[kplato] request

[Claus Agerskov]

On Mon, 1 Nov 2004, Mark Tombs wrote:

> On Monday 01 November 2004 12.18, Dag Andersen wrote:
> > On Søndag 31 oktober 2004 20:02, Mark Tombs wrote:
> >
> > Can you explain the difference between duration and estimate, just to
> > make things clearer for me?
> 
> I can try. In my book, the duration is the length of the task, and the 
> estimate is the amount of hours a person is going to be working on the task. 

Duration is the calendar time of a task.

Work is the amount of total time (sum of all the time ressources expected 
to spent on the task).

Both duration and work can be estimated. So it is not a good idea to use 
the word "estimate" for the estimated amount of work.

> A task can be 10 days long, but not have 10x8 (I'm assuming an 8-hour working 
> day) estimate, because a person may only be doing two hours a day on the 
> task, or they might not have a smooth assignment - a resource might be 
> estimated to do 8 hours on the first day, then nothing the second day, then 8 
> hours after that. 

Don't pick too much at Microsoft Project - you can specify specific 
workload for each ressource on each task if you want to.

> I am not suggesting 'dumbing down' kplato, actually the opposite. I want the 
> control to be in the hands of the project manager, not the scheduling 
> algorithm. The PM should be able to under or over-assign resources. The PM 
> should be able to finely control the hours of the assignment, and know that 
> what they have entered will stay there. I think that in this case, simpler is 
> also more powerful :) 

You just have change the settings in Microsoft Project to let you have the 
control instead of Microsoft Project. 

But I will vote for that in KPlato it should be default with manually 
scheduling.

> Disclaimer : I'm not a project manager myself, though I have worked with PM 
> software for a few years, so I might not know what the hell I am talking 
> about :)

It is several years ago I last used project management tools in my work as 
a project controller but I still train project managers using Microsoft 
Projects as a freelancer even though I normally live a Microsoft free 
life. 
-- 
De herligste hilsner     _/
                      __/ | +           Jeg  vil  leve i en verden,  hvor
Claus Agerskov       /    (_   .        al  kommunikation  er baseret  på
Nøddelunden 110      |     _}     _     frie  og  åbne   standarder,   så
2765 Smørum          (    |_o `)(| )    enhver har friheden til at vælge.
ca at chbs.dk           \   /(_)-(_  ('         .       Claus Sørensen, 2001
                      |__\o./  _><o        []
http://www.chbs.dk            '--|'