You can find the PDF of CPM: Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice in the left column of the weblog. Or, get it here .

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Some very thoughtful comments were made on some of the postings from last week’s series on CPM. I urge you to read those comments. Just click on the “(#) Comments” link at the end of each posting wherever you see a number other than “Please Comment”. I urge you to leave [...]

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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 [...]

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Task durations depend on the quality of the conversations.
Schedules are not commitment. We have been fooled enough to know that! Just because we say a task is on the critical path doesn’t mean it will get done. Only when the intended performer promises to perform will it get done (and even then, [...]

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Task durations vary.
Experienced project managers will tell you the critical path moves on a project. Why? Tasks don’t start and finish as represented in the project schedule. This would be fine if all the performers for critical path tasks were always available to perform on the project, but this is not the [...]

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Task durations are fabrications.
Let’s say you produce a critical path (for whatever reason). The generally accepted approach is to ask each key performer to provide durations for the tasks and the precedence relationships. With this data you can find the longest path through the network of tasks. With this approach you overcome [...]

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Task durations are estimates.
The critical path method (CPM) is considered THE standard for managing projects. Customer contracts often require developing and maintaining the critical path schedule in great detail. Universities teach CPM in project management courses. CPM is the primary function of the best-selling project management software. Large plots of project [...]

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