According to the PMBOK Guide, specifically within the Develop Schedule process, Fast Tracking is a schedule compression technique used to shorten the project duration without reducing the project scope.
* Mechanism: Fast tracking involves taking activities or phases that were originally planned to be performed in sequence (one after the other) and performing them in parallel for at least a portion of their duration.
* Example: Starting the construction of a building ' s foundation before the final detailed architectural drawings for the upper floors are 100% complete.
* Risk vs. Cost:
* Unlike crashing, fast tracking typically does not result in increased costs because it doesn ' t necessarily require more resources.
* However, it significantly increases risk and can lead to rework. If the activities being done in parallel are dependent on one another, a change in the first activity may require the second (already started) activity to be redone.
* Critical Path: This technique is only effective if it is applied to activities on the critical path. Shortening non-critical activities will not reduce the overall project duration.
Analysis of other choices:
* Choice A (Crashing): This is another schedule compression technique, but it works by adding resources to critical path activities to shorten their duration. This almost always results in increased costs (e.g., overtime, additional staff) but does not necessarily involve changing the sequence of work to be parallel.
* Choice C (Leads and lags adjustment): While adjusting leads (advancing a successor) or lags (delaying a successor) can influence the schedule, it is a tool used during the Sequence Activities or Develop Schedule process to refine relationships. It is not the formal definition of the compression technique that puts sequential phases into parallel.
* Choice D (Parallel task development): This is a descriptive phrase for what is happening, but it is not a formal PMI term or recognized " Schedule Compression Technique " in the PMBOK Guide.