AI Superpowers Unlocked · Superpower #10
Critical path: start the slow job first
Find the slowest job, start it first, do everything else while it runs.
Critical path is a classic project-management skill, and it speeds up any process, not just AI work. List every task, how long each one takes and what it has to wait for. The longest chain of tasks that wait on each other is the critical path, and it decides the earliest you can possibly finish.
Then I show it on something real: making these videos. The same seven tasks take 26 minutes one after another and 16 minutes when the slow Kling clip is submitted first and everything else is built while it renders. The task times are simplified for the example; Kling clips really do queue for roughly 4 to 10 minutes.
Try it yourself
- List every task, how long it takes, and what it has to wait for.
- Find the longest chain of tasks that wait on each other: that’s the critical path.
- Start the slowest job first and do everything else while it runs.
Find the critical path
Seven tasks that make one video, with how long each takes and what it waits for. The times are simplified for the example. Toggle between doing them one after another and starting the slow job first.
One after another: 26 minutes. Start the slow job first: 16 minutes.
The critical path is Script → Keyframes → Kling clip → Final edit: 16 minutes. Narration, Graphics and Captions each have 5 minutes of slack, so they can run while the clip renders without moving the finish.
Chapters
- 0:00Superpower: Critical path
- 0:15What critical path is
- 0:22Step 1: list the tasks
- 0:30Step 2: find the longest chain
- 0:40Slack (float)
- 0:46Two ways to finish sooner
- 0:55Where it comes from (CPM and PERT)
- 1:05Making a video, one task after another
- 1:20The slow job: the Kling queue
- 1:30Slow job first: 26 minutes becomes 16
- 1:40The same trick, all day
- 1:56Three steps
- 2:04Superpower unlocked
Sources
- Wikipedia: Critical path method
- Smith, Sharma and Baecher (2020), on the origins of PERT and CPM, The Professional Constructor 45(2)
Narration is an AI voice (a clone of my own for the lunch footage), and the animation was made with AI tools.
The robot animation is made with Kling. Try Kling with my referral link. It’s a referral link, so signing up through it may earn me credits.
The narration is made with ElevenLabs. Try ElevenLabs with my referral link. It’s an affiliate link, so signing up through it may earn me a commission.