Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Fifth Edition

Discussion Questions

1. 9.1 Define the following terms:

   1. Path

   2. Activity

   3. Early start

   4. Early finish

   5. Late start

   6. Late finish

   7. Forward pass

   8. Backward pass

   9. Node

   10. AON

   11. Float or Slack

   12. Critical path

   13. PERT

2. 9.2 Distinguish between serial activities and concurrent activities. Why do we seek to use concurrent activities as a way to shorten a project’s length?

3. 9.3 List three methods for deriving duration estimates for project activities. What are the strengths and weaknesses associated with each method?

4. 9.4 In your opinion, what are the chief benefits and drawbacks of using beta distribution calculations (based on PERT techniques) to derive activity duration estimates?

5. 9.5 “The shortest total length of a project is determined by the longest path through the network.” ...