Sequence Activities

Identifies and documents the dependencies among activities to arrange them in the order they must be performed, producing the project schedule network diagrams. It turns a list of activities into a logical flow.

Process Group Planning Knowledge Area Project Schedule Management

Sequence Activities establishes the logical relationships between activities — what must finish before what can start. Using the precedence diagramming method and identifying dependency types (mandatory, discretionary, external, internal) plus leads and lags, it produces the network diagrams that show the project’s flow.

Sequence Activities: key inputs and outputs — The key inputs feeding Sequence Activities and the deliverables it produces — full ITTOs are listed below.

Getting dependencies right is what makes the eventual critical path meaningful. The PM distinguishes true mandatory dependencies from discretionary preferences so the schedule is not artificially constrained.

Common pitfalls. Inventing dependencies that do not really exist and over-constraining the schedule; missing real external dependencies; and overusing date constraints instead of logical links, which makes the schedule rigid and hard to analyze.

Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs

Inputs

Project management plan
Project documents
Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets

Tools & Techniques

Precedence diagramming method
Dependency determination and integration
Leads and lags
Project management information system

Outputs

Project schedule network diagrams
Project documents updates