Crashing vs Fast Tracking: Know Major Differences here!

Are you also looking for an answer to fast-tracking vs crashing? Well, if you are working on a project, there are many times that you have to take some measures to make sure that the project is going to get completed within the deadline. So before learning the difference between fast tracking and crashing, we will clear our basics and learn more about schedule compression. Once you start with your pmp course online, you will come across this term and learn how you can manage the project with great efficiency and have the basics clear of using these techniques in the project.

What is Schedule Compression?

There are many times that you have planned all the things in the project, but due to some unavoidable circumstances and other uncalculated things, the deadline may shift or it might become hard to catch up. The corrective measures that are being taken to ensure that the project is completed on time, these measures come under schedule compression. There are various ways using which you can achieve this as a project manager. The two most common techniques which are used in the project are:

1. Fast Tracking

2. Crashing

But before we dive deep into these techniques we will learn all about schedule compression and how this helps the project. By definition, schedule compression consists of the schedule which helps in compressing the schedule to complete the project on time without changing the scope of the given project. This is very useful as the team will be able to meet the deadline without changing the goals of the project as per the originally decided timeline. This helps in saving costs and resources. If the schedule is not on time then this is going to have a negative impact on the team and on the organization as well. So using the techniques like fast-tracking or crashing, the project manager makes sure that the projects are on time. Now that we are clear on what is schedule compression, we can expand our knowledge and learn more about these techniques and look for pmp crashing vs fast-tracking.

Fast-tracking

This is one of the most common techniques which are used to keep the project on track. Using this, the activities which are originally planned to be done in the sequence are now done simultaneously. The main thing to look for in this technique is that these activities should be able to be completed simultaneously. If there are activities that are dependable on one another and they need to be completed for other work to get started, then this could create issues in the team.

In this, the critical path is needed to be identified and then the activities that can be executed parallel are taken into account. These activities are able to make sure that the project path is influenced and there is a possibility of completion of the project on time. 

Various Advantages of Fast Tracking

One of the major advantages of using this technique is that there is no additional cost involved when schedule compression is needed in the project. As said above, there could be times when the project deadline might seem a little overwhelming to achieve, this technique can be very useful. But one thing needs to be kept in mind is that there is always a risk associated with this and the activities are now done in a parallel way. So while this is the best way of schedule compression that does not impact the cost of the project overall, the risk factor should always be taken into account. So always make sure that this is applied after full risk estimation as there could be chances of rework in the project if not done properly.

Crashing

If the fast-tracking is not going to work for the project, the crashing schedule compression technique comes into play. In this technique, new resources are added while keeping the overall cost increment in mind. The resources are added keeping the maximum output from the least cost increment. The most favorable condition is chosen at that time and this will help in keeping the schedule of the project on time. In this technique, new resources are added which could help in the completion of activities on time. So there is a lesser risk as compared to fast-tracking, but there is always a learning graph when the new resources are going to join the team. This is most common when the activities in the project cannot be completed in parallel and those activities need to be completed in a faster way.

Advantages of Crashing:

One of the best advantages of using the crashing technique is that there would be less risk involved as compared to fast-tracking. The resources would be able to complete the activities in a sequence more quickly which will impact the overall schedule of the project. The deadlines can be met this way more efficiently.

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Crashing vs Fast Tracking

Now that we have learned all about crashing and fast-tracking, it is time to see where you should choose these and how you can pick the best technique for your project.

In Fast-tracking schedule compression techniques, the activities are performed in a parallel way. This helps in reducing the time as compared to completing the activities in the sequence. But in crashing techniques, the schedule is progressed when the new resources are being added to the team. This helps in making sure the schedule is reorganized and activities are completed on time to maintain the original schedule of the project.

Adding to the above-mentioned points, the fast-tracking technique can only be used for activities that can be overlapped. If the activities are dependent on each other, fast tracking method is going to have no impact. But this can be corrected by using the crashing technique. In crashing, the activities can be completed in a faster way if they are not overlapping by the new resources that are added to the team.

In fast-tracking, the risk factor is higher and it might result in doing the work again as this is going to decrease the time given the activities. This will always leave room for errors. But if we talk about the crashing method, there is a lesser risk amount but the overall cost of the project will be increased as new resources are going to be added to the team.

When the project manager is facing an issue with the deadline of the project, the fast-tracking method is always used first. This is the first measure as this will have no impact on the overall cost of the project. If fast-tracking is not going to work for the project, only then the crashing technique is introduced in the project.

One of the major things to be noted here in both the techniques is that these should be applied to the critical path of the project. If you are not adding these to the activities in the critical path, you won’t be able to have any impact on the overall schedule of the project if your critical path is not shortened at all.

Summary

We have seen how the crashing and fast tracking are going to help the project get back on track. These schedule compression techniques are very useful to the project and they are used very often. When you are going to have your pmp certification course, you will learn various scenarios where you can choose what the best technique to use at that time is. The techniques have their own pros and cons and when you are in the situation, you should weigh all the things in and then make the decision. These techniques are very useful as they help in delivering the projects on time and make sure that there is no significant increase in the overall cost of the project. As a project manager, it will be your responsibility that you make sure that the team is prepared enough for the techniques that you are going to implement in the project. This helps in ensuring that you are getting the desired results for the implementation of these techniques.

So, now you know all about schedule compression, you can also enroll yourself in the best of the pmp training course. And if you are looking for the best one for you, then you are in luck today as we have the best name with us where you can find the top pmp course for you- StarAgile. Here you are going to encounter the real life problems that the project managers all over the companies face. This will help you get ready for the real job that you are going to have when you are going to have your pmp certification. Therefore, wait no more and enroll yourself right now and get an opportunity to learn from the best people for your pmp certification now!