Project 2010 For Dummies®

Chapter 4

A Tisket, a Task Kit

In This Chapter

Selecting the task mode for scheduling

Creating and importing tasks

Establishing task types and durations

Creating recurring tasks

Defining effort-driven tasks

Setting task constraints

Making a task inactive

Entering task notes

Saving a project

A project manager is, by necessity, a taskmaster because tasks form the to-do list of your project. Tasks incorporate the What, When, Who, and Where information of your plan. Resources work on a project by getting assigned to tasks. The timing of tasks and the relationships between them form the schedule for your project. By tracking the activity on tasks, you can see the progress of your project over time.

You can create tasks in a few different ways: by typing information in the sheet area of Gantt Chart view (or any other view that displays information in columns) or by using the Task Information dialog box. You can also import tasks from Outlook or Excel.

You have to make some choices when you create tasks. For example, you have to determine and specify settings for a task that control its timing and its priority, as well as certain constraints regarding how its timing may or may not shift during the life of your project.

In this chapter, you find out all about tasks and the various settings that give each task its own, unique personality.

User-Controlled Scheduling: Manual versus Automatic

One of the most valuable aspects offered by Project has traditionally been its ability to recalculate ...