management alpha 10 Minute Guide to Project Management PHẦN 7 pptx

The relationships between the boxes are indicated with dark or fine lines. For example, "prepare dessert" and "prepare casserole" are

connected by a thin line. Bill's task "make drinks" connects to "load up food basket" with a thick line, which we will get to in a moment.

Both Bill's and Erica's tasks lead to "fill up food basket."

2. Because "make drinks" takes 30 minutes and Erica's tasks take 20 minutes and four minutes respectively, "make drinks" represents

the critical path in this project—hence, the black line between Bill's first and second activity.

Erica's path has six minutes of slack built in. If she starts a few minutes late or takes a minute or two between tasks, she will still finish before

Bill, as long as her total slack does not exceed six minutes. Conceivably, she could take her time on each project, adding a minute or two to

each and still finish before Bill, and if her slack equals six minutes, she will finish at the same time as Bill.

2. The critical path for the entire project as depicted above can be traced by

1. Noting which tasks occur simultaneously.

2. Noting which ones take longer.

3. Routing the critical path through them.

4. Summing the entire length of the critical path.

In the preceding case, the entire project would take 100 minutes. It all sounds straightforward so far, doesn't it?

5. For this or any other type of project, look at the earliest times that critical tasks need to start. Then determine the earliest times that

noncritical paths could start. Column 2 of the next figure indicates the earliest start times for all of Bill's and Erica's individual, as well

as combined tasks.

Roster of events, with start, stop, and slack time.