Organizing your work

- [Instructor] Big projects are achievable when you've broken them down into smaller tasks and have added dependencies to see what needs to be done first. In this lesson, I'll use an example client wedding project to show how to add subtasks and dependencies in Microsoft Project so that you can stay on top of all the details. I'll start from office.com. Select the app launcher in the top left corner and open Project. Note that using Project for the web requires an active subscription to Microsoft Project. I'll open the Client wedding project. I'm in grid view by default. From here, I can start to break down some of these tasks into smaller subtasks. For example, I have Identify a caterer as a task, but I know there are subtasks associated with this item. I will add the subtasks. First, I'll add Determine allergies as a task by selecting Add new task at the bottom. Place your cursor to the left of the newly created task number. Then drag the task below the Identify a caterer task. Now to make Determine allergies a subtask, I'll select More options and choose Make subtask. I'll add one more subtask and drag it below Determine allergies. I'll assign these tasks to Lynne. Select the Assigned to column for Determine allergies and enter Lynne. And in the Duration column, enter 5 days. Repeat these steps for Finalize budget, but instead enter 2 days. Notice that the Identify a caterer task Duration is now automatically set to 5 days, since the larger Duration of the two subtasks is 5 days. These tasks are dependent on each other, meaning that one of the tasks needs to be completed before the next task can be started. In this case, Determining allergies must happen before the budget can be finalized. To create dependencies, I'll select Open details on the Finalize budget subtask. In the Depends on section, select Add dependency, then choose Determine allergies. Close the task panel by selecting the X in the top right. Notice that the Duration for Identify a caterer changed to 7 days, since Finalize budget can't start until the Determine allergies task is complete. You now have two more tools to manage your projects. Use subtasks when you need to break down larger work items into smaller tasks, and dependencies to identify when tasks can't start before another is completed. Try out subtasks and dependencies to help you organize your next project.