Question

1. It is said that a delay in critical path activity will delay the project, while a delay in a noncritical path activity will not necessarily delay the project. Explain the need to specify "not necessarily."

2. Why does a project necessarily have to possess some form of deadline? What is the implication of a project without a deadline?
3. Task C has two immediate predecessors, tasks A and B. Task A has an early finish time of three days, and task B has an early finish time of five days. Task C is two days long. What is the early finish time of task C?
4. Task E has an early start time of three days and an early finish time of five days, while it also has a late start time of ten days and a late finish time of 12 days from now. What is the slack in task E?

Answer 1

1. The need to specify "not necessarily" delay the project implies that the presence of positive slack or float enables a project to be completed without regard to the noncritical path activity.

2. A project necessarily possesses some form of deadline because deadlines help a project team to collaborate toward achieving the shared goal. Another reason for a deadline is to keep complex projects on track. Deadlines also help to set project delivery expectations. Deadlines eliminate confusion in the execution of projects. A project without a deadline looks meaningless and unimportant.

3. Task C's early finish time = 7 days.

4. The slack in task E = 2 days.

Step-by-step explanation:

a) Task C's immediate predecessors = Tasks A and B

Task A's early finish time = 3 days

Task B's early finish time = 5 days

Task C's duration = 2 days

Therefore, task C's early finish time = 5 + 2 = 7 days

b) Task E's early start time = 3 days

Task E's early finish time = 5 days

Task E's late start time = 10 days

Task E's late finish time = 12 days

Slack in task E = 5 - 3 = 2 days

c) Task E can be finished in 3 days (e.g. from day 10 to day 12), but it was allocated an early completion time of 5 days. This implies that there is a slack of 2 days.