Displaying The Critical Path On A Gantt Chart

Displaying The Critical Path On A Gantt Chart


Scheduling is an important part of planning for a project, and the most popular tool to do so is the Gantt chart. The critical path is the longest sequence of dependent tasks or activities and the amount of time it takes to complete them from beginning to end. Gantt charts allow you to visualize your whole project schedule, and the critical path method helps you focus on the critical tasks so you can better manage task dependencies and create a realistic schedule. To display the critical path, you need to follow these four steps.
The most important details in this text are the steps to list tasks, set duration, identify dependencies, add logical end points, and find the longest path of sequence tasks or set of links from start to project completion. List tasks is done with a WBS, which has the final deliverable on top and the tasks that lead there branching downwards. Set duration is the time it takes to complete each of the tasks. Identify dependencies is done by looking up historical data and meeting with stakeholders and experts. Add logical end points are important dates that indicate the end of one project phase and the beginning of the next. Find the longest path from start to the project completion.