The ABCs of the CRITICAL PATH MethodAbstract: The article details the Critical Path Method (CPM) for decision making in project management. CPM is a management tool for analyzing, planning, and scheduling complex projects and for estimating total project costs. CPM is a bottleneck route that reduces over-all project time and provides a cost evaluation of "crash" programs. Topics include the critical path algorithm, concept of total slack, characteristics of CPM, potential of CPM, PERT, and Scheduling Program for Allocating Resources (SPAR), and examples from the construction industry. (HBR)