5 Planning the Activities Learning Objectives By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: · Create a network diagram. · Determine the critical path. S EQUENCING A CTIVITIES An important part of project planning is determining the logical workflow of the various activities you identified in the work breakdown structure. This chapter will teach you how to create a network diagram, which is a graphical flow plan of the activities that must be accomplished to complete the project. The diagram illustrates which activities must be performed in sequence (after the previous activity is completed) and which can be done in parallel (at the same time). The diagram shows the planned sequence of steps, with all de- pendencies and relationships. It shows what is logically possible without the constraints of resource availability. Using the network diagram, you can determine the critical path, which is the path through the network that takes the longest total time, and therefore, determines the earliest possible time the project can be completed. Schedule Network Diagrams Bar charts (such as Gantt charts) are helpful ways of communicating project information, but since they do not show the logical relationships among ac- tivities as clearly, they are not as helpful in planning. (See Chapter 6 for a dis- © American Management Association. All rights reserved. http://www.amanet.org/ 81