Learn to sequence tasks

Take a look at the task list in your project. For the project to be successful, much of that work needs to be done at a certain time and in a certain order. In Workfront, this order is established by task predecessors. At its most basic, a predecessor is a task that another task depends on. Predecessors indicate that specific work needs to be done before other work can start. Some projects require tasks to fall in a certain linear or sequential order, and some may not. Workfront can account for all project types. Predecessors work in conjunction with durations. As you’re planning your project, durations establish the time frame during which a specific work item needs to be done. For example, the four-day duration on this task sets the planned start and completion dates. When you change the duration, the completion date changes. But it’s the predecessor that tells this task that another task must be completed before this one can start. Take a look at the predecessor column. It has the number 2 in it. That means task number 2 must be completed before this task can begin. And you see this sequence reflected in the dates on each of the tasks. The first task, the predecessor task, is slated to start on this date and end on this date. The next task, the successor task, is slated to start right after the other task finishes. As you look through the rest of the project, you see the predecessors have already been set. These came from the template used to create the project. When you change the duration of the first task, that adjusts the completion date, which, in turn, adjusts the start date of the successor task. Because predecessors are set up throughout the project, the change cascades throughout the task list. Note, Workfront recommends using durations and predecessors to establish the project timeline. Clicking into the date fields to pick a specific date changes what’s called a task constraint. The task’s original constraint can be set in the template. In turn, this constrains how the task dates behave and overrides the cascade of date updates when you make duration or predecessor changes. Predecessors can be changed when needed, and you need to add them when you add tasks to the project. Take a look at these three tasks. These tasks need to happen in this order after task number 12 is finished. Take a look at the start dates. They’re identical. By default, when you create a new task, Workfront makes the start date the same as the start date of the project. Let’s walk through this. Task 12 must be completed before any of these can start, so we’ll set the date to 13. Did you see the dates change? Now set the predecessors on the remaining tasks by entering the number of the predecessor task. Click out to save or hit tab to move to the next field. If you’re entering a bunch of predecessors in a row, click return to move to the next predecessor field in the list. Now you can see these tasks have sequential dates establishing the order in which the work needs to be done. Plus, it’s established the exact dates for when the work should be done. Note, you can enter multiple predecessors on a task. Just keep an eye on how this affects your project timeline. Take time to fine tune your predecessor skills with a few practice projects, paying attention to how changes to durations and predecessors affect the project timeline. This will be time well spent. Understanding how predecessors work is key to understanding and successfully managing your project timeline.