The Project Management
The success of any given project does not entirely rest on the resources that are available at hand but on how well the project is planned. As confirmed by Heldman (2009), a project plan is critical in managing any project as it informs those charged with the execution of the project of where they are going and what activities need to be done during the implementation period. Essential to planning is the use of a formal timeline that allows the project managers to plan well in order to factor in all the input required for the project. However, from time to time, contingencies may arise and with such bottlenecks, intervention measure must be thought of as quick as possible. Needless to use, the use of critical path can establish the best way to complete a project in the shortest time possible.
When creating a timeline for a given project the use of critical path of a PERT chart is necessary. The critical path of a PERT chart represents the longest path that can be taken through the PERT chart for a given project of interest (Heath 2009). This path is usually used to determine the longest time can be taken to finish a project and thus serving as a baseline for the management of time. As understood by any project manager, delay in the critical path has devastating effects and whenever bottlenecks are met, corrective measures need to be done.
If a given project has steps B, C, and B with B being part of the critical path, delays in the three named steps must be addressed in a prioritized manner in order to ensure that the project continues as expected. In such a case, the critical step to correct first is step B followed by the rest of the steps. Prioritization of step B is based on the fact that any step in the critical path is essential in the whole project in areas such as resource scheduling and correcting it will allow the other steps to be adjusted as well when missing resources are available (Lock 2007). One step B has been corrected, it is necessary for step C to be corrected before step D if it appears before the latter. This is due to the reason that events in a timeline depend on those that come before them especially when whey follow one another.
