Does anybody know how to remove negative lag from predessors and successors,

and without breaking date confines you need to have on your project?

--

CraigB

I think you will have to reduce the durations if you are going to remove

overlaps. The key then is to make sure the resource is available to achieve

the dates you now need.



--



Rod Gill

Project MVP

Visit www.msproject-systems.com for Project Companion Tools and more





"CraigB" <CraigB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:5F098614-F417-4E91-86B3-9AA834AC1958@microsoft.com...

> Does anybody know how to remove negative lag from predessors and

> successors,

> and without breaking date confines you need to have on your project?

> --

> CraigB

What do you mean by "without breaking date confines?"  Links, including

links with lag and lead times, calculate the start or end dates of successor

tasks, the "controlled" tasks, based on the start or end of the predecessor

or "controlling" tasks.  The link type and lag/lead times establish the

rules for that calculation.  If you change the rules, you'll change the

calculation results.  I get the feeling you've taken the advice to let

Project calculate the task's dates for you but then when it didn't come up

with the results you thought it should, you put in links, leads, and lags to

make it "fudge" the schedule into some pre-determined idea of what the

schedule is supposed to be.  Don't do that.



Lags and leads are valuable tools when they describe the true nature of the

work and the task relationships - for example, if I'm moving offices I have

to pack up the furnishings before before I can load them on the truck.  But

I don't have to do all the packing before I start loading - after the first

few boxes are done I canh have the loaders put them on the truck while the

packers continue packing.  Lead times model such an overlap perfectly.



If the free calculated schedule doesn't hit the deadlines you're required to

meet, don't just throw in lags, leads, or constraints to fudge it into doing

so.  Odds are the schedule that results will prove unworkable when you

actually go and try to do it.  Instead you need to look for real,

controllable parameters you can change.  A task taking too long to meet it's

deadline?  Don't just put lead time into the link from its predecessor to

force it to start earlier - odds are it won't be able to no matter what your

schedule says.  Instead put more resources on the task to get in done in a

shorter period of time.



HTH

--

Steve House [MVP]

MS Project Trainer & Consultant

Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs





"CraigB" <CraigB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:5F098614-F417-4E91-86B3-9AA834AC1958@microsoft.com...

> Does anybody know how to remove negative lag from predessors and

> successors,

> and without breaking date confines you need to have on your project?

> --

> CraigB