Very short task durations (< 1 minute)

[AMD]

I am trying to use MS Project to map tasks performed in a chemical
laboratory. We have some steps that take less than one minute to complete.
However, when I enter in 30 seconds, for example, I get an error message.
When I enter 0.5 minutes, it defaults to 0 minutes and makes the task a
milestone. Is it possible to enter task durations of less than 1 minute?

 

[JackD]

No, you can't but you can just pretend minutes are seconds and you will be
OK for schedules up to about an hour. Make sure your working calendar is set
to 24 hours / 7 days and that work is displayed in hours instead of days.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

I wonder if it's really necessary to map the tasks in such fine detail.
Generally speaking, tasks are work performed by a single resource. A single
task could consist of a number of operations - if they're performed by the
same resource, you can group them together into one task for schedule
planning purposes and let the resource doing the work worry about organizing
the details.

 

[JackD]

In this case I don't see a problem with planning in detail. Chemical
reactions can be very time critical and have strict dependencies so using
project as a tool to work out a good plan seems entirely reasonable.

Imagine, Resource A is responsible for getting the beaker and adding the
acid to the beaker, Resource B is responsible for getting the stirrer and
adding water to the beaker.

Ideally this would be A gets beaker, B adds water, A adds acid, B stirs as
the acid is slowly added.

In your scenario B could decide that all he has is water and a stirrer,
nothing dangerous, right? So you could have a chain of activities like this

A gets beaker, A adds acid, B adds water, C takes both victims to wash their
eyes out.

As I see it, the issue is not resources, it is modelling the dependencies
which project is being used for.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

I often tend to think of resources in this context as packages of skills
that may either be carried in one individual or while distributed over
several individuals is used as a unit to accomplish the task. In your
example the "resource" from a task scheduling point of view is a composite
"AB" working as a unit because you need both of them together to have the
set of skills needed to mix the acid. While the task of mixing the acid may
well need to be scheduled into the context of the overall lab workflow, I
still have doubts that the project manager himself needs to be that
intimately involved in the step-by-step sequencing details of getting it
mixed. Not saying it would never occur but it seems to me that the majority
of time it would be sufficient to have the plan show "Mix Acid, 15min, A&B"
instead of "Get Beaker, 1min, A" "Get Acid, 2min, B" "Pour Water into
Beaker, 30 sec, A" ....

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

 

[JackD]

I think you are missing the point that he simply wants to use project to MAP
the PROCESS, not to MANAGE the process. I am not the original poster, but I
don't see any need for a project manager here. It appears that they intend
to use the tool for analysis. Not to manage the day to day working of a lab.

 

[JackD]

The original poster is using it to map tasks in a specific process. I doubt
that they are using it to track or manage the performance of that process.

Once again, I fail to see any problem with this and I disagree that the
level of detail is inappropriate.
MY schedules have tasks weeks and even months long and I'd never bother with
scheduling something a day long, but that doesn't mean that someone can't
use the tool to map the steps in a very short process.

Just because project can track progress and allocate resources doesn't mean
that you have to do that. Why not let someone use it to generate a
reasonably accurate and legible plan for the steps involved in a certain
process? It is better at that than excel would be and is easier than writing
it by hand.

The world of MS project usage is not limited to project management.

 

[AMD]

Thank you for the helpful information. Let me provide a little more
background on my project. Any additional suggestions or comments are
appreciated.

My intention is actually not to use MS Project to manage real time work in
the lab. I am trying to use MS Project to model the work that typically
occurs in the lab during a week. The idea is to determine where and when the
large volumes of hands-on technician work occurs. We can then adjust
sampling schedules in the plant to level out the work load. We are
categorizing each task as either hands-on time or non-hands-on time by color
coding the task bars differently and then only assigning the hands-on tasks.
Does anyone know if MS Project has ever been used in this way?

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

They using it to map the processes so they can plan the workload, assign
staff accordingly, and (I gather) schedule the entry of samples into the
process. That's managing, whether performance against the plan is
subsequently tracked or not. Whether it's done using Project or some other
tool I just don't believe human activities can ever be scheduled to that
level of precision - it implies that it is reasonable to expect mixing the
water and acid will take exactly 27 seconds, not 26 or 28, and Joe Resource
will be staring at the clock (synchronized to the NIST master clocks) so he
can start it at precisely 10:13:19 and finish it at 10:13:37 and even more,
that it really matters that it's done at 10:13:37 and it's not acceptable
for it to finish at 10:13:35 or 10:13:50. Because humans don't and can't
work that way, it seems pointless to me to go to the trouble. Even more
importantly, focussing on the trees and not the forest can lead one away
from devising systems and controls that actually meet the objectives at
hand.

Tools are supposed to make work easier and more efficient. While it's
certainly possible to kludge together something in Project, because of the
way Project behaves I would be very cautious about relying on it too far and
forcing the job to fit Project's design model is probably going to be a
laborious process. You can open a can of beans with a screwdriver or a
hammer but they're far from being the optimal tools for the job. Whack the
can with the hammer and you'll get the beans out but you'll have a mess to
clean up and only get to eat half the beans in the end <grin>.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs