How do I schedule tasks without ANY constraints?

[LMPatUSSCO]

I am trying to create a relatively simple project plan in Project. The
constraints are driving me crazy...I want to control start and stop date -
not have them calculated for me. Even though I am not linking tasks, Project
refuses to let me pick dates or durations sometimes. Is there a way to turn
off the constraints feature? I already tried unchecking the box under
Options>Schedule>"Tasks will always honor their constraint dates" to no
avail. Help! Thanks!

 

[JackD]

If you enter a date, Project will treat it as a constraint. What else can it
do to keep the task where you put it?
The best way is to enter a start date for the project, the task durations
and the logic (dependencies/links) necessary to order them correctly.
If you do not have dependencies then entering the task start date and the
duration should put the task with a start date where you like it and the
appropriate finish. It will set a "start no earlier" constraint to keep it
at that date. In the absence of constraints and dependencies, all tasks will
slide to the left until they hit the project start date.

-Jack

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

I have to ask - if you don't want Project to calculate the task start and
stop dates for you, why are you using Project???? Task scheduling
calculations, the very behaviour you're trying to disable, is the primary
reason such software exists in the first place. Why spend hundreds of
dollars for software that does that job very very well and then use it to do
nothing that you couldn't accomplish just as well with $5 worth of markers
and a wall calendar?

You say it won't let you pick dates or durations sometimes. I gather by
that you mean that you can't put in all three entries without Project
sometimes refusing to accept them without changing something. If you can
live with the fact that setting dates establishes constraints, you certainly
can pick dates and durations but you won't be able to pick them at random
without considering the relationship of duration to the start and end dates.
It won't let you enter all three of start, finish, AND duration willy-nilly
independent of each other. Duration is defined as the number of working
time units between the task's start and finish. If we work M-F, 8-5, and I
enter a task starting 27 Sep and ending 08 October, its duration cannot be
anything except 10 days (the weekend doesn't count since it's non-working
time and duration only counts working time) because that is the very
definition of duration. Likewise, if I enter it starting 27 Sep and say its
duration is 8 days, it will finish 06 Oct and cannot be anything else, again
because of the fundamental definition of duration. You can enter 2 of the
variables and Project can calculate a third but asking it to allow all three
to be input in a manner inconsistent with the fundamental definitions is
akin to asking your calculator to allow you to enter 2+3=17.44 without
complaint.