Dynamic Due Dates and Timelines

Hi Thomas, thanks for sharing this, the dynamic due dates sound like a really interesting idea. While all tasks aren't rescheduled automatically, I wanted to let you know about a few features which help with quickly updating Project timelines:

1. If tasks are linked together with dependencies and connected to a milestone, it's possible to move the whole chain by dragging the milestone to a different date while holding "shift". Check out our Dependencies on the Timeline View article to learn more.
2. Mass Editing allows you to shift dates for multiple (or all) tasks in a Project. Here's how:

Let me know if you have any questions!

There are some excellent features on Wrike, but this is a deal breaker for me too.  I currently use SmartSheets and my industry is wedding planning.  So all my DUE DATES are predecessors of the ONBOARD date and the end date.

For example all invoicing, intro to planning your wedding and introduction to our recommended suppliers are triggered from the start date of the client onboarding with us.  Then once we are 6 months out from the wedding all "TASKS" & subtasks are triggered based on the end (wedding) date.

ie.

It's now 5 months to go, let's ensure you are on track with your menu selection.

It's now 4 months out and your 50% balance is now due

I have a list of tasks associated with reverse timelines and I allocate the tasks to different parts of the team - I would love to see Wrike use a predecessor features and not just dependencies.  My tasks are not dependent on the one prior either, some people will complete a menu selection before selecting their wedding dress for example.

@Lisa, thanks so much for writing this up! Hearing about use cases and processes is really helpful as it allows us to understand what drives the need for certain features. I really appreciate the details you provided and made an additional note of them for our Product Team, who monitor the feedback posted on the Community closely. I understand how weddings, as well as other events, require a unique workflow, and your insight about this topic is fantastic.

I'm a current subscriber. Another example of a need for this: Real Estate - we need to remind clients or make sure certain things are in place things 1 week from closing (not always one week, but you get the idea). I actually can't think of too many industries that don't have a status check of some kind based off the end date rather than a preceding date.  Thanks!

Luke, thanks for the comment! It's always great hearing about your examples.

Hi Anastasia, Dear Wrike Team, any news on that topic?

Same for me, I am working on the implementation of a software, and we would start to work on some tasks "2 weeks before the previous one is over". For the moment, I don't manage to create the dependencies that way.

Will there be an update in that direction? Would be great!

Thanks,

Jennifer

Being able to set multiple due dates is also important for us.

An example is if someone requests a web page to be built, it needs to go to Copy for copywriting, Creative for images and Web Dev for building.  This works in a Waterfall way, so I have to change the due date three times for one task.

Creating sub-tasks is too much to manage because it means having several tasks with the same information repeated.  For instance, one parent task with the original brief and three sub-tasks with the same brief, but assigned to different people, with different due dates and different statuses that need to be updated manually.

It also means that the person who has to build the deliverable (web page, email, social post, etc) has to go to different tasks to get everything they need rather than having one task that holds all assets.

It would be great to be able to assign a task to people based on due date.  So the overall task can have a finish date, but in the same space where you set that date, you can assign 'Step' dates to different people.

Anastasia, any updates on reverse dependencies? This is a fundamental project management functionality, not just for certain use cases. In my industry we work backward from critical project milestones. If the milestone changes - there should be an easy and automatic way to set tasks that precede that milestone to automatically shift accordingly. 

Hey guys, thanks for your continued support for the suggestion. I wanted to mention Lead and Lag time here:

• Lead time indicates the overlap between tasks (i.e. to designate that the next task(s) in a chain can start N days before its predecessor has finished).
• Lag time indicates the wait period before the next task(s) in a chain can start.

I understand this doesn't answer every request mentioned here, but I hope it will help 🙂

Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Seconding the need for dynamic scheduling.  As Wrike already includes effort hours, a scheduling engine that automatically creates a schedule based on user availability is essential.  Instead, I have to continually--and manually--keep people working.  Instead, I need a tool that can recognize that something isn't completed, notify me, and shift things around.  That is, if project A is on hold because a client has delayed feedback, then I need dependencies to adjust AND for everyone involved to be working on project B.  It is something to the effect of, "Because you cannot work on X, work on Y or Z."  Related, overdue is too late for notice.  I need to know we are off track much sooner.  Again, it's all too manual.

Dear Wrike Team,

Any updates on Dynamic Due dates ?

Thanks

Diana 

By using the terms "Dynamic Due Dates", this is misleading.  

If you are given a deadline to meet and set your timeline up to have tasks start to finish dependency,'Dynamic" no longer works.  

I was informed by Customer Service when I advised the issue that I shouldn't change my dates once a timeline is put together.  This direction is not reflective of my real-worlds projects.  I need to be able to work backwards and trust that when in risk mitigation situations, a task duration increases or decreases, the entire timeline with dependencies is updated.  I need to feel comfortable that when a task owner needs more time or takes less time, the Wrike timeline reflects the changes, when working from the end date to start.  

In my experience, it hasn't.  I just looked again today.  Dynamic due dates doesn't work when working backwards from your end date to beginning if you have changes along the way of a long project.  

I think if the task durations could be followed working with the dependencies start to finish, the wedding planner company might be able to use the tool, Mischa could probably use the tool too.  

Risk Management is a necessity in Project Management.  I think it would make Wrike that much better if Wrike could allow task durations to change (increase and decrease) and have the schedule / timeline to reflect the changes.  

Megan, can you further explain what you mean? I'm not sure I understand the problem you're running into. Shifting dependent tasks is an important feature we need, so I want to make sure I understand what is and is not possible.

Hi Wrike Team,

Is there any update on this?  It would be EXTREMELY helpful if due dates could be automatically assigned based on the Finish Date of the project.

For most of our projects we start from the final due date, then create the timeline backwards from there.  For instance, task X must be completed "Finish-3d" before the end date, task Y "Finish-6d", etc.  We would love to be able to create a project template where all the due dates auto-populate based on the required finish date.

I guess we could create a spreadsheet that does the calculations, then manually enter into Wrike, but that seems *crazy*. 

Welcome to the Community, Frank Martin! Currently, Wrike works in a different way and you can't automatically revert the tasks' due dates. It's possible to roll-up dates from the Gantt Chart - it means that a top-level item’s dates are based on the dates of items within it. Can it be helpful in your case? 

Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Would love a feature like this!! I need to be able to match the Finish Date from a request form to the Due Date of the last subtask within a project. 

For example: Stakeholder requests a finish date of May 15, that gets automatically added as my end date in the Parent Project. Under that Parent Project, I have 5 tasks. I want the due date of my last task to automatically be assigned May 15. Then I want the Gantt chart to populate due dates for the first 4 tasks, based on my final due date and the predetermined blueprint timeline (ie. two days for each task):

Task 1 - May 7

Task 2 - May 9

Task 3 - May 11

Task 4 - May 13

Task 5 - May 15

Hi Lucy Barnes, welcome to the Community 👋

Thanks a lot for bumping this thread and for providing such detailed feedback! Our team responsible for request forms is considering updates for this year, so your feedback comes at a great time! We'll be keeping everyone posted here in the Community 👍

Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover

Agree with Lucy Barnes, due dates should be more flexible and be able to populate dates based on the entered due/finish date in a request form.

Meaning if my blueprint is scheduled to take 10 days, and the finish date requested is 5 days, Wrike should be able to automatically adjust the dates based on the finish date. So each task would have it's alotted time cut in half or automatically updated based on what the due date is.

Right now when someone requests a date that is not exactly in line with the blueprint timeline, it creates due dates for tasks that are already weeks late.

Hi Nicole S, I can see that our Support Team has been assisting you with this, please let us know if you have any additional questions 👍

I'm finding myself looking for what Frank was requesting, as well.

For example, if I'm planning for an Event, there are a number of tasks that need to happen before and after the Event. Right now, I do start with a spreadsheet and use that to calculate the due dates and manually assign them in Wrike which, yes, *is* crazy! I'd like to be able to create a blueprint that auto-assigns tasks' due dates based on how many days in advance they need to happen.