Tuesday Brief: Ever stare at a Microsoft Project schedule wondering why that critical milestone just slipped three weeks? The answer is hiding in your task dependencies, and most schedulers waste hours manually tracing predecessor chains to find it. This week, we're diving deep into dependency analysis techniques that turn hours of detective work into seconds of clarity. From powerful SSI Tools add-ins to Microsoft Project's built-in analysis views, you'll discover exactly how to trace what's driving your schedule and catch logic problems before they cascade into delays.
November 11, 2025
In This Issue:
Featured Article: Master Dependency Analysis in Microsoft Project with SSI Tools
Quick Video Tutorial: Create a Sequence Analysis View (5 Minutes)
Community Poll: What's Your Biggest Scheduling Challenge?
Live Event (11/12): Mastering Microsoft Project Dependency Analysis with SSI Tools
PM Best Practice: The 5-Minute Schedule Health Check
Featured Article: Master Dependency Analysis in Microsoft Project with SSI Tools
Struggling to understand what's driving delays in your schedule? Discover three powerful tools that transform how you analyze task dependencies in Microsoft Project. In this comprehensive guide, you'll explore:
SSI's Directional Path Tool for tracing chains of predecessors and successors with one click
The Connecting Path Tool to verify logical connections between any two activities
Dependency Tracer for enhanced analysis beyond MS Project's built-in Task Form
These tools automate what once took minutes of manual tracing, helping you instantly understand critical paths, secondary paths, and exactly "what drives what" in your schedule. Whether you're validating dependencies or troubleshooting logic issues, these techniques ensure no critical relationship goes unnoticed.
Tomorrow's live session will walk through real-world applications of each tool!
Video Tutorial: Create a Sequence Analysis View in Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project MVP Sam Huffman shares a built-in technique for analyzing task relationships without any add-ins. Learn how to create a powerful combination view that displays:
Your Detail Gantt chart on top for schedule overview
The Relationship Diagram in the bottom pane showing immediate predecessors and successors
This custom view lets you click through your schedule task-by-task, instantly seeing each task's direct dependencies in a clear visual format. Watch Sam build this view step-by-step and discover when this built-in analysis approach works best alongside advanced tools.
Community Poll: What's Your Biggest Scheduling Challenge?
We're gathering insights from the MPUG community about common scheduling pain points. Your input helps us deliver the content and training you need most!
This week's question: When working with task dependencies in Microsoft Project, what frustrates you most?
Live Event (11/12): Mastering Microsoft Project Dependency Analysis with SSI Tools
Join us for a one-hour live webinar designed to show project managers and schedulers how to effectively analyze complex dependency logic using the SSI Tools add-in for Microsoft Project.
We'll explore three powerful tools that help you make sense of complex schedule logic:
Directional Path Tool – Trace chains of dependencies backward or forward from any task
Connecting Path Tool – Identify and analyze the activities connecting two schedule points
Dependency Tracer – Enhanced capabilities beyond MS Project's basic Task Form
Throughout the session, you'll see live demonstrations of each tool in action and tips for integrating these analyses into your day-to-day schedule management process.
What You'll Learn:
Techniques to instantly identify critical and near-critical paths
Methods for verifying logical connections between activities
Strategies for step-by-step dependency analysis
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
🗓️ Wednesday, November 11 🕛 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT 📍 Live on Zoom 🏅 1 PMI PDU: 1 Ways of Working
MPUG host live events with leading experts on Wednesdays from 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET! MPUG members get access to live events where you get direct access to industry leaders, actionable insights, hands-on training, and opportunities to earn PDU's.
PM Best Practice: The 5-Minute Schedule Health Check
Before sharing your schedule with stakeholders, run this quick dependency diagnostic:
Filter for tasks with no predecessors (except the project start milestone)
Check for tasks with no successors (except project completion)
Look for unusually long lag times that might indicate missing tasks
Verify your critical path makes logical sense from start to finish
These four checks take less than five minutes but catch the dependency issues that undermine schedule credibility. Add this to your weekly routine and you'll catch logic problems before they derail your timeline.
