A summary task is a parent row in a project schedule that groups a set of child tasks beneath it. It has no duration of its own — its displayed start date, finish date, and duration are calculated automatically from the earliest start and latest finish among its children. Summary tasks give a Gantt chart a collapsible hierarchy, letting a project manager view a schedule at the phase level or expand into the individual work packages beneath it.
How a Summary Task's Dates Roll Up
| Row | Start | Finish | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design (summary) | Jun 1 | Jun 20 | 14 working days (calculated) |
| Wireframes (child) | Jun 1 | Jun 8 | 6 days |
| Visual Design (child) | Jun 9 | Jun 20 | 8 days |
Summary Task vs. Milestone
Both a summary task and a milestone represent "not real work" in a sense, but for opposite reasons. A milestone has zero duration because it marks a single instant — an event, not a period of effort. A summary task spans a full date range, but that range is entirely derived from its children rather than being its own scheduled effort. Neither should have resources assigned directly; work happens on the milestone's neighboring tasks or the summary's children, not on the summary or milestone row itself.
Summary Tasks and the WBS
Every level of a work breakdown structure above the bottom "work package" level is, functionally, a summary task. The project name at the top of the hierarchy is the highest-level summary task; each major phase beneath it is also a summary task relative to its own children. Only the bottom-level work packages are actual schedulable tasks with their own duration, resource assignment, and dependency links.
Summary Tasks in Maverick
In Maverick, any task with child tasks beneath it in the task grid is automatically treated as a summary task — no separate setting is required. Its bar on the Gantt chart spans the full range of its children, and collapsing the summary row hides the children while keeping the rolled-up bar visible for a phase-level view. Resources are assigned at the child task level, not the summary level, and dependency links connect to individual work packages rather than to the summary row itself.
Related Terms
Work Breakdown Structure · Milestone · Gantt Chart · Project Schedule · Task Dependency
See Summary Tasks Roll Up Automatically
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