Crashing
Crashing: A Technique for Accelerating Project Timelines
Project managers use crashing as a technique to shorten the schedule or recover from delays when necessary. In the following sections, we will explore the advantages of using crashing in projects.
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Benefits of Crashing
The main benefits of crashing are:
- Aligning the Initial Schedule with a Deadline – Some projects are approved with aggressive deadlines. In other words, the delivery date for the product may be fixed. For example, the date of a sports event cannot be changed, or contractual penalties may be significant. During the initial planning phase, project management can use crashing to adjust the preliminary schedule to meet a fixed deadline.
- Aligning the Schedule with the Baseline – When project managers approve the management plan, they establish the schedule baseline. Risks, issues, and poor practices can delay the project timeline. Therefore, during project monitoring, project managers can use crashing to realign the actual schedule with the approved baseline.
- Engaging Stakeholders – Project delays can jeopardize customer satisfaction and result in negative consequences, such as losing clients or damaging the company’s reputation.
- Accelerating Product Launch – By speeding up the release, a company can potentially enjoy a competitive advantage by having more time alone in the market, thus increasing profits.
Challenges of Crashing
While crashing has advantages, it also presents certain drawbacks. Some challenges include:
- Increased Costs – It increases costs, which is its most obvious downside. Since additional resources are required, hiring new team members becomes necessary. As a result, training and onboarding raise costs and temporarily lower team productivity. Generally speaking, new team members do not perform as efficiently as existing ones. Therefore, the project manager should carefully analyze which activities will benefit most from crashing while maintaining efficiency.
- Limited Resource Availability – Sometimes, project managers cannot access the necessary resources to reduce the timeline. For instance, manager may allocate them to another project or focused on operational tasks.
- Increased Complexity – Assigning more resources to tasks can increase communication challenges as well as coordination efforts.
Approach to Implementing Crashing
There are several possible approaches to implementing crashing. Below, we explore one potential method:
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- Identify the Critical Path – The project manager must determine which activities are essential for project completion. Additionally, they must analyze dependencies and identify tasks on the critical path. This step is crucial because only activities on the critical path should be shortened.
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- Analyze Crashing Opportunities – Next, the project manager should identify tasks where adding resources would yield time savings. As such, it is important to consider if the number of resources assigned influences the duration of an activity. Furthermore, project managers must ensure that the required resources are available.
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- Determine Costs – In order to make an informed decision, it is necessary to assess the cost implications of crashing.
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- Select the Best Crashing Alternative – After the team evaluates the possible actions and their costs, it must choose the best option. In some cases, decisions may need validation from the client or sponsor.
Ultimately, crashing is a valuable technique for reducing project timelines. However, the team must apply it strategically to balance benefits and challenges effectively.