Critical Path Analysis
Featured in the The Project Management Activity Pack training manual
By Eddie Davies
Category: Management
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
This training activity introduces participants to a powerful tool that will help them to schedule and manage complex projects. It was developed in the 1950s to control large defence projects, and has been used routinely since then. It is called Critical Path Analysis.
You start the session by asking the participants to remember when they have been involved in a project and have been pressed to give a completion date. You explore how difficult it can be to give an accurate time frame for completion, and the impact on many projects if that estimate is unrealistic. This opening discussion sets the scene to introduce a technique used by professional project managers – Critical Path Analysis (CPA). It is one of the most useful tools for planning and analysing projects. Having established the benefits of CPA to the project manager, you put this approach into the context of having a well-developed project plan. You introduce them to a plan that identifies the complete range of project activities, which of these are sequential, and which are more independent (and can be run in parallel). You now use an activity based on cooking a popular meal – Spaghetti Bolognese – to help them recognise the differences between these activities. You next take the participants through a five-step process for drawing up a network diagram and identifying the critical path – the key events that dictate the overall length of the project. Using a simple example and overheads, you explain the process and aid participants’ understanding of what can seem liked a complex process to the uninitiated. Participants’ knowledge of the CPA planning process is reinforced and developed by an exercise designed to enable them apply all parts of the technique. You provide advice, guidance and support and finally lead a discussion reviewing a model answer, during which you identify the major learning points to emerge from the exercise. Having established the basic model for CPA, you now briefly discuss a more advanced variation known as PERT. This approach has been developed to enable the project manager to question assumptions that have been made about the timings used. You follow this with a discussion about taking remedial action, if the actual times to complete activities are different from those shown on your CPA. Participants now take part in a syndicate group exercise, during which they identify ten possible actions they could take as project managers to help shorten the critical path and get their project back on time. You discuss their suggestions in a plenary review. Comment and add any others based on your own experience before concluding the session with a key point reminder of the benefits of using critical path analysis.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to show participants the CPA technique for managing projects, enabling them to identify the length of time the tasks will take and the impact in delivering these tasks will have on completing the project.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 02:00:00 |
| No of Pages: | 29 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Additional resources: A3 paper, Pencils, Erasers, Calculators
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers as part of a programme introducing participants to the foundation skills required for effective project management. It can be run independently as a stand-alone session but will have greater impact if it follows on from ‘The power of planning – part one’ and ‘The power of planning – part two’, as it builds on the essential preparatory work covered in these activities.
Download the training activity, Critical Path Analysis as featured in the Fenman training manual; The Project Management Activity Pack