Formula to divide time among different tasks with varying priorities and time

Question

I am an app developer, and I am trying to get a functionality into my app, but I have no idea how to. It is a tasks app, where a user enters a task, and then selects the priority of that task by choosing among 3 options : Priority high, medium and low. Then, the user also selects the time category for that task, meaning, how long the user thinks that task might take. He again chooses this from 3 categories : Time More, Time Medium and Time Less. Finally, the user gives me the total time they have to get all of their tasks completed. I want to derive a formula that can take all these factors into consideration and allocate time to each task, such that all tasks can be completed in the time frame. Also, I have an algorithm that reorders the tasks, such that the tasks with the highest priority and lowest time are to be completed first. But the math part is where I am lacking... Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Let’s first say that the priority doesn’t change the time it takes to do the task, just which task would be done first. And that all the information is awfully vague. And if too many tasks are selected, they can’t be handled in whatever time frame you have.

What you can do: For the first time frame, guess how much time “more”, “medium” and “less” take. Any guess will be fine. Instead of guessing, you can ask users what the tasks are and take your estimates as the guesses.

Accept that your schedule will be very wrong. But on the next schedule you have some data. Record how long each task took to improve your estimate.

Or ask whoever wants this programming task to be done for more information, because otherwise you are just being set up for failure.