96 Managing projects as investments: Earned value to business value
the end of the project will not be pulled in further unless we also shorten
the parallel path. In many cases, it might be worthwhile to do so. However,
Activity B has a large budget and a DRED that only allows for saving
2days at a cost of $50,000. We have reached a point of diminishing returns.
Cautionary note on using the DRED
The DRED is an indicator and a tool; it is not magical or automatic.
No project manager, having gotten estimates on duration and cost from
activity managers or functional managers, should ever change them with-
out rst running the proposed changes by the original estimator (who is
probably going to be the person who has to do the work!). This includ ...