How a task network is defined for a software engineering project?

The task network is a useful mechanism for depicting inter task dependencies and determining the critical path. When more people are working on a software engineering project, tasks and sub-tasks have their own inter-dependencies and also as the number of people increases, the development activities and tasks are performed in parallel. These concurrent tasks must be coordinated so that so that they will be complete when later tasks require their work products.

What is a task network?
It is also known as activity network. It is a graphic representation of how the tasks are flowing in a software engineering project. There is a pattern and a sequence that is followed by tasks. This task network can be used as a mechanism or a way to know this sequence and pattern of the tasks that can act as an input to an automated project scheduling tool.

On a macroscopic view, task network depicts the software engineering tasks. On a microscopic view, each and every task in the task network is expanded. For a concept development project, task network includes the following tasks:
- Concept Scoping
- Concept Planning
- Technology and Risk Assessment (It constitutes three tasks).
- Proof of Concept
- Concept Implementation (It constitutes three tasks).
- Integrate the three tasks which constitutes concept implementation.
- Customer Reaction

Software engineering activities are concurrent in nature. This nature leads to scheduling requirements. The project manager should keep in mind the following points to ensure continuous progress:
- He should determine the inter-task dependencies.
- He should be aware of tasks that lie on critical path which means the tasks that should be completed on schedule if project has to completed on schedule.

Defining a Task Set For The Software Project

No single task is appropriate for all projects. The set of tasks that would be appropriate for a large, complex system would likely be perceived as overkill for a small, relatively simple software product. Therefore, an effective software process should define a collection of task sets, each designed to meet the needs of different types of projects.

To develop a project schedule, a task set must be distributed on the project time line. The task set will vary depending upon the project type and the degree of rigor with which the software team decides to do its work. Most software organizations encounter the following projects :
- Concept Development projects : These projects are initiated to explore some new business concept or application of some new technology.
- New Application Development projects : These projects are undertaken as a consequence of a specific customer request.
- Application Enhancement projects : These projects occur when existing software undergoes major modifications to function, performance, or interfaces that are observable by the end user.
- Application Maintenance projects : The projects that correct, adapt, or extend existing software in ways that may not be immediately obvious to the end-user.
- Re engineering projects : These projects are undertaken with the intent of rebuilding an existing system in whole or in part.

DEFINING A TASK NETWORK
Individual tasks and subtasks have inter dependencies based on their sequence. A task network, also called an activity network, is a graphic representation of the task flow for a project. It is sometimes used as a mechanism through which task sequence and dependencies are input to an automated project scheduling tool. The concurrent nature of software engineering activities leads to a number of important scheduling requirements. Because parallel tasks occur asynchronously, the planner must determine intertask dependencies to ensure continuous progress toward completion. In addition, the project manager should be aware of those tasks that lie on the critical path.