title: How to force tasks in Microsoft Project to be "scheduled" based on priority and resource assignment?
body: <p>I needed to do some higher-level project planning that doesn't really fit into the workflow of our day-to-day task management tools (FogBugz and whiteboards), so I figured I'd give MS Project a whirl (it being free through MSDN).</p>
  
  <p>I've hit a pretty solid wall, though.  What I have is about 120 tasks, a set of people (referring to them as "resources" is amazingly harsh to me, but I digress), and a rough prioritization of those tasks.  Some tasks have a person assigned to them, some don't (simply because we don't know who's going to do what yet).</p>
  
  <p>Fine so far.  The problem is that, except in those relatively rare instances where tasks are linked (most of the work involved can be done in any order), all of the tasks are scheduled to run concurrently.  What I'd like to do is have Project figure out some scheduling scenario based upon:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>the defined tasks</li>
  <li>their relative priority</li>
  <li>any links/dependencies, if defined</li>
  <li>the availability of the people that I've defined, while respecting the explicit "resource" assignments I've already made</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Is this possible?  I've fiddled with the resource leveling dialog and read more MS Project documentation than I'd care to admit, so any suggestions are welcome.</p>
  
  <p>FWIW, I noticed in my searches this <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090128165320AAbtaHs" rel="noreferrer">question on Yahoo Answers</a>; the person there seems to be after roughly the same thing, but I figured asking here might be more fruitful.</p>