Your Critical Path: Connecting The Dots!

Some things can’t be overstated.  Understanding the importance of developing a reliable Critical Path for your Project is one of them.
 
First, it’s important to know both the obvious and the subtle differences between a simple time line and the critical path on which it travels.  It is all about keeping track of details, interfaces, important junctions and efficiency – to name just four factors. 
 
The “timeline” of your project is quite simply the path from beginning to completion; the “critical path” involves the what, who, when, where and how along that path.  Together, these two process concepts are what keep your project on the right track, account for the many details and make sure that the inter-dependency of all developments falls into place correctly.
 
Like the simplistic sequences involved in baking a cake or building a stone wall, A comes before B in order to be ready for C – which may have had its own preparatory process in order to be ready when A and B arrive!

Planning is key! Developing your project’s Critical Path and timeline is the compass and the rudder on the boat – steady she goes!

We all practice elementary versions of critical pathing in our everyday work, the pursuit of recreation and in the handling of emergencies.  We routinely make lists, prioritize them, revise them and account for the details of each line item.  Your project – large or small – is simply a deeper and more complex version of what you probably do already in conducting your business and personal life.  Most parents would agree that raising a family is one long, unbroken critical path – with a specific “track” for each member, and another for the group!
 
The main difference is that for your interior design project, the elements of a successful critical path must move from that simple list to a worksheet for each factor, phase and participant, to an integrated, comprehensive and literal diagram.    
 
Thanks once again to the advantages of electronics, there are many format models for critical path development.  They can be complex or simple as long as your method is comfortable for the scope of the project, and is comprehensive and user friendly.  It is important that the format you choose really serves as an effective tool.
 
For relatively uncomplicated projects a simple calendar format that clearly indicates the running path of the what, who, where, when and how works just fine.   Keeping track of when actions need to take place – and enjoying the confidence that what is needed for that action was prepared earlier in the path and is ready for the next forward step in the process – is key.
 
If and when your professional design team introduces the discipline of critical path time-lining, you can be confident that you and that team will have added security against dropping the ball where details are concerned.
 
If you are currently considering a design project, practice organizing your plan details into a simple path by first going forward to your desired completion point and working backwards to the present.  Drop in the factors you are considering and when they must be handled to make the next consideration happen right; then, the next and the next.
 
That’s critical path plotting!  Not a mystery, just a fail-safe way for you and your design team to bring your project vision home successfully.