Coaching & Consulting

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: How to Stay on Your Project CRITICAL PATH?

Posted

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS: How to Stay on Your Project CRITICAL PATH?

The critical path is made up of all the tasks that determine the end date of your project. Following are key measures and steps that can assist you to stay on track!

 

(1) Understand the Critical Path.   First, take the time to understand what is a critical path is. The critical path is made up of the tasks that happen one after the other without any slack in the project plan. If one of those activities finishes late by a day, the whole end date of the project moves out by one day. Knowing which tasks are on the critical path means that you can monitor them to make sure they all hit their deadlines.

 

(2) Identify Slack in the Schedule.   Go through your task list and note down for each task:

  • The earliest possible start date
  • The latest possible start date
  • The earliest possible finish date
  • The latest possible finish date that wouldn’t impact the end date for the project.

The difference between the earliest and latest dates is the slack you have in the schedule. For example, if a task could start at the earliest on Monday but has to start by Thursday, you have three days of slack (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday).

 

(3) Plot Your Critical Path.   Now you have those details for each task, it’s time to work out which of your tasks are on the critical path. They won’t necessarily be the tasks that are most important, but they are easy to spot. The critical path tasks are the tasks that have no flexibility in the start date or end date. They are the tasks you identified that have no slack. They might be the least important activities, but their completion dates determine the project’s delivery date because you can’t flex the dates forward and backwards. Highlight these tasks on your project schedule – these are the ones you really have to focus on managing to get the project delivered on time.

 

(4) Resource the Critical Tasks.   The easiest thing to do to make sure you stay on the critical path is to allocate resources to the work. Do it early, so they know the tasks are coming. Tell the team which tasks are on the critical path and make it clear that you expect the work to start and finish on time. You can also consider putting your most experienced resources on critical path tasks. They are more likely to be able to complete activities on time with less help than less experienced team members.

 

(5) Manage Your Team.   The only way you will stay on top of your critical tasks is if you consistently manage to your plan. Make status reporting part of every team meeting and get your team to give you updates in real-time. You’ll be able to quickly spot where they need help and step in to get the work back on track. Link project risks to activities on your plan so you can see what needs to be done to keep everything moving forward at the right pace.

 

(6) Monitor the Critical Path.   The critical path on a project can change, so it’s important to monitor it as the work progresses. There are many variables on projects. An activity that is not on the critical path can suddenly pop up as a critical task if it takes longer than planned. The best way to identify and monitor your critical path on an ongoing basis is to use project management software. This can automatically calculate your critical path and highlight the critical tasks. It saves hours of manual tracking and takes the guesswork out of when your project will finish.

 

CareerGrowth™ has extensive project management knowledge and experience to assist you and your team to deliver better project outcomes! This includes our comprehensive “Project Management Training Modules”, “High Performance Coaching” programs, and “Consulting” services from our experienced trainers, coaches, and consultants to guide and assist your organization to achieve the next performance levels!