Which tasks actually set your launch date?
Every plan has a handful of tasks that set the date and a majority that quietly do not. The critical path method separates them: it schedules every task as early as its dependencies allow, then finds the chain with no room to slip.
Words on this sheet
- Predecessors: The tasks that have to finish before this one can start. Put their IDs here, separated by commas, and leave it blank when nothing has to come first.
Operations Starter Critical Path Pro engine
After you install, this is the model to open.
Launch Plan: Find the Critical Path
- In your spreadsheet, click the Sortia icon in the strip of icons down the right-hand edge. No strip? Click the arrow at the bottom-right to open it. You can also use Extensions, then Sortia, then Open Sortia.
- Click Start from a template and put that name in the search box.
- Pick the card with that name and click Load this template. It arrives on a new tab with real numbers already in it.
This one runs on a Pro engine, and every free install includes five full-quality runs on your own numbers, shared across all five Pro engines rather than five for each. After that, Pro is $199/year.
The answer
The path and the slack:
- Finish
- Day 23
- Critical tasks
- 5 of 6
- Content slack
- 9 days
- Path
- design, then build, then QA
The finish lands at day 23, set by design, build, QA, review, and ship. Content carries 9 days of slack: it can absorb a delay the build cannot, and moving help from content to the build is the cheapest speed-up available. When single-guess durations feel dishonest, add best and worst cases and run Schedule Risk on the same table.
The model
Six tasks with owners. Build and content run in parallel after design, then merge for review and ship.
| Scope and design | 5 days · Maya |
| Build | 10 days · after design |
| Content and docs | 6 days · after design |
| QA and fixes | 5 days · after build |
| Launch review | 2 days · after content + QA |
| Ship and announce | 1 day |
Once it is in your sheet
- The model arrives with real numbers in it and runs as it stands, so you can press the button first and understand it second.
- Change the numbers to yours. The sheet marks which cells are inputs and which hold formulas, and most labels carry a note explaining the row.
- Press the run button at the bottom of the panel. It is labeled for the tool you are in, and the result lands on its own tab, with a written reading of it beside the figures.
Never used Google Sheets? Start here goes the whole way, in seven steps, and assumes nothing.
Next question
- Which risks actually deserve the money?Project Risk Register, Priced
- Which office wins once you price the commute?Where Should the Office Be?
- Should you announce your format before they do?Standards War: Which Format to Back?
- Which task should you actually chase?Office Move: What Sets the Date?
- How much of the schedule is hidden padding?Certification: Buffer the Chain, Not the Tasks
- How few nurses can cover every hour of your unit?How Many Nurses Does Each Shift Need?
Every model like this one, and the method behind them: Schedule risk analysis.