Scheduling – a quick refresher

We can define a schedule as a chronologically ordered listing of tasks or events. The following screenshot shows an illustration of a schedule:

Figure 8.1 – A schedule represented as a Gantt chart

The timeline represents the canvas on which you paint the picture of your project. The single green vertical line represents today's date, and on every new day, this line marches one step ahead on the timeline, from start to finish with regard to the project. Here is a close-up view of the timeline:

Figure 8.2 – Close-up of a timeline, represented as a Gantt chart

The thick horizontal bars represent tasks. The arrow lines connecting the tasks are their links (or dependencies). They perform another critical functionality – they show the direction of execution.

All the links in the preceding screenshot are of the same type, where the end of one task neatly triggers the start...