How can I get Smartsheet to show Zero days for Milestone with Zero Days duration

Emad

Sing C

Hi @Emad, the way we create milestones in our project plans is to create a zero-duration task at the end of each group of tasks.

Using your screenshot as an example, I would create a new task between Rows 153 and 154 called "Windows Driver Dev and Test complete" (indented to be in the same level as Row 153). This is the milestone for the parent task at Row 150.

Emad

Hi @Sing C I've created a new task between Rows 153 and 154 called "Windows Driver Dev and Test complete" and that eliminated the additional 10d in Task 150. This is just a patch not really a solution as I want the team to be aware that original task 153 is dependent on 152FS -10d. The problem still persists with task 158 originally, now Task 159; causing Software task 148 to show 20d now. I'm guessing that I should include a new task to account for the 20d as we did between rows 153 & 154. Or is there another approach?

Thank you

Sing C

Hi @Emad, the durations look a little unusual. Using the original row numbers as reference, I would normally expect to see all the "bottom level" tasks (149, 151, 152, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158) have either a duration or end date manually entered. The start dates would be determined by their predecessor tasks.

The duration and dates of parent tasks (148, 150, 154) are determined by the dates and durations of child tasks.

Focusing just on 150-153, this is how I read each of the rows:

• 150: Parent task of 151, 152, 153
• 151: First task in the "Windows Driver Dev and test" group of tasks, and is dependent on 149 being completed.
• 152: Dependent on completion of 151
• 153: Can start 10 days before 152 finishes

Assuming my interpretation to be correct, my observations are:

• 151, 152, 153 all show as zero-duration tasks because their end dates are the same as their start dates (or if you manually entered zero days for these tasks, then the end dates were calculated as being the same as their start dates)
• With zero days duration on these tasks, row 153 reads as "I can be started 10 days before 152 but because 152 is dependent on 151, which itself is dependent on 149, I can start 10 days before 149"
• If you want to have a milestone for Row 150 (i.e. for the "Windows Driver Dev and test" group of tasks), what I interpret that to mean is that you want a milestone to indicate the completion of tasks 151-153, hence my suggestion of adding a zero-day duration task into row 154.
• It isn't possible for the duration of Row 150 to be zero (if that's what your original question meant) because it is determined by the duration of its child tasks, and task 153 can start 10 days before 152 which means Smartsheet will determine parent task (150) as having the earliest start date in its child tasks.

I've mocked up a copy of your plan and entered some arbitrary durations/end dates to illustrate my suggested milestone approach. I've highlighted your original rows in green and the new row in yellow for easier reading. I've also shown the gantt view which illustrates the -10d predecessor task (153).

Apologies for the length of the response but wanted to be clear on the interpretations and assumptions I'm making about what you're trying to achieve.

Let me know if that helps!