💡 [REQUEST] - Revisit representation of Time in the editor #58
Description
Description
Time is an ordered concept in the Activity Editor but there is no unit/scale to moderate what periods of time represent (lower numbers represent an earlier abstract point in time than a higher number). This becomes more convoluted with periods of time for Sub-tasks.
Introducing a more grounded notion of time (e.g. units of known and familiar time scales, such as minutes, hours and days) may help relate the activities being modelled to their intended real-world counterparts.
Basic Example
If I create an activity in the editor [for example] to represent me changing the brake pads on my car, I have to choose a number range for this activity. Currently it can be any number range above zero. Unfortunately this is detached from the notion of minutes and hours that I might expect to take for doing this. Even if I decide to make integer units represent minutes, sub-tasks break this as units in a sub-task no longer match units in the level above it. Also, if I decide that I need to model activities prior to the ones I initially commit to the model I can't extend linearly back in time.
Drawbacks
See the Unresolved Questions below
Unresolved questions
Trying to use familiar units of time also comes with some baggage. Linear time representations can lead to long gaps in diagrams or disproportionate representation of long but less significant activities. Also, when modelling there may be uncertainty around the expected duration of activities.