Backward Scheduling
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A scheduling technique from project management, also called backward scheduling and closely related to critical path analysis. The core proposition is that fixing the end date first and working backward reveals whether the deadline is achievable with current resources. The key qualification is that the resulting plan must be checked against resource availability and actual capacity, since a backward schedule that ignores constraints simply produces a fictional timeline that fails late.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Deadline anchor: fix the delivery date and deliverables before planning any work. - Gap exposure: subtract durations backward to see whether the earliest start has already passed. - Compression focus: target the critical path when the schedule shows a shortfall.
Anchor fast decisions
A fixed deadline turns planning into a subtraction problem: each task's latest start equals its successor's latest start minus its duration. The arithmetic exposes any shortfall immediately, because negative float means the work cannot fit. That early signal forces a choice among adding resources, parallelizing, or cutting scope while options remain open, rather than discovering the gap in the final week.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_path_methodverified
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