Critical Path

Notes

• The critical path is the most extended sequence of activities in a project plan. The project is only completed on time only if you meet these activities.

  • If any of the activities on the critical path change, it will affect the project's end date.

• The critical path is advantageous in helping to manage any project because you can identify what is likely to go wrong in each critical path activity, be it in cost, time, or quality.

• You can't start activities on the critical path cannot until their predecessor activity is complete.

• Only the velocity of the activities on the critical path matters to the project due time. The speed of activities outside the critical path is less important.

• The critical path is the bottleneck because you can't go any faster unless you address the critical path.

  • If you try to speed anything else, it'll not enable you to deliver any fast.

• Example. Imagine you're trying to kick off user research with these tasks:

Critical Path

• The critical path, the longest time it takes to finish the project, is $1 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 13$ weeks.

References

• 2020projectmanagement. What is the Critical Path?
• Clement Kao. The Critical Path Method for Product Managers

Backlinks

• The Principles of Product Development Flow
• When Response Time Is Important, Measure Response Time