Tasks

Tasks are the unit of everything in this module. The Tasks view is the list of them.

The fields

Field	What it does
Name	What the work is
Parent	Groups it under a summary task
Duration	How long it takes
Start Date	When it is planned to start
Actual Start Date	When it actually started
Actual Finish Date	When it actually finished
Predecessor	What has to happen first
Lag	Waiting time after the predecessor
Status	Where it is up to
Cost Center	Which trade it belongs to
Supplier	Who is doing it
Contact	Who at that supplier
Cost / Select Cost Method	What it costs
Link to Order	The purchase order for this work
Call up (weeks)	How far ahead to call the trade
Note	Anything else
Sorting Index	Order among siblings

Structure

Parent builds a hierarchy — a summary task with the real work underneath it.

Frame
  Frame — ground floor
  Frame — first floor
  Frame inspection
Roof
  Roof trusses
  Roof battens
  Roof tiles

Summary tasks roll up their children’s dates and costs, so you get a readable overview that still has real detail behind it.

Keep it two levels for a house. Deeper structures look organised and take longer to maintain than they save.

Naming

Name a task so that someone reading it in a call-up sheet knows what to bring.

Weak	Better
Concrete	Slab pour — 18.6 m³ N32
Plumber	Plumbing rough-in — ground floor
Fix out	Internal doors and architraves

The call-up sheet carries this name to the subcontractor. Concrete on a Tuesday tells them nothing about whether they are pouring or stripping formwork.

Actual dates

Actual Start Date and Actual Finish Date are what turn the schedule from a plan into a record.

Fill them in as the job runs. Two things follow: the Gantt shows planned against actual, so slippage is visible rather than assumed; and at the end of the job you have real durations, which is the best source of estimates for the next one.

Actual dates are how you get better at scheduling

Most builders plan from memory and are consistently optimistic about the same trades. Recorded actuals turn that into a number — “the plasterer always takes eight days, not five” — which you can plan with.

Status

Status tracks where a task is. Combined with the view filters, it is what keeps a long schedule readable:

Filter	Shows
Hide Finished Tasks	Only what is left
Show Due Tasks	What is coming up
Show Finished Tasks	The record of what is done

Hide Finished Tasks is the one to leave on while running a job. Six months in, two-thirds of the schedule is history and it only gets in the way.

Keeping it current

A schedule nobody updates is worse than no schedule, because people rely on it.

The minimum that works:

1. Mark tasks finished as they finish.
2. Enter actual start dates when work begins.
3. When something slips, change it in the Schedule view so dependencies follow.
4. Add tasks for variation work as it is approved.

Ten minutes a week. Step three is the one that matters — updating a date in the Tasks list changes one task, while doing it in the Gantt moves everything that depends on it. See Building a schedule.