Linking tasks with no particular order

[Lucinda Brookens]

Hi Jeremy:

Well, I would schedule all of these tasks with finish-to-
finish relationships (so that they schedule to complete
on the same date). This way you can enter the actual
start dates for each task.

Hope this helps!

-----Original Message-----
I have a list of about 10 tasks underneath a

header "Admin Pages to be coded". I don't care what
order the pages are coded in, so when I link them all
together it seems as if one has to be coded right after
the other, in order, and so on... Is there a way to tell
Project that all of these tasks just have to be done
within 10 days or something like that, and the order they
are completed doesn't matter? Or should I just schedule
them one after the other and when I actually complete
them I will update the ACTUAL dates? Thanks!!

 

[Steve House]

Links or not you can always enter actual start dates in the Actual Start
field (most readily seen on the tracking table) and when you do Project
updates the plan to reflect the dates work began on the tasks. In general,
you should never, ever enter dates directly in the *scheduled* start and
finish fields (unless you intend to create a constraint), that is, the Start
and Finish column you see on the Gantt chart's task entry table and that
rule applies whether you're creating the original plan or entering actual
starts and finishes as you track progress. Those dates are calculated by
Project based on the process logic linking the tasks, the estimated
durations of the tasks, and the availability of the resources equired to do
the tasks on a certain date.

Finish to finish does not mean that they will end together or even that they
need to end on the same date. It means that the successor task cannot be
considered finished until its predecessor task has finished. It may very
well finish later than the predecessor but it won't finish earlier.