the terms critical path and longest path are often used interchangeably when discussing your project’s super-high-priority sequence of work to deliver on time. it’s confusing to many. and there are some great debates<\/a> about the differences.<\/p>\n the good news is that there is an important distinction between your project’s critical path and the longest path and we’ll explain it to you here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n well, it depends<\/a>.<\/p>\n “it is the path of 0 total float through the project.” – popular definition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n well, the above definition for critical path is true but only in under a very strict set of circumstances. when is it true?<\/p>\n when we set a deadline on our project (ie: a must finish by date in primavera p6), it results in the appearance of negative total float if you are late, and positive float if you are early. thus, the path of 0-float activities vanishes.<\/p>\n constraints affect an activity’s total float value. constrained activities can show negative total float and can drive negative float to their successors or predecessors. applying contraints throughout a project will affect what activities are critical. and so, again the path of 0-total float through the project eludes you.<\/p>\n a project with actuals<\/a> may not show a path of 0-float either. the actuals and the order of execution \u00a0can affect the activities’ total float as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n so it seems that the age-old “path of 0 total float” definition doesn’t fit in our complex project environments.<\/p>\n and if you care to do some digging online, you’ll find that our attempts to clear up the concept of “critical path” has led to numerous new ways to define the term “critical” for a project. search and you are likely to run into terms like:<\/p>\n so which activities are critical? \u00a0it all boils down to this – it depends<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n what will be your project’s critical path depends on how you end up defining the term “critical” and specifying what activities are “critical” in your eyes. you may have activities that you deem “critical” regardless of what the software says their total float values are. you may have activities that have positive total float but are critical in the client’s eyes. you may want to track a specific path of activities through a project. this is called real-world project controls.<\/p>\n “critical path is a path through your project which has activities you consider critical.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n there’s more clarity to be found here. the longest path is the longest path – there’s no debating the term “longest”.<\/p>\n the longest path is the path through a project network from start to finish where the total duration is longer than any other path.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n it makes sense to focus on a project’s longest path as it is definitely<\/strong> the path where deviations from plan will affect the project’s finish date<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n let me say it this way – the longest path is a critical path, but not all critical paths are the longest.<\/p>\n because we can alter critical path through constraints, actuals, deadlines and other mechanisms, often we end up with a path that has more critical activities than would be on the longest path.<\/p>\nwhat is a project’s critical path?<\/h2>\n
a. no project deadline.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
b. no constraints.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
c. no actuals.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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what is a project’s longest path?<\/h2>\n
is there overlap between longest path and critical path?<\/h2>\n
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