

1. Select a task name.

2. On the Task tab, in the Properties group, select Information.

3. In the Task Information dialog, select Advanced.

4. Select the Mark task as milestone checkbox.

Create summary tasks to outline the plan

You’ll find it helpful to organize groups of closely related tasks into an outline by using summary tasks. A summary task is made up of and summarizes the subtasks indented below it in the plan’s outline. When the summary tasks are sequenced over time, the highest-level summary tasks are called phases.

When you’re reviewing a project’s plan, seeing tasks organized in an outline helps you and your stakeholders think in terms of major work items or phases. For example, book publishing projects are commonly divided into Editorial, Design, and Production phases. With an outline applied, you can then expand or collapse the outline to show just the level of detail you want. You create an outline by indenting and outdenting tasks, as Figure 4-4 shows.

Summary tasks are automatically scheduled by default. Project calculates the duration of an automatically scheduled summary task as the span of working time from the earliest start date to the latest finish date of its subtasks. If you directly edit the duration of an automatically scheduled summary task or its start or finish date, Project switches the task to a manually scheduled task.

When a summary task is manually scheduled, its duration is calculated based on its subtasks, as with the duration of an automatically scheduled summary task. However, you can edit the duration of a manually scheduled summary task; Project keeps track of both the manual duration that you entered and the calculated duration. Chapter 10, “Fine-tune task details,” provides more details on summary tasks with both manual and automatically calculated durations.

The highest level of a plan’s outline is called the project summary task. Project automatically generates the project summary task but does not display it by default. Because the project summary task is at the highest level of the plan’s outline, it includes rolled-up details from all subtasks. It also represents the full duration of the plan, so it’s a handy way of seeing some essential details, such as the plan’s overall duration. You’ll look into the plan’s duration and finish date later in this chapter.

To promote a task to a summary task

1. Select the tasks directly below the task that you want to make a summary task.

2. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, select the Indent Task button. The results are shown in Figure 4-4.

   

To insert a new summary task within a task list

1. Select the name of the tasks that will become subtasks.

2. On the Task tab, in the Insert group, select Summary.

   Project inserts a row for a new task, indents the selected tasks directly below it, and renumbers the subsequent tasks. Project names the new task <New Summary Task>.

3. With <New Summary Task> selected, enter the summary task name.

   Tip

   When you insert a summary task for a list of manually scheduled tasks, Project sets the new summary task to be automatically scheduled.

To demote a summary task to a task

1. Select all subtasks below the summary task.

2. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, select the Outdent Task button.

Link tasks to create dependencies

When you link tasks, you create scheduling relationships between the tasks. These task relationships are called dependencies, as in the start of this task is dependent upon the completion of a prior task. Project can automatically adjust the scheduling of linked tasks as changes occur in your plan. Creating dependencies by linking tasks is crucial to getting the full benefit of the Project scheduling engine.

Let’s look at one type of dependency relationship you can create between two tasks. Most projects require tasks to be performed in a specific order. For example, the task of writing a chapter of a book must be completed before the task of editing the chapter can occur.

These two tasks have a finish-to-start relationship, which has two aspects:

• The second task must occur after the first task; this is a sequence.

• The second task can occur only if the first task is completed; this is a dependency.

In Project, the first task (Write the chapter) is called the predecessor because it precedes tasks that depend on it. The second task (Edit the chapter) is called the successor because it succeeds, or follows, tasks on which it is dependent. Any task can be a predecessor for one or more successor tasks. Likewise, any task can be a successor to one or more predecessor tasks.

Although this might sound complicated, two tasks can have one of only four types of task relationships, as described in the following table.

For finish-to-start relationships (the default link type), the predecessor with the later finish date determines the start date of the successor task. This predecessor task is sometimes called the driving predecessor because it determines or drives the start date of its successor task. Project includes a feature called Task Path that helps you more easily identify driving predecessor and successor relationships. (See Chapter 9, “Fine-tune task scheduling.”)

A task with two or more successor tasks might have different task relationships with each successor. For example, the predecessor task can have a finish-to-start relationship with one successor and a finish-to-finish relationship with another successor.

Representing task relationships and handling changes to scheduled start and finish dates are two areas where using a scheduling tool such as Project really pays off. For example, you can change task durations or add or remove tasks from a chain of linked tasks; Project then reschedules tasks accordingly.

Automatically scheduled tasks are dynamically rescheduled when their predecessor task details change. Manually scheduled tasks are not rescheduled by schedule updates to their predecessor tasks, but you can force a manually scheduled task to respect its predecessor links whenever you want. You can, in effect, “nudge” a manually scheduled task to respect its links.

Task relationships appear in several ways in Project, including the following:

• In Gantt chart and Network Diagram views, task relationships appear as the lines connecting tasks.

• In tables, such as the Entry table, task ID numbers of predecessor tasks appear in the Predecessor fields of successor tasks. (In a Gantt chart view, you might need to drag the vertical divider bar to the right to display the Predecessor column.)

To link tasks

1. Select the names of the tasks you want to link. If the tasks are not adjacent, select the first task, hold down the Ctrl key, and then select the additional task or tasks.

2. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, select the Link the Selected Tasks button (which looks like two chain links).

   As Figure 4-5 shows, Project links the tasks with a finish-to-start relationship.

   

Or

1. In the chart portion of a Gantt chart view, point to the predecessor task bar and then drag down to the task bar for the successor task.

   Note that, as you drag, the pointer changes to a link icon and pop-up window that updates with information as you point to other task bars as shown in Figure 4-6.

   

   This ScreenTip can help you link tasks by using the mouse. The pointer changes to indicate that you’re linking tasks.

2. When the pointer is over the successor task bar, release the mouse button.

Or

• In the Predecessors field for the successor task, enter the predecessor task’s ID or choose the desired task from the displayed list available by selecting the arrow that appears.

  You might have to scroll the table to the right to display the Predecessor column.

  Tip

  Multiple predecessors can be quickly added by typing in multiple task IDs or using the task list available In the predecessor field of the desired successor task.

  Tip

  When working with summary tasks, you can either link summary tasks directly or link the latest task in the first phase with the earliest task in the second phase. The scheduling result is the same in either situation. Under no circumstances, however, can you link a summary task to one of its own subtasks. Doing so creates a circular scheduling problem, so Project doesn’t allow it.

Or

1. Select the task for which you want to specify a predecessor task or multiple predecessor tasks.

2. On the Task tab, in the Properties group, select the Information button.

3. On the Predecessors tab of the Task Information dialog, enter the ID value or select or enter the task name of the predecessor task you want, and then select OK.

To unlink tasks

1. Select the tasks you want to unlink.

2. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, select the Unlink Tasks button (which looks like a broken chain link).

To force a manually scheduled task to respect its predecessor task’s scheduling result

1. Select the manually scheduled task you want to reschedule, as determined by its predecessor task relationships.

2. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, select the Respect Links button.

Check a plan’s duration and finish date

At any time in the planning or execution of a project, you and other project stakeholders might want to know how long the project is expected to take. However, you don’t directly enter a total project duration or finish date in a plan, and you don’t need to. Project calculates these values based on the task durations, dependencies, project calendar adjustments, and many other factors you’ve recorded in a plan.

Project calculates the plan’s finish date based on the span of working days required to complete the tasks, starting at the plan’s start date. Any change to the start date causes Project to recalculate the finish date.

Project determines the plan’s duration by counting the working days between the earliest start date and the latest finish date of the plan’s tasks. Because Project distinguishes between working and nonworking time, a task’s duration doesn’t necessarily correlate to elapsed time.

Some handy ways to view the plan’s duration and scheduled start and finish dates include the Timeline view, the project summary task, and the Project Statistics dialog, shown in Figure 4-7.

To check a plan’s finish date in the Timeline

• In the Timeline view above the Gantt Chart view, note the plan’s current start and finish dates.

To check a plan’s duration, finish date, and more in the Statistics dialog

1. On the Project tab, in the Properties group, select the Project Information button.

2. In the Project Statistics dialog, select Statistics.

To display the project summary task

1. Select anywhere in a Gantt Chart view.

2. On the Gantt Chart Format tab, in the Show/Hide group, select the Project Summary Task checkbox.

   As shown in Figure 4-8, Project displays the project summary task at the top of the Gantt Chart view with an ID of 0.

   

   Here you find the same duration and start and finish values displayed in the Project Statistics dialog. In the chart vertical dashed lines show the plan’s start and finish dates along with a Project Summary bar drawn to match the duration of the overall plan.

Document task information

You can record additional information about a task in a note. For example, you might have detailed descriptions of a task but want to keep the task’s name succinct. You can add such details to a task note instead of to the task’s name. That way, the information resides in the plan and can be easily viewed or printed.

Project offers three types of notes: task notes, resource notes, and assignment notes. You can enter and review task notes on the Notes tab in the Task Information dialog. Notes in Project support a wide range of text formatting options; you can even link to or store graphic images and other types of files in notes.

You can see in Figure 4-9 that notes appear in a ScreenTip when there’s a note icon in the Indicators column.

For notes that are too long to appear in a ScreenTip, you can double-click the note icon to display the full text of the note.

The project summary task, mentioned earlier, also supports a task note. Because the project summary task spans the entire plan, it’s a great place to capture important information about the plan. Text entered in the Comments field of the Properties dialog appears as a note on the project summary task. If you add or change a note on the project summary task, the change appears in the Comments field in the Properties dialog.

Sometimes you want to associate a task in a plan with information stored in a different document or on a webpage. Using hyperlinks, you can connect a specific task, resource, or assignment to additional information that resides outside the plan.

To add a note to a task

1. Select the name of the task to which you want to add a note.

2. On the Task tab, in the Properties group, select the Notes button.

   Or

   Right-click the task name, and then select Notes.

3. In the Notes box, enter the note text you want, and then select OK.

To add a hyperlink to a task

1. Right-click the task name, and then select Link to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog.

2. In the Text to display box, enter the link text you want to display.

3. In the Address box, enter the URL of the destination address you want to link to.

4. Select OK.

To quickly remove notes, hyperlinks, or formatting from selected tasks

• On the Task tab, in the Editing group, select the Clear button (which looks like an eraser) and then select the command you want.

Skills review

In this chapter, you learned how to

• Create tasks

• Switch task scheduling from manual to automatic

• Enter task durations and estimates

• Enter milestone tasks

• Create summary tasks to outline the plan

• Link tasks to create dependencies

• Check a plan’s duration and finish date

• Document task information

Practice tasks

The SimpleBuildTaskList practice file for these tasks is located in the ProjectDesktopSBSCh04 folder. For practice file download instructions, see the introduction.