From the course: Management: Top Tips

Finding the critical path

From the course: Management: Top Tips

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Finding the critical path

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- Step four, find the critical path. This is where the process becomes fun, really. What you do is you put each task probably onto a Post-it note. I prefer that to a computer. Put each task onto a Post-it note and put them in the right running order. Connect them with arrows. Maybe they're stuck on a whiteboard or a big sheet of paper. Connect them up with arrows so you can see the running order of all your tasks. Then you put the times on, which you're best to make it in the previous step. And you can add up the times and look for the longest path through your diagram. This is known as the critical path and this is how long your project will take. You can't do the project quicker than the critical path. All the non-critical paths are known as floating tasks and you've got a choice of whether you do those earlier or later. You can fit them in around a critical path. But the key thing is use this diagram to find the critical path and you can't do it in your head.

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