Best Practice for Entering Task Estimates? 1

[jpa816]

All,

I know there may be different schools of thoughts on this and there may not be one universal method, but what do you consider to be the best practice for entering task estimates : by duration or work?

I personally believe that a resource can more accurately judge how much 'uninterrupted effort' it will take he/she to complete a task if they were to do it 'heads down' with no distractions or breaks. The duration could then be calculated based on the resource(s) max units, project/task/resource calendars, task contorting, etc.



I'd be very curious to hear what anyone else's thoughts are on this and what you feel are the pros / cons of each method.



Thanks

 

[PDQBach]

I almost always need to get both simply because it is an exceptionally rare occasion where someone works exclusively on a deliverable for a given period of time (and, therefore, duration and work are the same).

I need work so I determine the project cost (work * fully encumbered resource cost) for client or departmental chargeback purposes.

I need duration so I can determine the project duration based on predecessor/successor relationships.

 

[JulieInMaine]

I'm with PDQ on this one -- I need both. However, my experience is that resources are slightly more accurate with work estimates than duration.

So, I enter work when assigning the resource and allow Project to recalculate the duration based upon working calendar and max units. I then do a reality check with the resource around duration. If the duration is too low, I'll ensure the task is Fixed Work and increase duration to allow Project to recalculate assignment units.