Activity vs Task

Submitted by joe_aad on Thu, 05/10/2012 - 16:03

hi all

is an activity the same as taks?

can an activity or task be assigned to multiple resources?

Where to find which HR will be performing an activity or tasks?

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trawal

Thu, 05/10/2012 - 17:10

Yes they are the same thing.


Yes you can assign a task to multiple resources (I think but could be wrong)


HR Management Plan


 

saket_pmp

Thu, 05/10/2012 - 18:15

Hi Joe,


I would just answer the second one for you…
“can an activity or task be assigned to multiple resources?”


Yes. Why not? Think Real life now (forget PMP). An activity in real life is like a small project, isnt it? If you can have multiple resource in a project then why not in the smaller units of projects (Activity).


Saket, PMP


 

sspawar

Sat, 05/12/2012 - 00:04

Dear Joe,

This question is widely asked by students as well as by trainers in seminar workshop and classrooms.

In PM activity word have a high involvement, and PMBOK 4th, provides its definition and use as titles/headings  for many subjects/sections.

Whereas Task word , used in PMbok as a  general word, with a common meaning.

I put a pera of PMBOK 4, you can understand in PMISM, how activity and task are ranked:

Team Building: Team building activities are consist of tasks and processes -------- P 418

In A PMI certified Institute - 35PDU training session , this question asked by a trainer- Mr. Chandrasekar Pandyan - what is task and what is activity which one is bigger?

he concluded : Task is smaller a subset of activity, keep this concept in mind for PMsition.

There are many threads available at - searchsites - below is one of them

http://pmp.groupsite.com/beta/discussion/topics/163418/messages

Hi :

I would like to receive your opinion on these two terms : Activity and Task. Here is below the definition found in the PMbok3 and Pmbok4. Can we call a task an activity ?Or...  Can we call an activity a task ?

Glossary

Source

Definition

Activity

PMbok3

A component of work performed during the course of a project. See also Schedule activity.

Schedule Activity

PMbok3

A discrete scheduled component of work performed during the course of a project. A schedule activity normally has an estimated duration, an estimated cost, and estimated resource requirements. Schedule activities are connected to other schedule activities or schedule milestones with logical relationships, and are decomposed from wok package.

Task

Pmbok3

A term of work meaning and placement within a structured plan for project work varies by the application area, industry, and bran of project management software. 

Activity

PMbok4

A component of work performed during the course of a project.

 

Schedule Activity

(Not availbale in the Glossary)

PMbok4

Not available

Task

(Not availbale in the Glossary)

 

PMbok4

Not available

Regards

projmanpro

Sat, 05/12/2012 - 07:27

I agree with your point sspawar.

In my understanding, these two terms could have the same or different meaniing depending on the subject or context these terms are used. For example in a Project Schedule, the WBS are decomposed to the lowest level called - work packages (PMI term) - these work packages in essence are the same as activities or tasks in a generally common meaning & use.

If the words activities and tasks are not available in PMBOK4, the reason is that, the word "work pacakge" is used to represent these words.

  

saket_pmp

Sat, 05/12/2012 - 11:28

I would say (in favor of projmanpro) “Activity and Task” should NOT be debated and discussed without context. This discussion would end of in words scanning that are dangerous. Concepts should be debated and discussed and not words. I do not see any difference in both and also I see difference in both. What is more important is when and how they are used. In any situational question, you should read and visualize the story it tells as these words will have NO value. It should not be a surprise if question uses Activity, Task, Work, Deliverables etc. PMI would check your project management knowledge and not English words in the PMP exam….that’s what I believe in so far.


Saket, PMP

sspawar

Sat, 05/12/2012 - 17:37

 and knowledge can be expressed by words, as everyone is expressing here.

I am expressing my view in the context of PM exam, PMISM, PMISATION, PMP, because we are at that forum and people are very concern of that rather general meaning.

General meaning everybody knows .

And it is very true that Persons who are asking are not KG guys, they are at the porch of PMPs.

I also knowing that it is becoming "conflict of interest", hence I should say, I will lose nothing if I say yes you are also correct.

This talk is going away of its original aim. We should be aware of and to keep ourselves away from.

Regards

 

dipsha35e

Fri, 07/06/2018 - 13:40

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