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What Is the Role of Crashing in Project Schedule Management?
Understand the role of “crashing” in project schedule management. Learn how allocating additional resources to critical path activities can help project managers compress timelines, recover from delays, and meet early delivery deadlines without reducing scope.
Question
You are the project manager of a software development project. The project is behind schedule, and the client has requested an earlier delivery date. To meet the new deadline, you are considering using additional resources to speed up the project. In this scenario, what is the role of “crashing” in project schedule management?
A. It involves reducing the scope of the project to meet the deadline.
B. It involves adding more resources to critical path activities to shorten the project timeline.
C. It involves extending the project timeline to accommodate additional tasks.
Answer
B. It involves adding more resources to critical path activities to shorten the project timeline.
Explanation
In predictive project management, “crashing” is a specific schedule compression technique used to shorten the overall duration of a project when it is behind schedule or when an earlier delivery date is requested. This technique strictly involves allocating additional resources—such as assigning more personnel, approving overtime, or paying for expedited services—specifically to activities on the project’s critical path. Because the critical path determines the shortest possible completion time for the project, adding resources to non-critical tasks will not accelerate the final delivery date. Furthermore, crashing is designed to compress the schedule without reducing or altering the project’s original scope, although it almost always results in increased project costs.