Exercises: Timeline Construction
Part B is the heaviest arithmetic in the book. Do B.1 and B.3 by hand before doing anything else.
Difficulty guide: ⭐ Foundational (5–10 min) · ⭐⭐ Intermediate (10–20 min) · ⭐⭐⭐ Challenging (20–40 min) · ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Advanced (40+ min)
Part A: Conceptual Understanding ⭐
A.1. State the chapter's threshold concept and explain what "a timeline inherits everything" means.
A.2. Give the audit's four columns and the three statuses. Why is "living with it" legitimate?
A.3. Name the three kinds of open finding and what the timeline does about each.
A.4. Give the test for whether an anchor is hard or soft, and name the five hard anchors at Reyes–Whitfield.
A.5. Why does backward planning show a failure that forward planning hides?
A.6. Define the critical path and float. How do you tell whether a task is on the path?
A.7. What is the fragile hour, and what does it mean for where a planner stands?
A.8. Describe the compression test and say what its output is.
A.9. Name the two chains, how each fails, and where they meet.
A.10. Where do the four buffers go, and why is dinner not one of them?
A.11. Why is a buffer that people know about not a buffer? Who must know?
A.12. State the versioning discipline in six items.
A.13. Define: cascade, absorb, propagate, vendor extract, the hidden buffer.
Part B: Applied Analysis ⭐⭐
B.1. Build backward, four times. For each, work backward from the anchor and say whether it fits:
- (a) Access 8:00, guests 2:00. Marquee 3h · flooring 2h · tables 1h · linen 30m · floral 1h · settings 45m
- (b) Access 6:00, guests 5:00. Same build plus a 2h lighting rig and a 90m dance-floor lay
- (c) Access noon, guests 4:00. Indoor venue: tables 45m · linen 30m · floral 45m · settings 40m
- (d) Access 7:00, guests 3:30, and the tent company confirms a four-hour delivery window
For each that does not fit, name every option in order of cost.
B.2. Find the critical path. For a build with twelve tasks and stated dependencies (construct your own, or use B.1(b)), identify the path, compute float on every off-path task, and mark the fragile hours.
B.3. Run three cascades. A twenty-minute delay at: 8:40 a.m. (tent) · 1:10 p.m. (hair and makeup) · 8:20 p.m. (toasts). For each: does it propagate, what does it cost, and what is recoverable?
B.4. Place the buffers. For a full wedding day you specify, place four buffers totalling ~65 minutes and justify each. Then say which are published and which are held, and who is told the truth.
B.5. Build an arrival schedule. Eleven vendors, a raw site, a dependency chain. For each arrival, name the thing that must already exist and confirm its completion time. Report how many conflicts you find.
B.6. Write a distribution matrix. For a wedding with fourteen vendors, a wedding party of eight, two sets of parents, and a venue. Say who gets what, and write the couple's twelve-line version in full.
B.7. Run an audit. Take any project — this book's, or one of your own — and list every open finding in four columns. Be honest about the third.
B.8. Write a compressed version. One page, priority-ordered, for a build running 45 minutes late. State what each item saves and in what order you would spend them.
Part C: Real-World Application ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐
C.1. Get a real timeline. ⭐⭐ From a planner, a venue, or a couple. Find the critical path, mark the float, and identify whether it was built forward or backward. Report which.
C.2. Time a real build. ⭐⭐⭐ At any event load-in you can attend, time every task and record the dependencies. Compare to Chapter 13's figures.
C.3. Ask about version control. ⭐⭐ Ask three vendors: "how many versions of a timeline do you typically receive, and how do you know which is current?" Write 400 words.
C.4. Watch the fragile hour. ⭐⭐⭐ At an event setup, stand still for the two hours before doors and record every question, decision, and problem. Report how many were on the critical path.
C.5. Interview a planner about delays. ⭐⭐⭐ Ask: what runs late, by how much, and what you do about each. Compare to §25.6's variance table.
C.6. Build a rain version. ⭐⭐ For a real outdoor venue you can see. What differs, who decides, when, and what crew does it need?
Part D: Synthesis and Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐
D.1. Cross-chapter integration. Chapters 13, 14, 20, 22, 23, and 24 all supply durations to this one. Build the single sheet that lists every duration with its source and its last-verified date. Which are stale?
D.2. Critique the four buffers. §25.6 says variance is concentrated and most padding is waste. Argue that this is over-engineered — that a planner who pads everything by ten per cent absorbs the same variance with less analysis, and that the concentration claim is not measured. Then respond.
D.3. The audit. §25.1 makes an uncomfortable list the first act of timeline construction. Argue that it belongs at month six rather than month eleven, and say what would have to change about how the rest of the book is organised.
D.4. The hidden buffer. §25.6 publishes an earlier time and holds a later one. Argue that this is deception — that vendors and clients are being given information the planner knows to be wrong. Then respond, and say where the line is.
D.5. Transfer. Compare a wedding timeline with critical-path scheduling in construction, a broadcast rundown, a hospital theatre list, or a film shooting schedule. Which is the closest analogue and what does it have that weddings lack?
D.6. The couple's twelve lines. §25.8 gives the couple a simplified version. Argue that this is paternalistic — it is their wedding and their money, and a planner deciding what they can handle is deciding something that is not theirs to decide. Then respond.
Part M: Mixed Practice (Interleaved) ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐
M.1. (Ch.13 + Ch.25) A load-in chain has nine hours of work in an eight-hour window. Give every option and rank by cost.
M.2. (Ch.14) Dinner service is 13 minutes and the guarantee moves from 100 to 106. What changes on the timeline?
M.3. (Ch.23) Family photographs are budgeted at 26 minutes and run 38. Trace the cascade and say what you compress.
M.4. (Ch.24) The rehearsal finds the ceremony is 36:25 rather than 35:15. What else moves?
M.5. (Ch.19) The invitation printed at −10 weeks. Which timeline options stopped being available at that moment?
M.6. (Looks like one thing, is another) A wedding runs 25 minutes late all evening with no identifiable single cause. Name four explanations and the diagnostic for each.
Part E: Research and Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐
E.1. Research critical-path method properly — its origins, its assumptions, and where it fails. Write 800 words on what transfers to a wedding and what does not, and be specific about the assumptions a wedding violates.
E.2. Investigate buffer management in project scheduling — Goldratt's critical chain, feeding buffers, and the evidence for and against. Write 700 words and apply it honestly to §25.6's four buffers.
E.3. Interview three planners about how they version and distribute timelines. Ask specifically what has gone wrong. Report against §25.8, and note any practice better than this chapter's.
Solutions
Selected solutions: appendices/answers-to-selected.md.
The audit template, the master timeline template, and the distribution matrix: appendices/appendix-a-templates-and-worksheets.md.