Describe slack and how you can use slack to your advantage in managing a project.

Key concepts to be covered in the response could include, but are not limited to:

Free float or slack is the amount of time a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any successor. It is calculated by subtracting the early start from the late start. Only those activities that are not on the critical path have slack or float during the planning stage.

A project manager wants to know how much float each activity has in order to determine where to spend their time and attention. Those activities with a great deal of float can be scheduled in a flexible manner and do not cause a project manager much concern. Resources can also be borrowed from those activities with float to use on a critical activity, which needs to be managed closely.