How can I get the task's author ?

[Steve House]

Since it is the project manager that decides what needs to be done, in what
sequence, and by whom, isn't the author of individual tasks the same as the
author of the project? At least it should be - surely you don't let
individual resources decide what they're going to do on the projec t do you?

 

[caijp]

I can get the project author by calling the PDS,but how I can get the
task's?

 

[Jame Healy]

I've often thought the same thing. With Project Server it is certainly
possible (and even preferable) for resources to be able to either create
sub-tasks, delegate to other resources in a dynamic and professional
environment.

The days of the project manager "deciding what needs to be done" are
numbered as general project managers typically lack the technical background
to determine not only what needs to be done, but what resources are actually
best suited to address tasks, how to manage technical risk, etc. Thankfully
the ability for resources to interact more proactively with a project
schedule will make "bottom up" estimation a reality for organizations and
increase overall project accuracy, "team buy in" and probability of success.

.... so having said that, can anyone answer "caifp's" original question
below?

--
Jame Healy
Sunaptic Solutions
www.sunaptic.com

 

[Steve House]

The captain of a ship doesn't know the technical details of everything that
goes on on-board either, but still retains the ultimate responsibility for
all decisions made by anyone in his command. Certainly any PM worth his or
her salt is going to consult with Subject Matter Experts when designing the
project plan and very frequently those SMEs are going to also be resources
on the project. Still, if the PM's role is to insure the project comes to
completion on-time and in-budget, the final say what gets and what does not
get included needs to rest with a proactive PM. A PM doesn't just watch the
project unfold while coordinating work and recording/monitoring results.
Very expensive scope creep is often the result.

--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Jame Healy]

I understand where you're coming from, but I have to say that I support the
notion that there are other schools of thought on this (and I believe this
is where the question is coming from).

I believe this is the reason that Microsoft built the feature allowing
resources to create new tasks and delegate tasks (to be ultimately
'approved' by the PM by the way) to support more dynamic team models than
the conventional "PM owns the project" approach. Even the "ship's captain",
although responsible for the ship, doesn't assign detailed tasks to the
engine crew...

In any event, does anyone know how/if it is possible to get the author of a
task? Perhaps it would be an idea to cross post this in the
microsoft.public.project.developer newsgroup?

--
Jame Healy
Sunaptic Solutions
www.sunaptic.com

 

[ck]

You can get the task's author throught database access, use SQL 'select
Task_id,task_name, wproj_id,wres_id,WRES_ID_MGR from MSP_WEB_ASSIGNMENTS
where wproj_id=101 and task_id=17', and 'WRES_ID_MGR' is the task manager.
But I have also a question, I want to get the task's author in VBA, but I
can not get it. Thanks for any suggestion.