Purpose
Managing a complex project can be challenging. If you create a Critical Path, however, you can make your job easier.
A Critical Path shows you what you need to do and when. It highlights your priorities; gives the shortest time for project completion; lists the resources you need at every stage; shows you when you can do two or more activities at once; and gives you a clear idea of how you can speed up a project without compromising the end result.
How to Create a Critical Path
A Critical Path at its simplest is a sequence of events related to a project. This sequence is the path you take to complete the project.
As part of the sequence, you calculate the duration of each activity along the path. You are then able to identity the critical activities. Some of these activities are sequential: you cannot do them until you have finished a previous task. Others are parallel: you can do them at any time.
To create a Critical Path, you must therefore write a list of project activities. Compose this list as a series of columns:
- The first column gives the tasks in order and marked A, B, C and so on
- The second has the earliest start date of each task
- The third contains the length of the task
- The fourth notes the type of activity (sequential or parallel)
- The fifth column gives each task’s dependency on another task (for example, if task B depends on task A, you mark “A” in this column for task B)
When you give the start dates and task lengths in the second and third columns, you inevitably have to make estimates. But a Critical Path is not set in stone. It is a flexible tool you can adjust.
Once you’ve completed your Critical Path list, you can create circle and arrow diagrams. The circles represent project milestones. The arrows stand for the activities you must do to take the project from one milestone to another.
You can build such circles and arrows into a graphical presentation of a complete project. Give the circles numbers that refer to your project milestones. Along each arrow, write a brief note of the activity and the time it should take.
Limitations
If you rely on a Critical Path to show others what you hope to achieve, you must ensure everyone is familiar with the technique. Some people who haven’t come across Critical Paths before struggle to understand them, particularly when it comes to time frames.
The answer is to brief all project workers on the way in which a Critical Path works.
Related Subjects
- Gantt Charts. The principle of Gantt Charts is similar to that of Critical Paths. Gantt Charts help you analyse complex projects. They also provide a framework for planning the tasks you need to do, and for the resources you need to employ.
- PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique). PERT works in much the same way as a Critical Path. But PERT provides what some managers consider as more realistic time frames for project tasks.
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