Hammock Activity

Gents, Thank you for this topic, it is very useful and all the answers appreciated

Just a note: Summary activity, LOE and Hammock are different types of activities. Many times i have seen people using these terms interchangeability.

In principle yes I agree with you but I am not sure how is LOE related to this subject at all.

Though LoE and Summary activity are not directly related to your question, it is worthwhile to look into what are LOE and summary activities. It is easy to misunderstand the differences between these activity types. During my conversations with people, I have seen the words Summary, LOE and Hammock used interchangeably. Thanks for posting this question.

Thanks everyone for the effort. Here is a more elaborate explanation of the difference between Hammock, Summary and Level of Effort activities.

A hammock activity (also hammock task) is a schedule or project planning term for a grouping of tasks that "hang" between two end dates it is tied to. - http://www.pmhut.com/a-glossary-of-project-management-terms

PMCHAMP.COM explains is as follows with example:

A Hammock Activity is a schedule or project planning term for grouping smaller subtasks that hang between two dates.

The sub tasks are not really related in a hierarchical sense. This means that there is no fixed sequence of tasks – any of these subtasks can be done at any time, but there is no particular sequence. The objective is to group dissimilar activities that must be performed to achieve an overall goal, but their individual sequence is not important or logical.

For example, let’s say you have an activity called “plan vacation”. It can have multiple sub tasks like “book hotel’, “get brochures”, “book tickets”, “find a guide”, “check local attractions” etc. Any of these tasks can be done first, without the other being started or completed. But there will be an overall target to complete “plan vacation” by the third quarter of the year.

The size of the hammock, or the duration of the hammock is calculated by the start date of the earliest task, and the finish date of the last task.

The name hammock activity comes from the fact that individual activities hang between the overall dates, floating, just like a hammock.

On PROJECTMANAGEMENTQUESTIONS.COM, some responses were:

A hammock activity is a grouping of subtasks that is "hung" between a start and an end date. The tasks are unrelated in the sense of a WBS and are not related in the sense of a depencency. These activities may be grouped under a very general summary heading such as "pre-project preparation" or "Q3 Plans".

The word Hammock is derived from a word used by natives of Haiti meaning "fish net".

- answered 4 years ago by sdcapmp (45,840 points)

AND

Obviously English is not your first language :). Hammock is not the name of the person, but it's this (so called) bed that you see on the beach stretching between two trees.

Now to answer your question: a hammock activity is a task or a group of tasks that stretches between two other activities. Hammock activities are flexible, the beginning of the hammock activity may change as well as its end (so, unlike other activities, a hammock activity is not time estimated). Let's assume that Task A is supposed to end on Monday, April 25th, and Task E is supposed to begin on Friday, May 6th. A hammock activity, consisting of 3 tasks (B, C, and D) begins when Task A ends, and end when Task E begins. So task B begins on Tuesday, April 26th, and task D ends on Thursday, May 5th. Now if Task A ends on Wednesday, April 27th, then task B begins on Thursday, April 28th. This is where the similarity between a hammock activity and a real hammock is prominent (it's the flexibility!), a real hammock, even if the trees are (reasonably) far from each other or very close, can still be installed.

Hammock activities are common in construction projects, where an activity has to happen between two tasks. An example of such activity is drainage.

- answered 4 years ago by MaplePM (46,940 points)

A hammock activity (also hammock task) is a schedule or project planning term for a grouping of tasks that "hang" between two end dates it is tied to. - http://www.pmhut.com/a-glossary-of-project-management-terms

PMCHAMP.COM explains is as follows with example:

A Hammock Activity is a schedule or project planning term for grouping smaller subtasks that hang between two dates.

The sub tasks are not really related in a hierarchical sense. This means that there is no fixed sequence of tasks – any of these subtasks can be done at any time, but there is no particular sequence. The objective is to group dissimilar activities that must be performed to achieve an overall goal, but their individual sequence is not important or logical.

For example, let’s say you have an activity called “plan vacation”. It can have multiple sub tasks like “book hotel’, “get brochures”, “book tickets”, “find a guide”, “check local attractions” etc. Any of these tasks can be done first, without the other being started or completed. But there will be an overall target to complete “plan vacation” by the third quarter of the year.

The size of the hammock, or the duration of the hammock is calculated by the start date of the earliest task, and the finish date of the last task.

The name hammock activity comes from the fact that individual activities hang between the overall dates, floating, just like a hammock.

On PROJECTMANAGEMENTQUESTIONS.COM, some responses were:

A hammock activity is a grouping of subtasks that is "hung" between a start and an end date. The tasks are unrelated in the sense of a WBS and are not related in the sense of a depencency. These activities may be grouped under a very general summary heading such as "pre-project preparation" or "Q3 Plans".

The word Hammock is derived from a word used by natives of Haiti meaning "fish net".

- answered 4 years ago by sdcapmp (45,840 points)

AND

Obviously English is not your first language :). Hammock is not the name of the person, but it's this (so called) bed that you see on the beach stretching between two trees.

Now to answer your question: a hammock activity is a task or a group of tasks that stretches between two other activities. Hammock activities are flexible, the beginning of the hammock activity may change as well as its end (so, unlike other activities, a hammock activity is not time estimated). Let's assume that Task A is supposed to end on Monday, April 25th, and Task E is supposed to begin on Friday, May 6th. A hammock activity, consisting of 3 tasks (B, C, and D) begins when Task A ends, and end when Task E begins. So task B begins on Tuesday, April 26th, and task D ends on Thursday, May 5th. Now if Task A ends on Wednesday, April 27th, then task B begins on Thursday, April 28th. This is where the similarity between a hammock activity and a real hammock is prominent (it's the flexibility!), a real hammock, even if the trees are (reasonably) far from each other or very close, can still be installed.

Hammock activities are common in construction projects, where an activity has to happen between two tasks. An example of such activity is drainage.

- answered 4 years ago by MaplePM (46,940 points)

Rami, A nice question
Suhail, thanks for the clear and full explanation
Made it clearer for me too.