Unit 3: Tasks - Subjective Questions

Entering tasks involves creating a clear list of activities required to complete a project. The usual procedure is:

• Open the task or Gantt Chart view.
• Enter the task name in the task table.
• Assign an appropriate task ID or outline position.
• Define the task hierarchy by indenting summary tasks and subtasks.
• Enter the task duration or start and finish dates.
• Set task predecessors where dependencies exist.
• Assign resources, notes, and other relevant properties.

A task name should describe a specific deliverable or activity. Tasks should be ordered logically and divided into manageable units so that their progress and completion can be monitored effectively.

Task duration is the amount of working time required to complete a task. It is normally expressed in minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months.

When entering a duration, consider:

• The amount of effort required to perform the task.
• The number and availability of assigned resources.
• The project calendar, including working days and holidays.
• Dependencies on other tasks.
• Expected interruptions or waiting periods.
• Whether the task is effort-driven or has a fixed duration.

Duration is different from effort. For example, a task may require person-hours of effort but take two working days when performed by one person or one day when performed by two suitably available people.

Task durations can be estimated using several techniques:

• Expert judgment: Use the experience of subject-matter experts.
• Analogous estimation: Compare the task with a similar completed task.
• Parametric estimation: Use a measurable rate, such as hours per module.
• Bottom-up estimation: Estimate small activities and add their values.
• Three-point estimation: Consider optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic values.

For three-point estimation, an expected duration may be calculated as:

where is the optimistic estimate, is the most likely estimate, and is the pessimistic estimate.

Estimates should be reviewed because actual productivity, resource availability, technical difficulties, and project conditions may differ from the original assumptions. Updating estimates improves schedule accuracy and supports corrective action.

A milestone is a significant event or checkpoint that has zero duration. Examples include completion of requirements approval, delivery of a prototype, or project acceptance.

A phase is a major stage of a project that contains a group of related tasks. Examples include initiation, design, development, testing, and deployment.

The distinction is:

• A milestone represents an event or achievement.
• A phase represents a period of work.
• A milestone normally has no duration, while a phase spans a time interval.
• A phase may contain several tasks and milestones.

In a schedule, milestones are commonly displayed as diamond-shaped symbols, while phases are represented by summary tasks covering the duration of their subordinate tasks.

A recurring task is a task that occurs repeatedly according to a specified pattern. It prevents the project manager from entering similar tasks individually and helps maintain consistency in the schedule.

To create one:

• Select the option for inserting a recurring task.
• Enter the task name and duration of each occurrence.
• Select the recurrence pattern, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
• Specify the recurrence interval.
• Define the start and end dates or the number of occurrences.
• Review the generated task instances in the schedule.

Suitable examples include weekly project meetings, monthly progress reports, periodic backups, regular maintenance, and recurring quality reviews. Recurring tasks should be used only when the activity genuinely follows a predictable pattern.

Recurring tasks are useful, but they must be managed carefully.

Important precautions include:

• Verify that the recurrence dates follow the project calendar.
• Check whether holidays or nonworking days alter an occurrence.
• Avoid using a recurring task when each occurrence has substantially different work.
• Review resource assignments for every generated instance.
• Confirm that dependencies are correctly applied to the individual occurrences.
• Update or remove future occurrences if the project plan changes.
• Avoid creating unnecessary schedule complexity through excessive recurrence.

A recurring task should represent a repeated activity, not a collection of unrelated tasks. Each occurrence may need separate tracking because its status, actual duration, and completion percentage can differ from the others.

Tasks can be edited to keep the project plan accurate and current. Common editing actions include:

• Changing the task name or description.
• Modifying duration, start date, or finish date.
• Changing the task mode between manual and automatic scheduling.
• Updating predecessors and successors.
• Assigning or removing resources.
• Changing priority, notes, or task constraints.
• Updating completion percentage and actual values.
• Indenting or outdenting tasks to change the outline structure.

Editing may be performed directly in the task table, through a task information dialog, or through the task bar in a Gantt Chart. After editing, the manager should check the effect on dependent tasks, summary tasks, resource workloads, and the project completion date.

Task priority indicates the relative importance of a task compared with other tasks. It helps project managers decide which activities should receive attention when resources or time are limited.

Changing priority can influence:

• The order in which tasks are considered for resource allocation.
• The handling of resource conflicts.
• The sequence of work during planning and execution.
• Which tasks are protected from being delayed.
• The selection of tasks for leveling or optimization.

Priority does not necessarily change task duration or dependency logic. A high-priority task may still have to wait for its predecessor. Therefore, priority should be used together with dependencies, deadlines, business importance, risk, and resource availability.

To insert a task:

• Select the row where the new task should appear.
• Use the insert-task command or create a new row.
• Enter the task name and duration.
• Set its outline level by indenting or outdenting it as required.
• Add predecessors, successors, resources, and priority.
• Select the appropriate scheduling mode.

After insertion, verify:

• The task is located in the correct sequence.
• Its summary-task relationship is correct.
• Dependencies are valid and do not create unintended circular relationships.
• The project finish date has not changed unexpectedly.
• Assigned resources are available.
• The task is included in the appropriate phase and reports.

Deleting a task permanently removes it from the active project schedule, including its task information and usually its relationships. It is appropriate when the task was entered by mistake or is confirmed to be unnecessary.

Making a task inactive removes it from active scheduling calculations while preserving its information in the project file. It is appropriate when:

• The task may be required later.
• An alternative approach is being evaluated.
• Historical planning information must be retained.
• The task has been postponed rather than cancelled.
• The manager wants to compare planning scenarios.

Deleting is irreversible or difficult to recover from, while inactivation supports simplified planning and later reactivation. Before either action, dependencies and summary-task calculations should be reviewed.

A task can be moved by:

• Cutting and inserting it at another row.
• Dragging it to a new position in the task list.
• Changing its outline level through indent or outdent commands.
• Changing its start date or predecessor relationship.
• Moving the task bar in a Gantt Chart when allowed by its scheduling mode.

Moving a task in the list may change its relationship with a summary task, but it does not always change its logical dependencies. Changing dates or predecessors can affect successor tasks, float, resource allocation, summary-task duration, and the project finish date. After moving a task, verify both its visual position and its logical relationships.

Tasks can be arranged using priority by assigning each task a relative importance value and then sorting or reviewing the task list according to that value. A typical process is:

• Assign priority values based on business importance, urgency, risk, or contractual significance.
• Display the priority field in the task table.
• Sort or filter tasks by priority.
• Resolve resource conflicts by considering high-priority tasks first.
• Review dependencies before changing execution order.

Advantages include improved focus, clearer decision-making, and better use of scarce resources. Risks include ignoring technical dependencies, overusing high-priority ratings, and delaying lower-priority tasks that are required to enable important work. Priority should guide decisions but should not override sound scheduling logic.

A manually scheduled task allows the user to control its dates and duration directly. The scheduling application may display warnings or indicators when the entered information conflicts with dependencies or calendars.

An automatically scheduled task is calculated by the scheduling engine using duration, calendars, constraints, dependencies, and resource information.

Comparison:

• Manual scheduling preserves user-entered dates even when assumptions change.
• Automatic scheduling recalculates dates when predecessors, durations, or calendars change.
• Manual scheduling is useful during early planning when information is uncertain.
• Automatic scheduling is useful when the plan is sufficiently defined and must respond consistently to changes.
• Automatic scheduling improves schedule integrity, while manual scheduling provides flexibility but can create inconsistencies.

Task mode specifies how the scheduling application manages a task's dates and duration. The two common modes are manual and automatic.

When switching from manual to automatic mode:

• The scheduling engine recalculates the task using dependencies, calendars, constraints, and duration.
• Entered dates may change to satisfy the schedule logic.
• Successor and summary-task dates may also be updated.

When switching from automatic to manual mode:

• The current calculated values are generally retained as starting values.
• Future changes may no longer move the task automatically.
• The task may become inconsistent with predecessor or calendar logic.

The project manager should review warnings, task dates, dependencies, and the project finish date after changing task mode.

Inactive tasks are tasks that remain in the project file but are excluded from active scheduling and progress calculations. They allow the manager to simplify the current plan without losing planning history.

Benefits include:

• Preserving tasks that may be restored later.
• Comparing alternative scopes or approaches.
• Removing postponed work from current dates and resource calculations.
• Retaining audit and historical information.
• Avoiding permanent deletion of uncertain tasks.
• Supporting what-if analysis during planning.

When a task is reactivated, its dependencies, duration, resources, and dates should be reviewed because changes in the surrounding schedule may make its original values inappropriate.

Tracking a project as scheduled means comparing actual progress with the approved plan and identifying whether work is occurring according to the schedule.

The process includes:

• Establishing or recording the planned schedule.
• Updating task progress, actual dates, and actual durations.
• Comparing current dates with baseline or scheduled dates.
• Examining variances in start dates, finish dates, duration, and cost.
• Identifying delayed or ahead-of-schedule tasks.
• Applying corrective action when necessary.

The baseline provides a stable reference point. Without it, changes to the current schedule may overwrite the original plan, making it difficult to measure performance. Schedule tracking supports forecasting, reporting, accountability, and timely corrective decisions.

Task completion percentage indicates the proportion of a task's work that has been completed. It is commonly represented as a value from to .

• 0%: The task has not started.
• 50%: Approximately half of the task is complete according to the selected progress measure.
• 100%: The task is complete.

To enter it, select the task and update its percent-complete field or use the appropriate progress command. The application may update actual and remaining duration based on the value.

Completion percentage should be based on objective evidence such as completed deliverables, tested functionality, or accepted work. It should not be increased merely because time has passed. For summary tasks, the displayed percentage may be calculated from the progress of their subtasks.

These measures describe different aspects of task progress:

• Percentage complete: Usually reflects elapsed duration. If half of the planned duration has elapsed, the task may be shown as complete.
• Physical percentage complete: Measures the amount of deliverable or product actually produced, independent of elapsed time.
• Percentage of work complete: Measures completed effort compared with total planned effort.

For example, a task may have consumed of its planned time but produced only of its deliverable. In that case, duration-based completion and physical completion are different. Selecting the appropriate measure improves reporting accuracy, especially when tasks have uneven work rates or significant resource effort.

Actual values record what really happened during task execution rather than what was originally planned. Common actual fields include:

• Actual start date.
• Actual finish date.
• Actual duration.
• Actual work or effort.
• Actual cost.
• Remaining duration or remaining work.
• Completion percentage.

Entering actual values allows the project manager to compare planned and actual performance. For example, an actual start date later than the planned start date indicates a start variance. An actual duration greater than the planned duration may affect successors and the project finish date. Accurate actual data improves forecasts, variance analysis, resource reporting, and management decisions.

The project manager should enter:

• The actual start date, which is two working days later than the planned start date.
• The actual duration of working days.
• The actual finish date based on the actual start and actual duration.
• A completion percentage of if the task has finished.
• Actual work and cost if those values are available.

The task has a duration variance of:

In addition to the two-day late start, the task took two days longer than planned. The total effect on the project depends on available float and task relationships. If the task is on the critical path, its delay may directly postpone successor tasks and the project finish date. If sufficient float exists, some or all of the delay may be absorbed.