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Planning is conversation.

The future is uncertain and unknowable. Commitments must be adjusted as the future unfolds. Those adjustments can be done by the project manager or anyone on the project team. However, only those people involved in planning the project will be in the position to notice and then assess the need for adjustment.

Stay in conversation with all key performers and insist they do the same with those people supporting them.

So, why use critical path? All planning is practice. Each time through a project plan the participants prepare themselves for the future that is unfolding. Will it turn out just as they plan? Of course not. But taking the time to plan prepares them for the eventuality of the future being different than they expected.

Do you want your projects to finish on time and on budget?

• Accept the plan as represented on the critical path is what will not happen; task starts and finishes are uncertain.
• Investigate the level of effort for every task on the critical path. Adjust buffers in accordance with the circumstances and the competence available.
• Make assignments only when the work is ready — prerequisite work is complete and resources are available.
• Measure the performance of your planning practices as a basis for eliminating the sources of task variability.
• Include performers in planning conversations to give them practice for the inevitably uncertain future.

Let's stop fooling around on projects. Stay in conversation with all key performers and insist they do the same with those people supporting them. Use those conversations to continue exploring possible ends and means. It is the one and only avenue for succeeding with projects.