The Ultimate Guide on How to Sequence Activities in Projects in 2022

We see sequences in various things all around us every day. There are sequences in our morning routines, buildings all around us, activities that we perform in a day, and many other aspects of our lives, both personal and professional.

And if these sequences are not obvious, our mind tries to create sequence activities on a subconscious level like creating those weekly trips to the store or cleaning the attic or the entire house. The list is never-ending.

When you take this sequential tasking into your professional domain, then you realize that we are all quite familiar with some basic PM skills.

This becomes more evident when we identify chronological activities in our daily lives and it’s quite easy to find them in the context of a complex project development process.

So, what are sequential activities, and how you can use this sequencing in your projects in 2022? Let’s have a look.

Sequential Activities

Basically, sequential activities are tasks or processes that you have to complete in your workday or you have already completed, in order. For example, for making tea, you have to fill the pot with water, boil it, and then put in the tea.

These three activities have to be performed in order so that the result can be exactly what you want. If they are not performed in order, then you are going to end up with the wrong result every time, no matter what you try.

Sequence Project Activities Example with a Diagram 

• Identification and documentation of links between project activities
• The main outcomes of this technique include Circuit Diagram
• The network diagram displays the critical path if activity durations are added.

The sample network diagram produced by the sequence activities procedure is shown in this picture.

Keep in mind that this is only a basic example diagram to show you what one looks like. Since there will be many project activities in real-life projects, the network diagram and mechanism for sequencing activities will be much more complex than this.

Importance of Sequential Activities

As we have discussed earlier that in order to achieve something perfect every single time, you need to make sure that all of the tasks, processes, and steps associated with that project, have to be performed in the required order. Otherwise, you won’t get what you want.

When you talk about sequential activities and how important they are, people still ask that whether it is really important to perform the steps in any project development process in order.

We can’t stress it enough that IT MATTERS.

So, you know what sequential activities are and what their importance in the real world is. Let’s now take a look at how to sequence different activities in your project to have the best output possible, every single time.

How to Sequence Activities for Your Project Management Process?

First thing’s first, you need to define the relationships between all of the different activities that you are trying to make a sequence out of. There are many different ways to do this, but in this article, we are going to talk about the Precedence Diagramming Method.

This diagramming method uses an incredible network diagram that shows all of the different activities that have to be completed, how they are in a relation to one another, and what is the correct sequence should be used for them in order to achieve the perfect output.

The method in question illustrates all of these activities with nodes or boxes, and the relationships between them using different arrows that join them together as per the needs and requirements of the project development project.

Let’s now take a look at the steps of the precedence diagramming method and find out how they can help you make the most accurate sequence for your project.

1. Defining Activity Attributes

When you are sequencing different activities in your project development process, you need to make sure that you have all of the information regarding each and every activity in that queue. You must keep those activities organized and track them vigilantly.

One thing you need to remember is that when you are defining different activities for your projects, you need to name each and every activity accordingly. This assigning of a number or writing a short but accurate description about it is going to make your life a lot easier down the line.

Furthermore, every activity that you are trying to define, must have all of the same attributes as the other activities. This helps you to sequence them accurately and make sure that there are no gaps in information. You need to do this hefty legwork because it is going to help you a lot in the future.

2. Determine Constraints

When you are defining different activities, there are also going to be some constraints or some factors that can limit their availability or success. These factors can include manpower, money, time, etc.

As we know that knowledge is power and you need to figure out every possible outcome and how will it impact your project before you do anything.

This is why these constraints are so important because they create a sort of boundary for your project which you should not cross if you want to be successful.

3. Identify Dependencies

In order to create the perfect sequence of activities for your project development process, you need to correctly identify all of the dependencies that the activities have in-between them. This is the most important part of the whole process as the correct sequence is mostly dependent on it.

You can create task dependencies using nTask. Here are four types of relationships or dependencies that activities can have with each other.

• Finish to Start: In this relationship, Task A has to be completed before Task B can be started
• Start to Finish: In this one, Task B cannot be completed by the development team before they start Task A
• Start to Start: In this dependency, Task B cannot be executed before Task A has been started by the development team
• Finish to Finish: In this one, Task A has to be completed before the development staff even sets its eyes on Task B

Project Management Sequence Process Tools

Project managers identify and document linkages between the various project activities as part of the sequencing process in order to determine the optimal logical sequence that would result in the greatest efficiency. A Project Management sequence process can be created by the project manager in the conclusion.

During the Project Management Sequence process, three tools and procedures are used:

• Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
• Dependency Determination
• Leads and Lags

How nTask Help with Task Dependencies?

Activity sequencing and creating task dependencies out of those activities can be pretty complex and tiresome. Fortunately, we live in a world of tech and innovation where we don’t have to perform those activities ourselves.

This is where project management applications come in, and in this article, we are going to talk about nTask and the amazing functionality it provides to its clients around the world.

The application has an incredible Gantt chart view that allows you to slide tasks around the dashboard and create as many connections between the tasks as you want. The chart view also has a date toolbar that lets you know when that task will be performed by the team.

Conclusion

This was our guide on what activity sequencing is, its importance, how to sequence activities for your projects, and how you can create task dependencies using nTask. If you think that we missed something, feel free to mention it and we will review it ASAP.