scheduling
The Hammock dependency
There are tasks whose duration depends on other tasks.
For instance, on a project site, it may be necessary to carry out control by a third-party organization, whose services can be quite expensive. The control should start strictly at the beginning of one of the tasks and end strictly at the end of another.
The duration of the task cannot be determined in advance, as when the durations of the controlled tasks change, its duration should also change.
For instance, on a project site, it may be necessary to carry out control by a third-party organization, whose services can be quite expensive. The control should start strictly at the beginning of one of the tasks and end strictly at the end of another.
The duration of the task cannot be determined in advance, as when the durations of the controlled tasks change, its duration should also change.
For planning such tasks, professionals use a technical trick called a “hammock” task. The “hammock” is hung between two points - the beginning or end of one task and another task using a special insert with a link. Suppose we need to hang a hammock from the beginning of Task 1 to the end of Task 3:
Place the cursor in the cell with the start of Task 1 and copy this cell. Then click with the right mouse button in the cell with the start of the hammock task (I deliberately use this name in the example) and select the command Paste Special. In the Paste Special Insert window, press the Paste Link button and the OK button:
A gray triangle will appear in the lower right corner of the cell with the start of the hammock task, indicating the link of this cell with another:
If you now double-click on the cell with the gray triangle, the cursor will indicate the cell from which the linked data is taken.
We will do the same with the end date. Select the cell with the end of Task 3 and copy it. Place the cursor in the cell with the end of the hammock task, right-click on it and select Paste Special – Paste Link - OK.
The program will plan the hammock task according to the specified dates:
We will do the same with the end date. Select the cell with the end of Task 3 and copy it. Place the cursor in the cell with the end of the hammock task, right-click on it and select Paste Special – Paste Link - OK.
The program will plan the hammock task according to the specified dates:
And when changing the durations of the original tasks, it will recalculate the duration of the hammock:
That’s what we were aiming for.
More examples of hammocks:
More examples of hammocks:
In this example, the hammock is hung from the beginning and until the end of the summary task.
And here the hammock is hung between two tasks.
Be careful with hammocks, do not abuse them. After all, this technique is really not logical, but technical. And even more so, it is not worth hanging both regular links between tasks (see material about types of links) and links with a special insert on the same task.
About how to get rid of incorrectly composed links with a special insert - in another material.
Be careful with hammocks, do not abuse them. After all, this technique is really not logical, but technical. And even more so, it is not worth hanging both regular links between tasks (see material about types of links) and links with a special insert on the same task.
About how to get rid of incorrectly composed links with a special insert - in another material.
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