Keeping Your Project on Schedule

Use the critical path to focus attention and prevent delays.

The Key Insight

Not all tasks matter equally for your project end date. The critical path — the longest chain of dependent tasks — determines when the project finishes. Focus your attention there.

Daily Actions

Update task progress
Record actual completion percentages. The schedule only works if it reflects reality.
Scan critical path status
Which critical tasks are active today? Any blockers or risks?
Check for new constraint violations
Look for red FNLT flags. Address immediately.

Weekly Actions

Confirm end dates with task owners
Ask: "Do you still expect to finish by [date]?" — especially for driving tasks.
Look for acceleration opportunities
Can any critical path tasks be shortened? Parallelized?
Review near-critical paths
Tasks with 1-3 days float could become critical with minor delays.

Accelerating the Schedule

To finish earlier, you must shorten the critical path. Options:

Reduce duration — add resources, improve methods
Parallelize — split tasks to run concurrently
Relax dependencies — can tasks overlap?

Why this works this way

Consequent keeps planning decisions with the planner. Progress updates inform the schedule, but do not silently rewrite it.

That separation keeps accountability clear: changes are deliberate, and the critical path remains a stable focus for action.

Related Guide

Learn how to prevent deadline overruns using FNLT constraints and the two-gate pattern.

Preventing Deadline Overruns