Creating a Hammock Task in Microsoft Project

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Microsoft Project is very good at registering tasks and linking them so that the sequence of work is clearly identified. But what do you do when you want to base the duration of a task on the duration of one or more other tasks?

For example, on a building project there may be several tasks that are linked together: excavating the site, preparing the foundations, installing pipe work and so on. In addition, there may be a supervisory role that is required for the entire duration of the other tasks. If the combined duration of the construction tasks is extended, the duration of the supervisory task should also be extended.

How can this be achieved, apart from manually editing the supervisory task’s duration?

The answer is a hammock task. As the name implies, a hammock task is one that is “suspended” from one or more other tasks. It is an elegant solution that is so simple, you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it before.

  1. Create three tasks and set their durations to 1, 2 and 3 days respectively.

  2. Link the three tasks together.

  3. Create a fourth task. This will be the hammock task.

  4. Click on the Start Date for the first of the linked tasks and copy it.

  5. Click on the Start Date of the hammock task.

  6. From the Edit menu select Paste Special.

  7. Select Paste Link in the dialog box.

  8. Click OK.

  9. Click on the Finish Date for the third of the linked tasks and copy it.

  10. Click on the Finish Date of the hammock task.

  11. From the Edit menu select Paste Special.

  12. Select Paste Link in the dialog box.

  13. Click OK.
    The hammock task acquires the combined duration of all the linked tasks.

  14. Change the duration of one of the linked tasks.

  15. The duration of the hammock task also changes.

That’s it. A very simple and elegant solution.