Describe how time—cost tradeoffs for project activities should be identified and analyzed

What will be an ideal response?

There are always time—cost tradeoffs in project management situations. Overall project length is driven by the length of the critical path, so if it is necessary to finish the project more quickly, the activities that should be shortened are those on the critical path. Whether the goal is to reduce the project's length to avoid a penalty, meet a deadline, or to reach an incentive, the cheapest activities on the critical path should be attacked first. If the objective is to minimize costs, then the project manager should reduce the critical path by expediting activities until the increase in direct costs exceeds the savings that can be gained. If the objective is to finish the project in a certain number of days, the project manager must continue to reduce activity lengths until that target is reached regardless of expense.