From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

What is the critical path? - Microsoft Project Tutorial

From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

What is the critical path?

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- [Instructor] The critical path is the longest continuous sequence of activities from the project start date to its finish. The critical path is critical, because changes to dates on the critical path change the project finish date. If critical activities finish late, the whole project finishes later. If critical activities finish earlier, the project finishes earlier. Tasks on the critical path have one thing in common: zero total float. Total float, also called total slack, is the time an activity can move in the schedule without affecting the project finish date. Zero total float means that an activity is hemmed in by its predecessors and successors, so it can't move earlier or later without affecting the project finish date. In this example, critical tasks are red and non-critical tasks are blue. To see what I mean about total float in the critical path, let's lengthen the Write chapters 9-12 activity from 10 days to 12 days. Because this activity is on the critical path, the manuscript finish date delays to June 12th. The critical path is key to delivering your project on time, or shortening the schedule, if need be.

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