Insert new task at preferred date not possible - Bug or Feature

Mihai Nedelcu

Hi all,

The problem is simple: I have 4 tasks, each spread across 1 week, with a linear dependency between them. They are all part of one WBS, which is part of a higher WBS level. I want to insert another task which will be executed in the 3rd week.

No matter what I do, I cannot make it start at the beginning of the 3rd week and finish at the end of the 3rd week WITHOUT any dependecy from any other task from the WBS. I can create it and set it up correctly at the end of the project lines but once I bring it into the WBS I am interested in, it is automatically set to start at the beginning of week 1.

Did anyone else experience this?

PS: the above is just an example, my actual plan is much larger

Edit: I may have found the culprit but his does not solve the issue. The affected WBS had a dependency on a milestone which was set at the beginning of the 1st week. This makes ALL "free floating" tasks within the WBS to start in the 1st week UNLESS you add a lag from the said milestone. Once I removed the milestone dependency I could set the new task to whatever date but if I recreate the dependency the task goes back to square 1. Tbh, I see this as a massive bug and a true "wth" moment

Genevieve P.

Hi @Mihai Nedelcu

Thank you for clarifying that the dependency is on the Parent row!

Parent rows are summary rows that take the earliest Start date from among all of their child tasks and the latest End date from the child tasks. It's currently expected behaviour that if you add a dependency on a Parent row it will then apply this same dependency to it's child rows - see the second bullet point in the grey box in this Help Article: Work with Duration and Predecessors

What I would suggest doing in this instance is add the dependency for the Start date of your Parent task to the first Child Row instead: Task B.1

This will ensure that your WBS B parent row starts on the correct date, but it will also free up any other child rows to be floating underneath that Parent task.

I hope that helps!

Genevieve

Mihai Nedelcu

Hi @Genevieve P.

Thank you for the quick response. It works the way you explained it but the result is not as elegant as I expected it to be.

I'm marking the answer as Yes (it addressed the question) but it's the equivalent of scratching your left ear with the right hand.

Tbh, this adds up to the myriad of little things that are frustrating (to me) when it comes to the functionality and logic of Smartsheet.

Best,

Genevieve P.

Hi @Mihai Nedelcu

Would you be able to post a screen capture of your set-up? It sounds like there may be some Parent-Child relationships which are automatically adjusting your dates (see: Parent Rollup Functionality)

For example, here's one of my Project sheets with a new task.

I can drag this task in to be a Child in the grouping above without the dates changing, but the Parent row will adjust dates based on the Child rows:

Cheers,

Genevieve

Mihai Nedelcu

Hi @Genevieve P.

Thank for looking into this but it still doesn't address my issue. Please see the image attached

As you can see, the Task B.4 is free floating and I should be able to move it anywhere within WBS B. However, because WBS B depends on the reviously set Milestone, I cannot set Task B.4 anwhere I want within WBS B. Even though there is no direct dependency between the Milestone and Task B.4 I have to either:

1. Create a dependency between the milestone and Task B.4 (which doesn't make sense in the context of the project) and add lag
2. Remove the dependency between WBS B and the Milestone and free float ask B.4 where I need it (which, again, it doesn't make sense)

I did the same exercise in MS Project and I had no problems freely moving Task B.4 within WBS B WITH dependency on the milestone.

It would be great if the Smarsheet team would address this.

Best regards,

Mihai Nedelcu

PS: see here the same scenario in MS Project. You can see how Task B.4 can free-float anywhere in WBS B even though the parent has a direct dependency on the Milestone

Genevieve P.

Hi @Mihai Nedelcu

Thank you for clarifying that the dependency is on the Parent row!

Parent rows are summary rows that take the earliest Start date from among all of their child tasks and the latest End date from the child tasks. It's currently expected behaviour that if you add a dependency on a Parent row it will then apply this same dependency to it's child rows - see the second bullet point in the grey box in this Help Article: Work with Duration and Predecessors

What I would suggest doing in this instance is add the dependency for the Start date of your Parent task to the first Child Row instead: Task B.1

This will ensure that your WBS B parent row starts on the correct date, but it will also free up any other child rows to be floating underneath that Parent task.

I hope that helps!

Genevieve

Mihai Nedelcu

Hi @Genevieve P.

Thank you for the quick response. It works the way you explained it but the result is not as elegant as I expected it to be.

I'm marking the answer as Yes (it addressed the question) but it's the equivalent of scratching your left ear with the right hand.

Tbh, this adds up to the myriad of little things that are frustrating (to me) when it comes to the functionality and logic of Smartsheet.

Best,