Showing total slack

Slack is the amount of time in a task plan where a task can be delayed without causing another task (or the task plan itself) to be delayed. Slack is also referred to as float.

There are two types of slack: free slack and total slack. Free slack is the amount of time that a single task can be delayed before that delay causes another task in the task plan (or the task plan itself) to be delayed. Total slack is the amount of time that one or more tasks in a task plan can be delayed before that delay causes the task plan to be delayed.

In general, it is preferable to have a task plan with some (but not too much) slack present. This allows room in the timeline to adjust to changes in your overall business that can affect the outcome of the task plan. For example, a change in resource availability may cause a delay to one or more tasks (if a resource is removed) or may allow one or more tasks to be completed sooner (if a resource is added). These kinds of changes will be visible in the task plan as slack (available or negative, free or total).

To show total slack in a task plan