Describe free float and how you can use it to your advantage in scheduling and managing a project.

1. Career development
2. Guide to Float in Project Management: Definition and Types

By Indeed Editorial Team

Updated September 2, 2022 | Published September 29, 2021

Updated September 2, 2022

Published September 29, 2021

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Developing an accurate project schedule and tracking your team's progress is important for ensuring clients and customers receive the finished product on time. Many successful project managers use float to develop workflows, delegate tasks and create schedules. If you work in project management, then you may benefit from learning about the term float.

In this article, we define what float is, discuss why it's important, explain the steps you can use to calculate it and share tips on how you can use float to improve your project management.

What is float in project management?

Float in project management refers to how long you can delay a specific task without it affecting other tasks team members need to complete or having to push back the final completion date. Other popular terms for float include total float and slack, and project managers use float to determine how much scheduling flexibility they have. This can help them develop efficient strategies to ensure they complete each project on time. 

While one of the main reasons project managers calculate float is to determine the best way to rearrange tasks if there's an unexpected delay, there are several other ways using float time can benefit you. Some of the main ways float benefits project management are:

• Ensures projects stay on schedule. Monitoring the total float of a project can help project managers determine whether a project's on schedule to make its deadlines. It also can help them determine what tasks they can delay and how they can adjust their schedule to ensure they meet their project deadline.

• Improves teamwork and collaboration. Understanding what the total float of a project is can provide teams with a clear schedule that makes it easy for them to collaborate. This can improve productivity and morale.

• Makes it easier to prioritize tasks. Project managers can use float to outline each phase of a project and determine the order their team needs to complete tasks. This can help them delegate tasks more effectively and improve communication.

• Decreases stress. Calculating float time can decrease stress because it helps you identify how flexible you can be with the deadline for a specific task. This can assure you that as long as you complete the task within a certain time, you can finish the rest of the project on time.

Related: Project Management Schedule: Definition and Examples

Types of float

Throughout your career in project management, you might use several types of float to develop and maintain accurate schedules. Here are a few types of float you can familiarize yourself with to improve your project management capabilities:

Total float

Total float identifies when a project's due and provides the team with some flexibility to help them stay on schedule. Project managers use total float to determine the time they can delay a task without it impacting the overall success of their project. This helps project managers assess whether a specific action may alter their projected completion date.

Related: Glossary of Project Management Terms and Concepts To Know

Free float

This term refers to how long you can delay a task without it affecting subsequent tasks. Project managers can use free float to determine how delaying one task may cause a chain reaction that delays the work of other team members. This helps project managers assess whether a specific action may affect a successor activity rather than the final completion date.

Related: How To Calculate Slack Time in Critical Project Management

Project float

Project float refers to the amount of time you can delay an entire project without affecting the customer, client or end user. Project managers often set an internal deadline for their team that's earlier than the date they agreed to deliver the finished project to their client. This provides them with a buffer period in case they experience unexpected delays. 

Related: Tips for Developing an Efficient Critical Path Project Management Plan

Interfering float (INTF)

INTF refers to the time you can delay a task from the date you planned to start it without delaying the project's completion date. In this instance, delaying a task also may delay the start date of another noncritical task or activity, but it may not impact the start date of a critical task. For example, if you allocated five days to complete a task that may take only three days to finish, you can delay starting this task for two days and still meet your deadline.

Related: What Is the Float in Finance? (Plus How To Calculate It)

Independent float (INDF)

INDF refers to the maximum time you can delay a task without affecting the early start date of subsequent tasks or activities. The early start date refers to the earliest possible day you could start a specific task. For example, if you're working on a photography project and your early start date to edit photos is on Aug. 15, then the last day you can take photos without delaying the editing process is Aug. 14.

Related: Understanding the Project Management Processes and Phases

How to calculate total float in project management

Here are some steps you can follow to calculate the total float time of a task:

1. Determine the critical path

The critical path of a project outlines the order in which a team needs to complete a sequence of tasks. Each subsequent task in the critical path depends on the completion of the tasks before it. For example, if you're working on a home remodeling project, you might organize your tasks to install drywall first, then update the cabinets and replace the flooring. Because each of these tasks depends on another task, they make up the critical path of your project. Delaying one of these tasks has the potential to impact the final deadline.

To define the critical path, you can list the most important tasks and organize them on a timeline. If you're working on a large project, you also may have tasks that don't depend on others. For example, as a part of your home remodeling project, you also might plant new flowers in the front yard. You can complete this task at any time, regardless of whether you've finished installing the drywall, cabinets or flooring. These types of tasks comprise the noncritical path of a project.

Related: Critical Path Project Management: Definition and Examples

2. Establish the earliest finish (EF) date

Next, you can determine the earliest possible day your team can complete the task, so make sure you establish a reasonable timeframe. For example, if you're trying to determine how long it might take to install new drywall into a house, consider how long it may take to get supplies, how many hours this task may take to complete and the availability of your team members. Once you have this information, you can estimate how long each step may take to determine when you can complete the entire task.

Related: What Is Agile Project Management? Values, Principles and Steps

3. Identify the latest finish (LF) date

Next, you identify the last possible day your team can complete a task without it delaying the critical path and final completion of the project. For example, you might determine when to finish installing the drywall to ensure your team can install cabinets on a specific date, so each phase of the project remains on track. To determine the LF date, you can review your project schedule, the estimated start times for all subsequent tasks and the final deadline.

Related: 30 Resource Planner Tools That Can Help With Efficiency

4. Calculate the task's total float

Once you identify the important dates for your task, you can calculate the total float of it by subtracting the EF from the LF. This can help you determine how many days of float you have to complete a task without delaying subsequent tasks on the critical path.

For example, if you determine the earliest date your team can finish installing drywall is Sept. 10 and the latest date they can finish this task is Sept. 14, your total float is four days. This means you can delay the drywall installation by four days without impacting subsequent tasks or delaying the final project completion date.

Related: What Is Critical Path Analysis? (With Steps To Use It)

Tips for using float for better project management

Here are some tips to help you use float to improve your project management:

• Invest in the right software. There are many project management software programs that can help you track your float time and delegate tasks effectively. Consider researching real-time project dashboards and choose the one that best fits your needs.

• Implement an Agile workflow methodology. Project managers who use float time often pair it with an Agile workflow methodology, such as Scrum or Kanban. These project management styles provide a visual representation of each task a team needs to complete, who's responsible for it and when to finish it.

• Delegate tasks using the EF date. Being direct can help you delegate tasks to your team members and ensure they understand what they need to complete. Try to use the EF date as your deadline to ensure your team completes each task as soon as possible and prevents delays.

• Set an internal and an external deadline. Try to establish a realistic deadline for your team to complete the project and submit it to you for internal review. Ensuring this deadline is at least one week before the date you plan to deliver the project to your client or customer can give your team extra float time.

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