Lead Time

Lead time, sometimes called negative lag, is a scheduling overlap that lets a successor task start or finish before its predecessor fully completes, rather than waiting for it. Where lag adds a delay between two dependent tasks, lead compresses the gap — letting genuinely parallel work begin earlier without breaking the dependency relationship. A 2-day lead on a Finish-to-Start link means the successor can begin 2 days before the predecessor finishes.

Lag vs. Lead on the Same Link Type

Link	Value	Effect on the Schedule
FS + 3d lag	+3 days	Successor starts 3 days after predecessor finishes — schedule extends
FS (no lag or lead)	0	Successor starts immediately after predecessor finishes
FS − 2d lead	−2 days	Successor starts 2 days before predecessor finishes — schedule compresses

Lead vs. Fast-Tracking

Lead time is the mechanical value on a single dependency link. Fast-tracking is the broader schedule compression technique of deliberately applying lead to one or more links on the critical path to pull the project end date in. In other words: lead is the tool, fast-tracking is the decision to use it. Not every lead value is fast-tracking — a small, low-risk overlap that was part of the original plan is just normal scheduling; fast-tracking specifically refers to overlapping tasks that were originally planned as sequential.

Applying lead always carries some risk: the successor may start work based on incomplete output from the predecessor. If the predecessor's remaining work changes something the successor already acted on, rework follows. Lead is safest when the overlapping portion of the successor is genuinely independent of what the predecessor has left to finish.

Lead and the Critical Path

Lead applied to a link on the critical path directly shortens the project end date, since it removes time from the longest chain of dependent tasks. Lead applied to a non-critical link has no effect on the project finish date — it only matters when the compressed link is on the path that actually determines project length.

Lead Time in Maverick

Maverick's four dependency link types — FS, FF, SS, and SF — each accept a signed lag value in the task's Properties panel: a positive number adds lag, a negative number applies lead. The Gantt chart immediately reflects the resulting gap or overlap between predecessor and successor bars, and the critical path recalculates to account for it. Maverick's AI chat can also model a lead-time change before you commit to it — ask "what happens to the finish date if Testing starts 3 days before Development finishes?" and it will simulate the result.

Related Terms

Lag  ·  Fast-Tracking  ·  Task Dependency  ·  Schedule Compression  ·  Critical Path