Identifying the Critical Path

00:02 Hey, time to have a look at the critical path method.

00:06 It is one of the project manager's best tools when scheduling a project timeline. Let's jump to the laboratory project and assume, because you're an awesome project manager, you have done everything you need to up to this point.

00:20 And of course, you're still as cool as a cucumber.

00:23 You have your list of activities and their durations with buffers.

00:28 And bear in mind, this is a snippet of the activities that would be involved in a project. You will see that later.

00:35 Things get very detailed, but in the interest of time, I will demonstrate what we need with a shorter list of activities.

00:42 What you must do as project manager is identify the longest chain of dependent activities required to complete the project.

00:51 This is called the Critical Path.

00:54 It is critical because delays to this path will certainly cause delays to the whole project. One of the best ways to plot the critical path is to put the information in a network chart with boxes and arrows.

01:08 This works well because it shows all the tasks and all the durations in the boxes and all dependencies, the arrows making it as easy as pie to chart a critical path.

01:21 Okay Using our work breakdown structure and activity list, let's begin.

01:29 So we have our full workstreams showroom construction, car selection and production.

01:36 Visual Effects development and staff recruitment and preparation.

01:40 Each stream can be executed in parallel, starting with A, O, K and M respectively.

01:48 Now let's see how each stream flows and how or if they intertwine.

01:56 Excavate foundations follows prepare land for construction works build foundation structure follows excavate foundations, build showroom spaces follows build foundation structure and so on.

02:13 The majority of these are logical dependencies.

02:17 But remember, they can always be resource, external and soft dependencies to consider.

02:24 For example, if design interiors must follow C Build Foundation structure, these do not seem dependent.

02:34 However, the chief engineer needs to participate in the design activities, although he will not have the available time before the main part of the construction is done.

02:45 This makes it a resource constraint.

02:48 There we have it now.

02:50 As you can see a through to I is the longest stream.

02:55 This is the path you will need to be the most vigilant with, as any delay here will postpone the whole project.

03:03 This is the critical path.

03:07 With the non-critical paths, you have extra time where a delayed task won't halt the overall timeline.

03:14 And this is called a float.

03:17 As you can see, the cast selection and production stream has a float of two weeks.

03:22 Therefore, if a task is delayed within this float, it won't affect the project directly. However, if there is a delay longer than the float, then this non-critical path becomes the critical path.

03:36 Yes, that's right.

03:38 The critical path is dynamic and can change during the project, so you will need to monitor it carefully as the work progresses.

03:46 Once you've done, here is a major step to creating the project schedule.

03:52 But there's one more thing you can do to further help yourself, and that is by making a Gantt-Chart.

03:59 And next lesson will be taking a good look at that.

04:03 Thanks a lot.