I am new to Project Management. And I am trying to learn about Critical Path Management (CMP). I read on the web that "the critical
path is the longest path (in time) from Start to Finish; it indicates the minimum amount of time necessary to complete the entire project".
The question I have is that if it is the minimum amount of time, should it be the shortest path (in time)?
Thank you for any information you might have for me.
Hi Chris,
Project activities run through many paths to the end of a project. One of the paths is critical with the longest time, because the delay of it will cause of the delay of entire project. The critical path in time defines the project duration. So it indicates the minimum amount of time required to complete the entire project. You can't complete earlier than the critical path time unless additional resources are allocated.
For example, a power station delivery project includes three paths, the delivery of power cables (3 months delivery time), transformers (8 months) and fittings (6 months). The critical path will be the delivery of transformers. This project needs minimum of 8 months to finish.
Hope above will help. Saving Changes...
The concept is fairly explained by David.
Just to help further, make a note of the name "critical".
This is the path which is critical for the project to complete it as scheduled.
If you miss somthing on this path you will end up in delay. Saving Changes...
To help you with the longest vs. shortest question:
It sounds like you get the concept but the website worded it a bit awkwardly awkwardly. The critical path is the longest sequence of events, that determines the shortest possible completion time of the project.
I think what confused you in the wording was longest set of events vs. shortest total project. A project can never be shorter than the longest series of events. On the other hand, there are many paths that are shorter, and have extra time (float) where if you don't finish them on time, you won't affect the total program length because something else still takes longer to complete. Saving Changes...
Khai Ng.IT PMO | IT Project Manager| TTGROUPHanoi, Viet Nam
In order to understand that definition, you should look at Critical Path from the views of Planning and Executing. When Planning, Critical Path is the longest path (specified by adding up time of activities on path) as you have already known. When Executing your project should be completed on planned finish date of the last activity (of Critical Path) otherwise your project will be behind schedule; then the time (duration) that Critical Path presents will be the amount of time you have on hand to complete your entire project. Practically, you will need more time (that Critical Path presents) when Executing because Plan is always different from Actual; that is why it is called the minimum amount of time. Saving Changes...
