@Graham1963
Your request is not entirely clear. For one thing, you ask if there's "a formula that I could apply to overecome this?" and I assume--please confirm--that you really mean achieve rather than overcome.
That said, are you aware of the sort capability? There is a SORT function which can be used to yield a new listing, on a separate sheet, of a list of projects or tasks, based on the column in which those rankings have been entered. There's also a Data...Sort menu selection that can accomplish the same thing on the basic table of raw data. The advantage to the former is that it leaves your raw data intact.
But a further question: I'm assuming the tasks are a sub-level within the project: so the question arises whether you are seeking to do some kind of weighted categorization based on the weights assigned to each task within a project? Or something else?
If you could attach a sample either of your actual spreadsheet (provided you can share it without revealing proprietary or confidential data) OR a representative but fictitious example, that would help us help you. Without seeing the actual layout of data, we're basically limited to general suggestions as above.
