Project 2010 For Dummies®

Chapter 6

Timing Is Everything

In This Chapter

Discovering how dependency links affect timing

Reviewing the different kinds of dependency relationships

Allowing for lag and lead time

Creating dependency links

Reflecting the timing of external tasks in your project

Examining workflow in Gantt Chart and Network Diagram views

Imagine this: If you create a hundred tasks and leave their default constraints so that they start as soon as possible and have no dependencies, all those tasks start on the project start date and occur simultaneously. The project consisting of a hundred tasks takes exactly as long to complete as the longest task.

Wander back over here to reality for a moment. When was the last time that every task in your project could be performed at the same time? When did you last have enough resources to even begin to make that feasible? When did you ever have a set of tasks in which not a single task had to be completed before another could start? Imagine what would happen if you poured a building’s foundation before you got the building permit. Or, consider the chaos if you tried to train your employees to use a new piece of equipment before the equipment even arrived.

The reality is that tasks in a project don’t all start at the same time. To reflect that reality in a Project plan, you have to build in a timing logic. That logic consists of setting dependency links between tasks. Dependencies are timing relationships between tasks — for example, when one task depends ...