Project Time Management:
Critical Path Method
Learning Objectives, Part 1
Understand the importance of project schedules and good
project time management
Discuss the process of planning schedule management
Define activities as the basis for developing project schedules
Describe how project managers use network diagrams and
dependencies to assist in activity sequencing
Understand the relationship between estimating resources
and project schedules
Explain how various tools and techniques help project
managers perform activity duration estimates
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 2
Learning Objectives, Part 2
Use a Gantt chart for planning and tracking schedule
information, find the critical path for a project, and
describe how critical chain scheduling and the Program
Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) affect
schedule development
Understand how time management is addressed using
Agile
Discuss how reality checks and discipline are involved in
controlling and managing changes to the project
schedule
Describe how project management software can assist
in project time management and review words of caution
before using this software
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 3
Importance of Project Schedules
Managers often cite delivering projects on time as one
of their biggest challenges
Time has the least amount of flexibility; it passes no
matter what happens on a project
Schedule issues are the main reason for conflicts on
projects, especially during the second half of projects
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 4
Individual Work Styles and Cultural Differences
Cause Schedule Conflicts
One dimension of the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator
focuses on peoples’ attitudes toward structure and
deadline
Some people prefer to follow schedules and meet
deadlines while others do not (J vs. P)
Difference cultures and even entire countries have
different attitudes about schedules
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 5
Media Snapshot
In contrast to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games
(see Chapter 4’s Media Snapshot), planning and scheduling was
very different for the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games and
the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Gmes
Many articles were written before the opening ceremonies in
Athens predicting that the facilities would not be ready in time. …
the Greeks even made fun of critics by having construction
workers pretend to still be working as the ceremonies began…but
the games cost more than twice the planned budget
The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, suffered even
greater financial loss and were the most expensive games in
history
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Project Time Management Processes
Planning schedule management: determining the policies, procedures,
and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and
controlling the project schedule
Defining activities: identifying the specific activities that the project team
members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project
deliverables
Sequencing activities: identifying and documenting the relationships
between project activities
Estimating activity resources: estimating how many resources a project
team should use to perform project activities
Estimating activity durations: estimating the number of work periods that
are needed to complete individual activities
Developing the schedule: analyzing activity sequences, activity resource
estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule
Controlling the schedule: controlling and managing changes to the
project schedule
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 7
Figure 6-1. Project Time Management Summary
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 8
Planning Schedule Management
The project team uses expert judgment, analytical
techniques, and meetings to develop the schedule
management plan
A schedule management plan includes:
◦ Project schedule model development
◦ The scheduling methodology
◦ Level of accuracy and units of measure
◦ Control thresholds
◦ Rules of performance measurement
◦ Reporting formats
◦ Process descriptions
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Defining Activities
An activity or task is an element of work normally
found on the work breakdown structure (WBS) that has
an expected duration, a cost, and resource
requirements
Activity definition involves developing a more detailed
WBS and supporting explanations to understand all the
work to be done so you can develop realistic cost and
duration estimates
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Activity Lists and Attributes
An activity list is a tabulation of activities to be
included on a project schedule that includes
◦ the activity name
◦ an activity identifier or number
◦ a brief description of the activity
Activity attributes provide more information such as
predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads
and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed
dates, and assumptions related to the activity
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Milestones
A milestone is a significant event that normally has no
duration
It often takes several activities and a lot of work to
complete a milestone
They’re useful tools for setting schedule goals and
monitoring progress
Examples include obtaining customer sign-off on key
documents or completion of specific products
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What Went Wrong?
At the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), poor time management
was one of the reasons behind the failure of Trilogy, a “disastrous,
unbelievably expensive piece of vaporware, which was more than four
years in the (un)making. The system was supposed to enable FBI agents
to integrate intelligence from isolated information silos within the Bureau.”*
In May 2006, the Government Accounting Agency said that the Trilogy
project failed at its core mission of improving the FBI’s investigative
abilities and was plagued with missed milestones and escalating costs.
Sentinel replaced Trilogy in 2007.
During a test exercise in 2011, Sentinel experienced two outages, and the
FBI determined that the current hardware structure was inadequate. In
2014, the system still wasn’t working well.
*Roberts, Paul, “Frustrated contractor sentenced for hacking FBI to speed deployment,”
InfoWorld Tech Watch, (July 6, 2006).
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Sequencing Activities
Involves reviewing activities and determining
dependencies
A dependency or relationship is the sequencing of
project activities or tasks
You must determine dependencies in order to use
critical path analysis
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 14
Three types of Dependencies
Mandatory dependencies: inherent in the nature of
the work being performed on a project, sometimes
referred to as hard logic
Discretionary dependencies: defined by the project
team., sometimes referred to as soft logic and should
be used with care since they may limit later scheduling
options
External dependencies: involve relationships between
project and non-project activities
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Network Diagrams
Network diagrams are the preferred technique for
showing activity sequencing
A network diagram is a schematic display of the
logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project
activities
Two main formats are the arrow and precedence
diagramming methods
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 16
Figure 6-2. Network Diagram for Project X
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Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)
Also called activity-on-arrow (AOA) network diagrams
Activities are represented by arrows
Nodes or circles are the starting and ending points of
activities
Can only show finish-to-start dependencies
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Process for Creating AOA Diagrams
1. Find all of the activities that start at node 1. Draw their finish
nodes and draw arrows between node 1 and those finish
nodes. Put the activity letter or name and duration estimate
on the associated arrow
2. Continuing drawing the network diagram, working from left to
right. Look for bursts and merges. Bursts occur when a
single node is followed by two or more activities. A merge
occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node
3. Continue drawing the project network diagram until all
activities are included on the diagram that have dependencies
4. As a rule of thumb, all arrowheads should face toward the
right, and no arrows should cross on an AOA network diagram
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Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
Activities are represented by boxes
Arrows show relationships between activities
More popular than ADM method and used by project
management software
Better at showing different types of dependencies
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Figure 6-3. Task Dependency Types
Task dependency Example Description
Finish-to-start (FS) A diagram of a box labeled A in the top Task (B) cannot start until task (A)
left corner and a box labeled B in the finishes.
bottom right corner. An arrow points
from the right side of box A to the top
side of box B.
Start-to-start (SS) A diagram of a box labeled A above a Task (B) cannot start until task (A)
box labeled B. Box B is more aligned to starts.
the right. An arrow points from the left
side of box A down towards the left side
of box B.
Finish-to-finish (FF) A diagram of a box labeled A above a Task (B) cannot finish until task (A)
box labeled B. Box B is more aligned to finishes.
the left. An arrow points from the right
side of box A and down to the right side
of box B.
Start-to-finish (SF) A diagram of a box labeled A in the top Task (B) cannot finish until task (A)
right corner and a box labeled B in the starts.
bottom left corner. An arrow points from
the left side of box A to the right side of
box B.
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Figure 6-4. Sample PDM Network
Diagram
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 22
Estimating Activity Resources
Before estimating activity durations, you must have a
good idea of the quantity and type of resources that will
be assigned to each activity; resources are people,
equipment, and materials
Consider important issues in estimating resources
◦ How difficult will it be to do specific activities on this project?
◦ What is the organization’s history in doing similar activities?
◦ Are the required resources available?
A resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical
structure that identifies the project’s resources by
category and type
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Activity Duration Estimating
Duration includes the actual amount of time worked on
an activity plus elapsed time
Effort is the number of workdays or work hours
required to complete a task
Effort does not normally equal duration
People doing the work should help create estimates,
and an expert should review them
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 24
Three-Point Estimates
Instead of providing activity estimates as a discrete
number, such as four weeks, it’s often helpful to create
a three-point estimate
◦ an estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and
pessimistic estimate, such as three weeks for the optimistic,
four weeks for the most likely, and five weeks for the
pessimistic estimate
Three-point estimates are needed for PERT and Monte
Carlo simulations
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Developing the Schedule
Uses results of the other time management processes
to determine the start and end date of the project
Ultimate goal is to create a realistic project schedule
that provides a basis for monitoring project progress for
the time dimension of the project
Important tools and techniques include Gantt charts,
critical path analysis, and critical chain scheduling, and
PERT analysis
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Gantt Charts
Gantt charts provide a standard format for displaying
project schedule information by listing project activities
and their corresponding start and finish dates in a
calendar format
Symbols include:
◦ A black diamond: a milestones
◦ Thick black bars: summary tasks
◦ Lighter horizontal bars: durations of tasks
◦ Arrows: dependencies between tasks
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Figure 6-5. Gantt Chart for Project X
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 28
Figure 6-6. Gantt Chart for Software
Launch Project
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 29
Adding Milestones to Gantt Charts
Many people like to focus on meeting milestones,
especially for large projects
Milestones emphasize important events or
accomplishments on projects
Normally create milestone by entering tasks with a zero
duration, or you can mark any task as a milestone
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 30
SMART Criteria
Milestones should be
◦ Specific
◦ Measurable
◦ Assignable
◦ Realistic
◦ Time-framed
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 31
Best Practice
Shawn Anchor suggests the 20-second rule in his book, The
Happiness Advantage
People prefer the path of least resistance. For example, if you
have to wait in line 20 seconds to get a second scoop of ice
cream, you might resist it
Anchor recommends making it more difficult for yourself to be
distracted at work by keeping email or websites closed while
you are working
Save time by adding time to the distracting behaviors at work
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 32
Figure 6-7. Sample Tracking Gantt Chart
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Critical Path Method (CPM)
CPM is a network diagramming technique used to
predict total project duration
A critical path for a project is the series of activities
that determines the earliest time by which the project
can be completed
The critical path is the longest path through the network
diagram and has the least amount of slack or float
Slack or float is the amount of time an activity may be
delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the
project finish date
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Calculating the Critical Path
First develop a good network diagram
Add the duration estimates for all activities on each
path through the network diagram
The longest path is the critical path
If one or more of the activities on the critical path takes
longer than planned, the whole project schedule will
slip unless the project manager takes corrective action
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Figure 6-8. Determining the Critical
Path for Project X
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 36
More on the Critical Path
A project team at Apple computer put a stuffed gorilla
on the top of the cubicle of the person currently
managing critical task
The critical path is not the one with all the critical
activities; it only accounts for time
◦ Remember the example of growing grass being on the critical
path for Disney’s Animal Kingdom
There can be more than one critical path if the lengths
of two or more paths are the same
The critical path can change as the project progresses
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Using Critical Path Analysis to Make Schedule
Trade-offs
Free slack or free float is the amount of time an
activity can be delayed without delaying the early start
of any immediately following activities
Total slack or total float is the amount of time an
activity may be delayed from its early start without
delaying the planned project finish date
A forward pass through the network diagram
determines the early start and finish dates
A backward pass determines the late start and finish
dates
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 38
Figure 6-9. Calculating Early and Late Start and
Finish Dates
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 39
Table 6-1. Free and Total Float or Slack
for Project X
Task Name Start Finish Late Start Late Finish Free Slack Total Slack
A 8/3/15 8/3/15 8/5/15 8/5/15 0d 2d
B 8/3/15 8/4/15 8/3/15 8/4/15 0d 0d
C 8/3/15 8/5/15 8/5/15 8/7/15 0d 2d
D 8/4/15 8/7/15 8/6/15 8/11/15 2d 2d
E 8/5/15 8/11/15 8/5/15 8/11/15 0d 0d
F 8/5/15 8/10/15 8/14/15 8/17/15 7d 7d
G 8/6/15 8/13/15 8/10/15 8/17/15 0d 2d
H 8/12/15 8/19/15 8/12/15 8/19/15 0d 0d
I 8/14/15 8/17/15 8/18/15 8/19/15 2d 2d
J 8/20/15 8/24/15 8/20/15 8/24/15 0d 0d
© Cengage Learning 2016
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 40
Using the Critical Path to Shorten a
Project Schedule
Three main techniques for shortening schedules
◦ Shortening durations of critical activities/tasks by adding more
resources or changing their scope
◦ Crashing activities by obtaining the greatest amount of
schedule compression for the least incremental cost
◦ Fast tracking activities by doing them in parallel or
overlapping them
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Importance of Updating Critical Path Data
It is important to update project schedule information to
meet time goals for a project
The critical path may change as you enter actual start
and finish dates
If you know the project completion date will slip,
negotiate with the project sponsor
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Critical Chain Scheduling
Critical chain scheduling
◦ a method of scheduling that considers limited resources when
creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the
project completion date
Uses the Theory of Constraints (TOC)
◦ a management philosophy developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
and introduced in his book The Goal.
Attempts to minimize multitasking
◦ when a resource works on more than one task at a time
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Figures 6-10.a and b. Multitasking
Example
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Buffers and Critical Chain
A buffer is additional time to complete a task
Murphy’s Law states that if something can go wrong, it
will
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the
time allowed
In traditional estimates, people often add a buffer to
each task and use it if it’s needed or not
Critical chain scheduling removes buffers from
individual tasks and instead creates
◦ a project buffer or additional time added before the project’s
due date
◦ feeding buffers or additional time added before tasks on the
critical path
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 45
Figure 6-11. Example of Critical Chain
Scheduling
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 46
What Went Right?
Scheduling at healthcare clinic’s can be more efficient
by using critical chain scheduling
The National University Hospital in Singapore
decreased patient admission times by more than 50
percent
See [Link] for more information
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 47
Program Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT)
PERT is a network analysis technique used to estimate
project duration when there is a high degree of
uncertainty about the individual activity duration
estimates
PERT uses probabilistic time estimates
◦ duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and
pessimistic estimates of activity durations, or a three-point
estimate
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 48
PERT Formula and Example
where optimistic time= 8 days
most likely time = 10 days, and
pessimistic time = 24 days
Therefore, you’d use 12 days on the network diagram instead
of 10 when using PERT for the above example
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Agile and Time Management
Core values of the Manifesto for Agile Software
Development are
◦ Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
◦ Responding to change over following a plan
The product owner defines and prioritizes the work to
be done within a spring, so collaboration and time
management are designed into the process
Teams focus on producing a useful product in a
specified timeframe with strong customer input
Don’t emphasize defining all the work before
scheduling it
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 50
Schedule Control Suggestions
Perform reality checks on schedules
Allow for contingencies
Don’t plan for everyone to work at 100% capacity all
the time
Hold progress meetings with stakeholders and be clear
and honest in communicating schedule issues
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 51
Controlling the Schedule
Goals are to know the status of the schedule, influence
factors that cause schedule changes, determine that
the schedule has changed, and manage changes when
they occur
Tools and techniques include
◦ Progress reports
◦ A schedule change control system
◦ Project management software, including schedule comparison
charts like the tracking Gantt chart
◦ Variance analysis, such as analyzing float or slack
◦ Performance management, such as earned value (chapter 7)
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 52
Reality Checks on Scheduling
First review the draft schedule or estimated completion
date in the project charter
Prepare a more detailed schedule with the project team
Make sure the schedule is realistic and followed
Alert top management well in advance if there are
schedule problems
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 53
Working with People Issues
Strong leadership helps projects succeed more than
good PERT charts
Project managers should use
◦ empowerment
◦ incentives
◦ discipline
◦ negotiation
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 54
Using Software to Assist in Time Management
Software for facilitating communications helps people
exchange schedule-related information
Decision support models help analyze trade-offs that
can be made
Project management software can help in various time
management areas
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 55
Global Issues
Microsoft tell the customer story of Mexico’s Secretary
of Economy, who wanted to ensure that IT initiatives
aligned with business goals and improved project
management efficiency
After implementing new software, their IT team could
handle four times the number of concurrent projects
without adding more staff
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 56
Words of Caution on Using Project
Management Software
Many people misuse project management software
because they don’t understand important concepts and
have not had training
You must enter dependencies to have dates adjust
automatically and to determine the critical path
You must enter actual schedule information to compare
planned and actual progress
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 57
Chapter Summary
Project time management is often cited as the main
source of conflict on projects, and most IT projects
exceed time estimates
Main processes include
◦ Plan schedule management
◦ Define activities
◦ Sequence activities
◦ Estimate activity resources
◦ Estimate activity durations
◦ Develop schedule
◦ Control schedule
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Management, Eighth Edition Copyright 2016 58