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A nd this concludes

 why crit ical path is

such an important 

and integral part of 

any serious management sys-

tem. Uh-oh! Did we draw a con-

clusion without presenting any

supportive evidence? OK, let’s

go and find some evidence, and

 we’ll just include it in a table, or

as an appendix.

 Well, actually, that probably won’t do either, since we will

need to organize that information in such a way as to support 

our conclusion. No, wait, we will need to organize the informa-

tion in such a way as to support arguments, which, in turn, sup-

port the conclusion. I suppose we will need a good introduction

as well, to capture the reader’s interest.

 Actually, what we need to do is sit down and plan the en-

tire project out. One small problem—we’ve already started the

paper. While we are the authors, the paper has, to some degree,

assumed a life of its own, and we either cannot or will not goback and correct history. Perhaps we can prepare a baseline

change proposal so that the reader will not expect a logically or-

dered paper, and will accept more of a rambling, scattershot dis-

cussion on the issue of critical path.

 All right, all right, we will stop rubbing your nose in the ob-

 vious need for crit ical path. But the previous paragraphs do

serve a valuable purpose: too many managers believe that while

crit ical path scheduling may be fine for construction or tangible

output contracts, intellectual-product or service contracts don’t 

need this kind of scheduling. As the introductory paragraphs at-

test, the poor quality that comes from a lack of planning is as

obvious in intellectual properties as it is in the construction of office buildings or a jet aircraft.

For those readers who do not know what critical path

method (CPM) scheduling is, it is simply planning the activit ies

that comprise a project in their logical order (precedence), and

defining the relationship among and between them. For exam-

ple, for a building project, the surveying task must be complet-

ed before excavation can begin, excavation needs to be nearly

complete before the foundation footings can be created, which

have to be done before the foundation can be poured, and so

forth. Of course, not all of the tasks depend on another task’s

completion before they can start. A schedule showing all of 

these logical relationships is a network. If you draw lines be-

tween the tasks showing their relationship to each other, you

have denoted paths. Many of these paths are worked simulta-

neously, or in parallel to each other. The single longest path

from start to finish is called the critical path.

 We would like to dispel some myths about crit ical

path—the first such myth is that the term critical path is a con-

figuration or scope-management tool. It is not. Critical path is a

scheduling term. Task managers who do not know better sound

stupid when they say, “What do

 you mean my task isn’t on the

critical path? The project can’t 

be done without this work!” A 

task’s presence on or absence

from the critical path has ab-

solutely nothing to do with its

importance to the scope. Its re-

lation to the critical path has

significance only in a schedul-

ing context, i.e., a delay in a task on the critical path will affect 

the project’s completion date. Also, it is important to note that 

if your activity is not on the critical path today, it may be on it 

tomorrow, or the next day, and unless you are a particularly

adept project manager, the ebbs and flows of criticality may

burn you. Do not seek crit icality unless you understand its im-

plications.

The next myth on the “dispense-with” list is that perform-

ing critical path analysis is difficult, expensive, or not cost-ef-

fective. In fact, scheduling a project on a personal computer has

become easy and expedient. There are a wide variety of sched-uling packages available, from the simple and cheap to the com-

plex and pricey. The range of capability and ease of use of the

available scheduling software renders the “it’s not cost-effect ive”

argument untenable.

Of course, if your project does not matter, then neither

does critical path scheduling (or any other management infor-

mation, for that matter). The reverse of this statement is also

true: if the management of your project’s schedule does not mat-

ter, then the success or failure of the project is probably incon-

sequential. One of the authors once worked with a project man-

ager (in name only) who held the critical path method in con-

tempt, even though he managed a high-dollar, high-profileproject. Sadly, his management “style” was reduced to a highly

reactionary mode, slamming the brakes on some tasks while

going pedal-to-the-medal on others, and perhaps reversing him-

self within a week or two on which tasks received which ap-

proach. It did not take long for the project to incur overruns and

significant delays, since it was clearly out of control. However,

this particular manager had managed to convince his superiors

that CPM was unnecessary, costly, and not applicable to his

project. Finally and ironically, it was left to the customer to in-

sist on implementing a scheduling package. Once the situation

had been entered into a computer, the true extent of the mis-

management became clear. The project manager conveniently

left before the rebid came up.

 We are sure that many of the readers of this publication

have similar horror stories, but we are equally sure that no sim-

ilar horror stories include projects that performed critical path

analysis as part of their project control system, and were led by

a project manager who understood the information produced

by such a system. Understanding what a Gantt chart tells you is

 just as important to project management as understanding what 

The Case for

critical

path

Michael A. Hatfield, CCC, and James Noel 

Feature Article 

7/27/2019 The Case for Critical Path

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-case-for-critical-path 2/218 Cost Engineering  Vol. 40/No. 3 MARCH 1998

the different colored traffic lights mean to car safety. Consider

how absurd it would be to let your teenaged son borrow the fam-

ily car if the extent of his knowledge of driving was how the

airbag deployed. As far-fetched as this appears, we have wit-

nessed major projects assigned to managers who had no working

knowledge of CPM. The former example carried with it the prob-

ability that the family car would be involved in an accident. The

latter risked millions in taxpayer money, and the viability of crit-

ical defense systems or successful environmental remediation, ei-

ther of which would affect many lives indeed. Now, which sce-

nario is more ridiculous?

One of the advantages that accountants have over project-

control types is that their tools, techniques, and tactics have been

formally codified by certification boards and even legislatures.

 You would never read an article entitled, The Case for Using a

Balance Sheet or Why Assets Should Be Increased With Debits 

in Accountants Weekly, or whatever those guys read. Inasmuch

as the management of assets is required for tax purposes, the cor-

rect management approach to tracking those assets is clearly de-

lineated and mandated. However, project management is another

story. For project management purposes, the value of any of ourtools or techniques is measured by the increased probability of 

successfully attaining the objective that the tool or technique

brings to the table. For the value of CPM, we would like to direct 

 your attention to the construction industr y.

In the construction industry, managing a project’s schedule

takes on a special significance, since many different teams with

different specialties have to be coordinated to attain a project’s

objectives. If the drywall workers show up before the plumbing

has even been started, then the project manager must pay for

their idle time. He or she also may not have access to them when

they are really needed, if the project manager delays the start of 

their work too long. In other words, mismanagement of theschedule in this area tends to have immediate, quantifiable reper-

cussions against the company’s bottom line. In schedule-critical

environments, such as this, expect the very best methodology

available for managing the schedule to be in place. No major con-

struction project is without CPM specialists and project managers

 who know how to manage in a CPM environment. The compa-

nies that are exceptions to the previous statement fall into one of 

two categories: those that are bankrupt, and those that will be

soon.

F or those managers who seek an advantage over their

competition, both inside and outside of the organiza-

tion, the use of cr itical path methodology probably will

get you ahead, and is almost guaranteed to make for

success if your competition refuses to use CPM. We would like

to write that the use of CPM is as good as insider information on

 Wall Street or as having the winning lottery numbers, but as with

any management tool, CPM can only position you to make the

right decisions—it can’t make them for you.

 You have been shown one of the tools you will need to do

a manager’s job right. The question is . . . will you use it?x

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