ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the rudiments of precedence diagrams and works toward the more involved approaches that include advanced relationships and the application of lead and lag. It starts with the basic notion that project activities are broken out from the lowest level of the work breakdown structure into discrete tasks. Regardless of whether the organization uses work packages or activities to determine the work to be performed, the actual elements of effort are integrated in the precedence diagram view. Some project managers confuse the precedence relationships by assuming that they must be added together. They aren’t. It’s simply a function of which relationship drives the later start. A basic understanding of why the tools are performing as they are is crucial to the proper application of precedence diagramming approaches.
