Okay, this is explained the way someone who does not code would explain it,
so please stick with me.
Since the software already has access to the due date, lead time, and
estimated time any task will take to complete, I was thinking it might not
be too difficult to create a report to do the following...
Take the total estimated time (using max estimated is probably best since
it's better to plan for the worst case than the best) and divide it by the
total amount of hours in the lead time to create some kind of "Lead Time
Factor" (or any other more intelligent name).
E.g.:
task 1
Estimated max: 300h
Due date: April 3, 11:59PM
Lead time: 98.5h (= 4d, 2h, 30min)
(lead time is decreased as today gets into the lead time...
i.e., if the start date was exactly 24 hours ago, the lead time would =
74.5 instead of 98.5)
Lead time factor would be: 3.045685 (300/98.5; a number above 1.0 means it's
physically impossible... even without sleep)
Have a pop-up window (from the tools menu - perhaps under the heading of
"Workload Report" or something similar) in which you can type how many work
hours you have per day or week (whichever makes the overall coding
easiest... I'm not a coder and may be talking gibberish, so correct for my
lack of knowledge as necessary).
Let's say it looks something like this, for argument's sake:
" [ ] " means entered by user
"=" means calculated by mlo
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Work hours per week: [ 45.0 ]
View report for next [ 12.0 ] week
Starting: [ Jan 17 ]
{Workweek factor = 45/168 = 0.267857}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The software then picks out a day and time that is 12.0 weeks away and works
backwards from there, applying the workload factor to the hours included in
the lead time of each task and spits out totals for each week.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*WARNING*: Lead time for "*task 1*" too short for 45-hour workweek { <-
this is determined by dividing the estimated hours of the task by the work
hours entered above }
Jan 17 - Jan 23 = 0
Jan 24 - Jan 30 = 0
Jan 31 - Feb 6 = 0
Feb 7 - Feb 13 = 0
Feb 14 - Feb 20 = 0
Feb 21 - Feb 27 = 0
Feb 28 - Mar 6 = 0
Mar 7 - Mar 13 = 0
Mar 14 - Mar 20 = 0
Mar 21 - Mar 27 = 0
*Mar 28 - Apr 3 = 300.00 hours*
Apr 4 - Apr 10 = 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's say there's also a "task 2" with only slightly different parameters (a
different due date and longer lead time), as well as the same "task 1":
task 2
Estimated max: 300h
Due date: April 3, 11:59PM
Lead time: 1176.0h (= 49d)
Lead time factor would be: 0.255102 (300/1176)
0.255102 of a 24 hour day (so a 168 hour week) 42.857136
how much of a 45 hour week?
So now the Workload summary (which includes all/both tasks) would look like
this:
Work hours per week: [ 45.0 ]
View report for next [ 12.0 ] week
Starting: [ Jan 17 ]
{Workweek factor = 45/168 = 0.267857}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*WARNING*: Lead time for "*task 1*" too short for 45 hour workweek ( <-
this is determined by dividing the estimated hours of the task by the work
hours entered above )
Jan 17 - Jan 23 = 0
Jan 24 - Jan 30 = 0
Jan 31 - Feb 6 = 0
Feb 7 - Feb 13 = 0
Feb 14 - Feb 20 = 42.86 {See workload hours calc explanation below}
Feb 21 - Feb 27 = 42.86
Feb 28 - Mar 6 = 42.86
Mar 7 - Mar 13 = 42.86
Mar 14 - Mar 20 = 42.86
Mar 21 - Mar 27 = 42.86
*Mar 28 - Apr 3 = 342.86 hours*
Apr 4 - Apr 10 = 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Workload hours calc explanation: Sum of [for each task: (Lead time factor /
Workweek factor * work hours = 42.86)]
So, now you can scroll down your list of upcoming weeks and see if there are
any in which the workload is above your working hours. (Even better if the
window bolds the font for any week where the total workload hour > work
hours per week.) Then you just have to go to tasks in and around that week's
range and fiddle with the lead times, deadlines, etc. and then come back and
check to see if your workload is good enough to prevent bottlenecks.
(Note, laid out this way, my idea would require keeping a separate file for
home and work so that home tasks don't count in time for work tasks...
but... SO? I would GLADLY maintain a separate work file in order to balance
my work deadlines.)
I can think of other little tweaks that would make this even better but this
is the most bare-bones approach I can come up with that would REALLY REALLY
help boost MLO's time management functionality.
Did that make sense to ANYONE?
What do you all think? Would this be enough to cover, at least for now, the
workload issues some people are having?
Andrey (hope you don't mind me calling you by your first name): Is this as
easy to implement as I suspect or are there complications I haven't thought
of?
Sorry for the long post... again! :)
Mary
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