PMP Exam - Critical Path Part 1

[@bidyut101]

@SirGanttalot : Thanks a million for the videos. I am appearing for the CAPM exam next month. The videos are extremely useful and it is free. WOW! If I were is UK I would have certainly signed up for a formal training with WestMurray.

[@bidyut101]

@SirGanttalot : Thanks a million for the videos. I am appearing for the CAPM exam next month. The videos are extremely useful and it is free. WOW!

[@tonytrinh8347]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU! You've help a lot in my preparation for my PM exam. Very detailed and professional speaker.

[@santoshkmhatre]

Undoubtedly the best PMP videos I have come across on KZbin. I was struggling with EVM, CPM and watching these videos made those concepts engraved in my mind now. Much appreciated !!

[@Ashley1978ism]

Thanks a lot for the two part tutorial. My tutor spend weeks trying to get us to understand this using a much more complicated method. Less than 20 min with you and I now get it. Awsome stuff.

[@guyrogers3456]

Sir Gantalott, you are the BEST, Great job. Keep it up.

[@SirGanttalot]

Yes that's right. You can look at it this way: 3 days of float is AVAILABLE to any activity in that sub-path. In other words EITHER activity B or activity D could slip by 3 days without delaying the project, but they cannot BOTH get delayed by 3 days EACH because that would add 6 days to that sub-path within the overall network. Thanks for the question, and I hope the answer helps.

[@pullatstrings]

very valuable tips. Just saw this 1 hour before the exam start and the eyeballing technique is awesome to save time and not get lost in detail. Cheers

[@SirGanttalot]

You are welcome. Glad it was useful to you.

[@colinmaharaj]

@yesIdoLikeDogs Did this in a PM class a few months ago. These videos are a great help for revision. exactly what was required.

[@SirGanttalot]

Float and slack mean exactly the same thing. You can use either word with no problem. "Lag" is different though. Lag is a delay you build in between tasks (like waiting for paint to dry, or something similar).

[@SirGanttalot]

Thanks for the comments and good luck with your exam. We are US-based rather than UK. However, we will shortly be starting on-line web-based seminar PMP and CAPM preparation courses, as well as other on-line and on-site courses. Please stay connected for more information. Regards.

[@SirGanttalot]

I am really glad to be of help. Best of luck with your other studies. Are there any additional PM topics you think would make good items I could cover in a video?

[@SirGanttalot]

Thanks for the feedback, I am very pleased that the video was helpful for you. It is still important to know that Float/Slack is LS minus ES, or LF minus EF, even though you most likely won't have to calculate values for ES and LS. You might, for example, get a question where you are told that an activity has an ES of 15th March and a LS of 15th March. The question will ask if the task is critical, and of course it is, because slack is zero in this case. (Beware the Ides of March!)

[@SirGanttalot]

That's right. First, work out the Critical Path duration. Then, for the activity you want to know the float of, work out the duration of the longest path that goes through that activity, and subtract it from the duration of the critical path. This even works when an activity itself is on the critical path, bacause then the longest path through it will actually be the critical path, and the subtraction will give you the answer of zero, which is what you would expect.

[@nuriasanzgarcia5119]

Thank you! I have been racking my brains about slack for a bit.

[@SirGanttalot]

Because it has 3 days of float. If you look at the possible paths, there are three: ABDI is one path, it's duration is 12, ACEGI is another path, duration is 11, and the last path is ACFHI. The last path duration is 15, so that is the longest and therefore critical path. The path that contains D is only 12 days in duration so that path is not critical. It is 3 days shorter than the critical path, so B and D both have 3 days of float. Hope this helps.

[@SirGanttalot]

Thanks for the question. In that case there would be 2 critical paths. This is perfectly possible. In fact there can be as many critical paths as there are paths altogether. If Task G was 6 days, and Task B was also 6 days, there would be 3 critical paths. Sometimes you hear people say there can only be one critical path. That is incorrect. Bear in mind that any critical path is the most risky path, so having more than one critical path means the project has extra risk. Hope this helps.

[@doralynch6350]

For the critical path you need to include start and finish ... So in the example provided, the critical path is Start, A, C, F, H, I, Finish. Thanks for the videos, they are indeed very useful for reviewing!

[@tranzoditty]

Really great representation. Your voice and explanation is unambiguous. Big ups mate :)

[@batmandarknite3972]

very clear!!! thank u so so so much. Now, i'm off to the second clip.

[@TheBreze]

Thanks. It helps me to better understand the concept!

[@SirGanttalot]

Yes that's right. Take a look at my Part 2 Video, which covers the Forward Pass/Backward Pass technique (the "Critical Path Method"). The purpose of CPM is basically to calculate the float (schedule flexibility or leeway) of every activity in the network. Typically, the Critical Path activities are then the ones that have ZERO float. In fact, most scheduling software does the CPM technique as the way to determine the critical path. Hope this helps......

[@SirGanttalot]

Do you mean how do you identify the paths? If so, "paths" means all the different routes you can take from start to finish, or from A to I. In this network there are three paths in total: A-B-D-I; A-C-E-G-I; and A-C-F-H-I. Of these, the last is the longest duration, and is therefore the critical path. Hope this helps.

[@howardschechter9768]

OK! Good, short, well illustrated explanation of Critical Path.

[@lewissteve7]

You are the man! Thanks for this, very helpful indeed

[@guitarist3001]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH THIS WAS VERY HELPFUL AND SIMPLE PLEASE CAN WE HAVE LONGER ONES WITH MORE EXAMPLES THANK YOU. I AM WILLING TO PAY!!! THANKS AGAIN!

[@SirGanttalot]

PART 2 reply: Just go one activity at a time, draw a box, and draw links to any predecessors. For example, in my own network diagram the description of Task G says it can start after activity E is finished. This means that E is a predecessor to G. Some activities, like Task I, can have more than one predecessor. Hope this helps.

[@rajus0]

i am doing it at A level in college i got my exam next week so this has been helpful

[@เกียรติศักดิ์สุขยา-พ8จ]

Thank you teacher , Thank you very much.

[@vishal18agarwal]

Thanks for sharing the video, it was good.

[@SirGanttalot]

Did you look at the Part 2 Video? That covers Early Start and Finish, Late Start and Finish. If you still need clarification, ask again on the Part 2 video if you would. Thanks.....

[@6myearsoldcoming]

Thank you for the best coach.

[@drawohr]

@SirGanttalot Do you have any proposed dates for the online web based seminar fro PMP? Thanks

[@SirGanttalot]

Well, you are right to be puzzled by a question like that because you need additional information. You need to know the sequence of activities. In the PMBOK itself, "Sequence Activities" is the process immediately after "Identify Activities", so any question about a network has to give you information that allows you to sequence the tasks, or it is an invalid question. Sometimes the questions are asked against an actual diagram of course, with the sequence shown. Feel free to send an example.

[@rajus0]

to work out the float you take away the next longest path to work out slack time?

[@SirGanttalot]

There are several different ways to set out the diagrams. In fact, there is more than one type of diagram altogether, the "Activity on Arrow" diagram. I'm sure the way you learned is just fine. The key thing is to understand what the REASONS are for the steps you take. So, learn an approach that you like, and stick with that. Good luck.

[@metallica929]

Hello, I have one question for you if you don't mind answering: if there are two paths with same duration i.e. longest duration = 10 days and 2 paths have a duration of 10 days how do you determine which one is the critical path?

[@ahmednasr324]

Hello, we select the one which has the widest variance

[@1chabot1]

Very good, sir. Thank you so much!

[@vash847]

yeah, this video is very helpful, and easily to understand..

[@jigneshngadhia]

that was great.... I do not have to do any early start, late start calculations any more!!

[@goodcraze]

Question. Activity D, has 5 days duration. Why it is not the in critial path?

[@jonathandelapaz6436]

Love this video so much. *HIHIT rocks

[@wasilamjad]

What if task B would be of 6 days duration. That would make ABDI a second critical path of 15 days duration. What will be the critical path in this case? Why?

[@romashka0487]

This was very helpful, thank you soooo much!!! :)

[@doust]

thank u very much. if u say node mode, wot dos that actually mean

[@todaladentro]

Really nice Sir

[@wasilamjad]

Thanks alot sir!!

[@SirGanttalot]

It is possible. You need to have, and be able to list, experience managing projects or leading activities within projects. How much experience you need depends on if you have a Bachelors degree. If you do, you need to show 4500 hours experience over at least 3 years. If not, then 7500 hours over at least 5 years. You also need to have 35 hours of project management training. Go to the PMI web site and search for and download the "PMP Credential Handbook" for more details. Good luck.....

[@SirGanttalot]

PART 1 reply: I'm not familiar with the way the questions are structured for the A level. Feel free to email me an example. Generally, however, when constructing the diagram all you are doing at that point is "sequencing" the activities. So the only info you care about at that point is each activity's ID plus its predecessor(s).

[@nickknowles8402]

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS EASY LOl

[@Bari_Khan_CEng_CMarEng]

Sir Ganttalot... make more videos sir!

[@Zico20]

i should pay u the tuition fees not the f'ing college.. thanks a lot for the helpful tutorial..

[@hythamtikka]

nice

[@85thday]

What country do you come from, you sound short of British and Ausie.