No due date, still a deadline
The customer FAQ has no date of its own. It gates the launch, so it inherits the launch’s date and its buffer is measured against that.
A timeline should explain what depends on what.
Drag a bar and watch what it does to the deadline of everything downstream. Gantt and advanced scheduling come with Individual and Business; the model below is a sample you can move.
Pick any task in the panel to see what it waits on, what waits on it, and what one lost day would do to the launch.
Sample plan · committed Sep 22
Prepare the fulfillment plan waits on Finalize the launch date. Run the dress rehearsal waits on it.
One lost day here moves 2 downstream tasks and the launch by 1 day. It is on the critical path.
Waits onWaited on byWould move
Interactive timeline demonstration
Sample plan · drag a bar
Drag a bar, or use the arrow keys on it, to change how long a task takes. Everything downstream re-plans and the buffer recolours. Durations here are calendar days; the app forecasts from your estimates and working hours.
Launch forecast Sep 20 · 2 days of buffer before Sep 22.
Sep 7Sep 14Sep 21
Finalize the launch date
Prepare the fulfillment plan
Produce the campaign creative
Write the customer FAQ
Run the dress rehearsal
Launch
ComfortableTightCriticalBehindCommitted date
Buffer, in one sentence.
Buffer is the time between when a task can realistically finish and when it actually has to, measured against the deadline that truly binds it, which is often not its own.
Launch still lands by Sep 22, with 2 days to spare.
Committed
Finalize the launch datedeadline inherited2d
Prepare the fulfillment plandeadline inherited2d
Produce the campaign creativedeadline inherited4d
Write the customer FAQdeadline inherited5d
Run the dress rehearsaldeadline inherited2d
Launchcommitted date2d
Can finish byBufferHas to finish by
Buffer closes on its own
Slip one upstream task and every gap downstream narrows without anyone editing a bar. When a gap hits zero the task is critical; past zero, the plan is behind.
What the app adds
Forecasts there use your recorded estimates, working hours and recent velocity. Drag a bar to pin a start date and the timeline warns if a pinned task starts before its blockers finish.