A small, but mighty change to Schedule Table tasks 💪
Overview 📃
Scheduling modes are all about auto-magic. With a few setting and a simple formula you can let the scheduling table do all the work for you. Defining some variables we have:
- Effort = the amount of work a task will take
- Duration = the amount of time task will take from Start Date to End Date
- Units = The percentage a resource or resources are devoted to a task per day
Now let's dive into the magic of how they're related:
Effort is a product of how much time resources are spending per day, times the number of days working. We'll get into some concrete examples below to get your mind churning 🤔💭
Scheduling Types 📐
Normal Tasks
(The previous default task type)
What it means: Think of this type as unrestricted meaning the variables don't depend on one another. The formula does not apply to these types of tasks, so you will need to manually update each variable.
Changing...
- Duration: tweaks the dates to match, and vice versa if you change the dates it will affect the Duration.
- Units: doesn’t affect Effort or the Duration
- Effort: doesn’t affect Units or the Duration
Example: Imagine you’re planning a picnic 🧺🍉🥪 The number of hours per day you spend daydreaming about menus (Units), and the actual hours (of Effort) you put in prepping don’t necessarily affect the picnic date. Say you have to move the date because it rains, which means you have an extra day to plan (+1 day Duration), but the Effort to do so stays the same.
Caution: While "Effort-Driven" can be selected it has no effect.
Fixed Duration
(The 🆕default task type)
What it means: Duration drives Effort. Units and Effort affect each other, not Duration. This mode is all about due dates. If you need something done by a certain date, this mode will figure out Units and Effort based on your input.
Changing...
- Duration: Changing it affects Start or End Date, and the Effort in kind.
- Units: Changing units affects the effort, not duration.
- Effort: Changing Effort affects Units, not duration.
Warning: Pushing Effort past the resource capacity will put Units over 100% per day. Meaning... someone is working overtime to get it done by the desired date.
Example: Think of painting a house 🏠🎨🖌️
You promised to complete the painting by the end of the week (Fixed Duration). If you decide to paint half the day (1 Resource at Unit= 50%) it'll take twice as long as if you spent all day on it. On the other hand, you might have to consider bringing another set of hands (2 Resources at 50% Unit) to maintain the same Effort.
Fixed Units
What it means: Sometimes you only have so much time per day to devote to a task (i.e. Units are fixed). In this mode Duration and Effort affect each other, not Units. Use this mode when the resources assigned to a task is fixed. Manually input the Units, and the Effort and Duration of the task will be automatically calculated. Unless the Effort Driven column is checked, in which case, only Duration will be recalculated.
Changing...
- Duration: affects the Start or End Date and Effort, but keeps the Units.
- Units: affects the Effort, and keeps the Units the same.
- Effort: affects the Duration, and keeps the Units the same.
Example: Imagine you’re baking cookies for a fundraiser🍪👩🍳
Think of 100% Unit to be you spending your whole (working) day baking, so 8 hours (Effort). If you estimate the baking project needs 8 hours, then it'll take you one day to complete (Duration= 1 day= 8 hours). Half way through you realize, this is actually a 16 hour project (double the Effort), because you only have 8 hours per day to devote to the project (fixed Unit), it's going to take you two days to complete (doubles the Duration = 2 days = 16 hours).
Fixed Effort
What it means: Effort is fixed. Units and Duration don’t change the Effort. You know exactly how much Effort is required to do something, you just need to figure out who's going to do it when. Manually input the Effort required to the complete the task and let the table automatically calculate the Duration based on the assigned resource's calendar (Units).
Changing...
- Duration: affects the Start and End Date and Units, but maintains Effort.
- Units: affects the Duration, but maintains Effort.
- Effort: affects the Duration
Example: Think of a task that's always the same like chopping an onion🔪🧅
It'll take you roughly the same effort per onion. Let's say someone hands you one onion and you chop it in 2 minutes flat ⏱️Now they come in with a big barrel with... you won't believe it, one thousand onions. You could attack this barrel alone and it would take you about 2,000 minutes = 33 1/3 hours = ~ 4 days or you could increase your manpower...
You and your buddy (each at 100% Unit) will take half as long to chop 🧑🤝🧑(Duration), but won't affect at all how many onions you have to get through (Effort). If you and your buddy decide to only work half days (50% Unit) it'll take twice as long (Duration), but you still won't touch how many onions are in the barrel (Effort).
Changing Scheduling Mode 🔀
How to edit the task type? Easy!! Right-click a task, select edit, find the advanced tab and click on the 'Scheduling Mode' to see all these options 🕵️
Alternatively you can set up an additional column for the table! Who doesn't like options?! 🤓
