Critical Path Stability
Is the path driving completion real and stable?
What it is
Whether the critical path driving completion is genuine and reasonably stable — or an artefact of constraints and logic that shifts every update.
Why it matters
Time entitlement follows the critical path. If the path is wrong, artificial, or lurching every cycle, the entitlement and the forecast built on it are wrong — arithmetically, not by argument.
What to check
- Is the path driven by logic, not by constraints?
- Does it make engineering sense?
- How far does it migrate between updates?
- Are there near-critical paths that could take over?
- Is total float behaving sensibly across the network?
Common warning signs
- A critical path through improbable or trivial activities
- A path that jumps wildly each update
- Long chains held together by a single constraint
- Everything sitting at zero float
Practical approach
Validate the path before trusting it, watch its migration and the near-critical paths, and interrogate every constraint. The path the software reports is not always the one running the job.