I hate the use of the term "best" as it implies that it is applicable in all situations. If you are only focused on the lowest cost approach, then I'd eliminate A and B as A is too broad a category of techniques and C does not have anything to do with reducing duration other than identifying the specific activities which should be focused on for this purpose. That leaves us B and D. Crashing implies adding resources which would increase your costs, so I'd vote for D as you resource costs would normally not increase when fast tracking but risk would...
B and D are just subsets of A. Not sure why C is there. B only ever increases costs. That leaves D. E could have been reduce the scope. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Following the PMBOK Guide and PMP exam style - it is D
However, in real life, crashing will increase the crashed activities cost but not necessarily the overall project cost. Since shortening the project duration could reduce other costs, like overhead, management, equipment cost, etc. Saving Changes...
D- Fast tracking should help to reduce the overall duration, but need to be very careful on the increase in the cost and on the impact of the quality. Saving Changes...
Charl YoungHead of Construction & Ops Senior Project Manager| Fawaz Al HokairDanabaai, Western Cape, South Africa
Nothing comes without cost as A, B and D can increase cost. Reason for my comment is that If you use A and D it increases potential risk. If a risk becomes an issue it could potentially harbor additional costs. As to C: if you crash, compress, or fast track a noncritical path task you will not decrease the project timeline and in essence be in exactly the same position. B will increase cost as you add additional resources(cost to get the task/package done quicker). As a general rule of thumb, I would agree that D will be your best potential option of least cost implication. All other respondents above also made valid points. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
C is a simple reporting exercise and does not, by itself, reduce your timeline.
By definition, fast tracking is about doing tasks sooner than planned. If you can avoid overloading your resources, fast tracking should allow you to reduce the overall project duration. Saving Changes...
