Discussion:
Remove a task from the critical path
(too old to reply)
Kevin
2005-07-22 06:29:04 UTC
Permalink
How can you remove a task from the critical path? I have a hammock task that
moves with the end date, but its not critical. It moves with the end date
because its a support task that needs to keep going as long as the project is
going. However, because it extends to the end of the project, MSProject is
marking it as a critical task.

Any ideas?
Mike Glen
2005-07-22 08:01:44 UTC
Permalink
Hi Kevin,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :-)

A work-around is to format the bar as blue.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :-)

Mike Glen
Project MVP
Post by Kevin
How can you remove a task from the critical path? I have a hammock
task that moves with the end date, but its not critical. It moves
with the end date because its a support task that needs to keep going
as long as the project is going. However, because it extends to the
end of the project, MSProject is marking it as a critical task.
Any ideas?
Kevin
2005-07-24 21:53:03 UTC
Permalink
Mike, I like your thinking :-) Problem is MSProject wont colour the real
critical path tasks red.

Thanks
Post by Mike Glen
Hi Kevin,
Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :-)
A work-around is to format the bar as blue.
FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/
Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :-)
Mike Glen
Project MVP
Post by Kevin
How can you remove a task from the critical path? I have a hammock
task that moves with the end date, but its not critical. It moves
with the end date because its a support task that needs to keep going
as long as the project is going. However, because it extends to the
end of the project, MSProject is marking it as a critical task.
Any ideas?
Brian K - Project MVP
2005-07-24 23:00:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin
Mike, I like your thinking :-) Problem is MSProject wont colour the real
critical path tasks red.
Thanks
Post by Mike Glen
Hi Kevin,
Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :-)
A work-around is to format the bar as blue.
FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/
Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :-)
Mike Glen
Project MVP
Post by Kevin
How can you remove a task from the critical path? I have a hammock
task that moves with the end date, but its not critical. It moves
with the end date because its a support task that needs to keep going
as long as the project is going. However, because it extends to the
end of the project, MSProject is marking it as a critical task.
Any ideas?
Are you saying that you feel that the tasks Project has marked 'Critical'
are not really critical?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Kevin
2005-07-24 23:13:13 UTC
Permalink
Brian, thats right. The task is a "Project Management" task. I have added the
task in in so I can include my time in the estimated and actual cost figures.
My time is not on the critical path but it does span the entire project.
Thats why its a hammock task, linked to the end date.

Thanks
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
Mike, I like your thinking :-) Problem is MSProject wont colour the real
critical path tasks red.
Thanks
Post by Mike Glen
Hi Kevin,
Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :-)
A work-around is to format the bar as blue.
FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/
Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :-)
Mike Glen
Project MVP
Post by Kevin
How can you remove a task from the critical path? I have a hammock
task that moves with the end date, but its not critical. It moves
with the end date because its a support task that needs to keep going
as long as the project is going. However, because it extends to the
end of the project, MSProject is marking it as a critical task.
Any ideas?
Are you saying that you feel that the tasks Project has marked 'Critical'
are not really critical?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Brian K - Project MVP
2005-07-25 02:47:11 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin
Brian, thats right. The task is a "Project Management" task. I have added the
task in in so I can include my time in the estimated and actual cost figures.
My time is not on the critical path but it does span the entire project.
Thats why its a hammock task, linked to the end date.
Sure. But how does that stop Project from showing the critical path in
red? The critical path is the critical path regardless of your hammock
task. You seem to be saying that Project is not showing the correct
critical path.
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Kevin
2005-07-25 03:11:02 UTC
Permalink
The hammock task is only there to show the project management effort, not to
dtermine the critical path or influence it in any way. Thats why I want to
remove it from the critical path.

If thats not possible, can you suggest a better way of factorign Project
Management effort into a plan?
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
Brian, thats right. The task is a "Project Management" task. I have added the
task in in so I can include my time in the estimated and actual cost figures.
My time is not on the critical path but it does span the entire project.
Thats why its a hammock task, linked to the end date.
Sure. But how does that stop Project from showing the critical path in
red? The critical path is the critical path regardless of your hammock
task. You seem to be saying that Project is not showing the correct
critical path.
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Brian K - Project MVP
2005-07-25 03:51:10 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin
The hammock task is only there to show the project management effort, not to
dtermine the critical path or influence it in any way. Thats why I want to
remove it from the critical path.
If thats not possible, can you suggest a better way of factorign Project
Management effort into a plan?
Im not disagreeing that the hammock task is a good idea if you need to
factor in things like PM time. Im asking about your statement that Project
is not calculating the critical path correctly. In what way is the
critical path wrong in your project or why do you feel that it is wrong?
You said "Problem is MSProject wont colour the real critical path tasks
red." Why do you feel this way?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Kevin
2005-07-25 04:06:02 UTC
Permalink
Ah! that was just a little joke in response to Mike suggesting to just colour
the task blue!
MSProject is calculating the critical path correctly, but because the
hammock task spans the end of the project, it is included in the critical
path. Thats what I want to change somehow, to remove the hammock task from
the critical path, so that it maps the critical path as if the Project
Managment task didnt exist.
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
The hammock task is only there to show the project management effort, not to
dtermine the critical path or influence it in any way. Thats why I want to
remove it from the critical path.
If thats not possible, can you suggest a better way of factorign Project
Management effort into a plan?
Im not disagreeing that the hammock task is a good idea if you need to
factor in things like PM time. Im asking about your statement that Project
is not calculating the critical path correctly. In what way is the
critical path wrong in your project or why do you feel that it is wrong?
You said "Problem is MSProject wont colour the real critical path tasks
red." Why do you feel this way?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Brian K - Project MVP
2005-07-25 04:37:45 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin
Ah! that was just a little joke in response to Mike suggesting to just colour
the task blue!
MSProject is calculating the critical path correctly, but because the
hammock task spans the end of the project, it is included in the critical
path. Thats what I want to change somehow, to remove the hammock task from
the critical path, so that it maps the critical path as if the Project
Managment task didnt exist.
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
The hammock task is only there to show the project management effort, not to
dtermine the critical path or influence it in any way. Thats why I want to
remove it from the critical path.
If thats not possible, can you suggest a better way of factorign Project
Management effort into a plan?
Im not disagreeing that the hammock task is a good idea if you need to
factor in things like PM time. Im asking about your statement that Project
is not calculating the critical path correctly. In what way is the
critical path wrong in your project or why do you feel that it is wrong?
You said "Problem is MSProject wont colour the real critical path tasks
red." Why do you feel this way?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Ah, with the hammock task there will always be another critical path
because there will always be other tasks on the path that pushes the
milestone out that drives the hammock task. You can double click on the
hammock task gantt bar and have it colored blue. This will make it appear
that it is not critical while still having Project color the other
critical tasks red. Does that help?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Kevin
2005-07-25 05:42:01 UTC
Permalink
Nope, it doesnt help because there is only one critical path which is the
Project Management task and the final deployment task its linked to. Those
are the only 2 red tasks. The other tasks that influence the final deployment
task are not being recognised as critical because of the PM task and
therefore they arent colored Red.

Thanks
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
Ah! that was just a little joke in response to Mike suggesting to just colour
the task blue!
MSProject is calculating the critical path correctly, but because the
hammock task spans the end of the project, it is included in the critical
path. Thats what I want to change somehow, to remove the hammock task from
the critical path, so that it maps the critical path as if the Project
Managment task didnt exist.
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
The hammock task is only there to show the project management effort, not to
dtermine the critical path or influence it in any way. Thats why I want to
remove it from the critical path.
If thats not possible, can you suggest a better way of factorign Project
Management effort into a plan?
Im not disagreeing that the hammock task is a good idea if you need to
factor in things like PM time. Im asking about your statement that Project
is not calculating the critical path correctly. In what way is the
critical path wrong in your project or why do you feel that it is wrong?
You said "Problem is MSProject wont colour the real critical path tasks
red." Why do you feel this way?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Ah, with the hammock task there will always be another critical path
because there will always be other tasks on the path that pushes the
milestone out that drives the hammock task. You can double click on the
hammock task gantt bar and have it colored blue. This will make it appear
that it is not critical while still having Project color the other
critical tasks red. Does that help?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Brian K - Project MVP
2005-07-25 06:04:03 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin
Nope, it doesnt help because there is only one critical path which is the
Project Management task and the final deployment task its linked to. Those
are the only 2 red tasks. The other tasks that influence the final deployment
task are not being recognised as critical because of the PM task and
therefore they arent colored Red.
Thanks
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
Ah! that was just a little joke in response to Mike suggesting to just colour
the task blue!
MSProject is calculating the critical path correctly, but because the
hammock task spans the end of the project, it is included in the critical
path. Thats what I want to change somehow, to remove the hammock task from
the critical path, so that it maps the critical path as if the Project
Managment task didnt exist.
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
The hammock task is only there to show the project management effort,
not
to
dtermine the critical path or influence it in any way. Thats why I want to
remove it from the critical path.
If thats not possible, can you suggest a better way of factorign Project
Management effort into a plan?
Im not disagreeing that the hammock task is a good idea if you need to
factor in things like PM time. Im asking about your statement that Project
is not calculating the critical path correctly. In what way is the
critical path wrong in your project or why do you feel that it is wrong?
You said "Problem is MSProject wont colour the real critical path tasks
red." Why do you feel this way?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Ah, with the hammock task there will always be another critical path
because there will always be other tasks on the path that pushes the
milestone out that drives the hammock task. You can double click on the
hammock task gantt bar and have it colored blue. This will make it appear
that it is not critical while still having Project color the other
critical tasks red. Does that help?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Are the other tasks in your project linked to this final deployment task?
If you remove the PM task is there a critical path?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Kevin
2005-07-26 07:16:03 UTC
Permalink
I deleted the task and it still didnt show another critical path but I found
in the Help that you need to have the Calcualte Multiple Critical Paths
checkbox checked in the Options. After I did that, it did show another
critical path but only showed some tasks as critical and then the final
deployment task as critical. So it missed out a few in the middle for some
reason.
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
Nope, it doesnt help because there is only one critical path which is the
Project Management task and the final deployment task its linked to. Those
are the only 2 red tasks. The other tasks that influence the final deployment
task are not being recognised as critical because of the PM task and
therefore they arent colored Red.
Thanks
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
Ah! that was just a little joke in response to Mike suggesting to just colour
the task blue!
MSProject is calculating the critical path correctly, but because the
hammock task spans the end of the project, it is included in the critical
path. Thats what I want to change somehow, to remove the hammock task from
the critical path, so that it maps the critical path as if the Project
Managment task didnt exist.
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
The hammock task is only there to show the project management effort,
not
to
dtermine the critical path or influence it in any way. Thats why I want to
remove it from the critical path.
If thats not possible, can you suggest a better way of factorign Project
Management effort into a plan?
Im not disagreeing that the hammock task is a good idea if you need to
factor in things like PM time. Im asking about your statement that Project
is not calculating the critical path correctly. In what way is the
critical path wrong in your project or why do you feel that it is wrong?
You said "Problem is MSProject wont colour the real critical path tasks
red." Why do you feel this way?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Ah, with the hammock task there will always be another critical path
because there will always be other tasks on the path that pushes the
milestone out that drives the hammock task. You can double click on the
hammock task gantt bar and have it colored blue. This will make it appear
that it is not critical while still having Project color the other
critical tasks red. Does that help?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Are the other tasks in your project linked to this final deployment task?
If you remove the PM task is there a critical path?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Brian K - Project MVP
2005-07-26 07:42:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin
I deleted the task and it still didnt show another critical path but I found
in the Help that you need to have the Calcualte Multiple Critical Paths
checkbox checked in the Options. After I did that, it did show another
critical path but only showed some tasks as critical and then the final
deployment task as critical. So it missed out a few in the middle for some
reason.
Then we have a problem. The ones "in the middle": why do you think they
are critical? What about them makes you think of them as critical?

Project sees a task as "critical" if it has a Slack value of 0 days of
less. Insert the "Total Slack" field and look at those tasks in the
middle. Do they have a Slack value of 0 or less? If not then they are not
critical in the "Critical Path" sense of the word.
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Kevin
2005-07-27 00:55:03 UTC
Permalink
Brilliant.

The Total Slack was > 0 because a task had been delayed due to the assigned
resource's working calendar taking leave into account. That meant the task
wasnt following immediately after the predecessors end dates. After adjusting
the resources, the slack went down to 0 and the tasks showed up critical. It
was beautiful.

Thanks so much for the help. I learned a lot about the Multiple critical
paths and Total Slack.
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
I deleted the task and it still didnt show another critical path but I found
in the Help that you need to have the Calcualte Multiple Critical Paths
checkbox checked in the Options. After I did that, it did show another
critical path but only showed some tasks as critical and then the final
deployment task as critical. So it missed out a few in the middle for some
reason.
Then we have a problem. The ones "in the middle": why do you think they
are critical? What about them makes you think of them as critical?
Project sees a task as "critical" if it has a Slack value of 0 days of
less. Insert the "Total Slack" field and look at those tasks in the
middle. Do they have a Slack value of 0 or less? If not then they are not
critical in the "Critical Path" sense of the word.
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Brian K - Project MVP
2005-07-27 01:05:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kevin
Brilliant.
The Total Slack was > 0 because a task had been delayed due to the assigned
resource's working calendar taking leave into account. That meant the task
wasnt following immediately after the predecessors end dates. After adjusting
the resources, the slack went down to 0 and the tasks showed up critical. It
was beautiful.
Thanks so much for the help. I learned a lot about the Multiple critical
paths and Total Slack.
Great. I knew something did not sound right! :-)
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
Steve House [Project MVP]
2005-08-06 17:25:55 UTC
Permalink
Actually it is a critical task and Project is properly marking it as such.
Remember that "critical" has a technical definition in project management
and simply means the task's slack time is zero or less. A hammock task
whose end date is the project finish date has zero slack - IF somehow its
end was delayed, the project itself couldn't be considered ended until
whatever the hammock task was doing was finished. Ergo, it's critical.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
Post by Kevin
Brian, thats right. The task is a "Project Management" task. I have added the
task in in so I can include my time in the estimated and actual cost figures.
My time is not on the critical path but it does span the entire project.
Thats why its a hammock task, linked to the end date.
Thanks
Post by Brian K - Project MVP
Post by Kevin
Mike, I like your thinking :-) Problem is MSProject wont colour the real
critical path tasks red.
Thanks
Post by Mike Glen
Hi Kevin,
Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :-)
A work-around is to format the bar as blue.
FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be
seen
at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/
Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :-)
Mike Glen
Project MVP
Post by Kevin
How can you remove a task from the critical path? I have a hammock
task that moves with the end date, but its not critical. It moves
with the end date because its a support task that needs to keep going
as long as the project is going. However, because it extends to the
end of the project, MSProject is marking it as a critical task.
Any ideas?
Are you saying that you feel that the tasks Project has marked 'Critical'
are not really critical?
--
Brian K - Project MVP
http://www.projectified.com
--
Senior Trainer - Electronic Arts
--
QuantumPM Associate
http://www.quantumpm.com
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