If a task on the critical path is delayed, what is the likely impact on the Mega Goal?

• A. The Mega Goal completion is delayed
• B. The budget increases but schedule remains
• C. The scope automatically expands
• D. Stakeholders are unaffected

Answer: (A)

A delay on a task that sits on the critical path directly pushes back the project’s finish date because those tasks have no slack and must finish on time for the whole project to complete as scheduled. Since the Mega Goal is tied to completing the project on time, any delay on a critical-path task causes the Mega Goal to be delayed as well.

The other outcomes aren’t automatic from a critical-path delay. The budget doesn’t automatically rise and the scope doesn’t automatically expand just because of a delay; those would require separate decisions or changes. In practice, teams may try to recover time (for example, by crashing or fast-tracking), but the default effect of delaying a critical-path task is a delay to the Mega Goal.