This is the latest thing I have been working on, and wanted to share. Borrow any parts that work for you!
This started out with a schema I got from Ben at Coda.
Features:
You can make tasks dependent on multiple tasks. (Duh…)
The selector for adding dependencies prevents you from creating circular dependencies.
The scheduler makes sure that the dates reflect all the paths, and that the longest path determines starting/finishing dates.
The scheduler also can tell you what the “bottleneck” on any particular task is.
Small detail that I am actually kinda proud of:
There is a task management view. I started out with a typical select list for status, but then needed automations to get updated info pushed to other columns. Instead, I ended up with a highly-contextualized button that both delivered status information and allowed you to make status changes. This made things go a lot quicker and (I hope) is much more transparent to users - any opinions on that would be much appreciated!
To add:
- A version that begins with the intended end date and works backwards, instead of beginning with the start date and working forward
- A task “rescheduler” that allows you to make new plans and timelines guided by how you are tracking the initial planned timeline.
- Making it multi-user for collaborative projects.