A _____ is a series of events and activities with no slack time.

A critical path represents a series of tasks or activities that must be completed on schedule for a project to be successfully finished on time. It is characterized by having no slack time, meaning that any delay in any activity along this path directly impacts the overall project timeline. Identifying the critical path is essential in project management because it highlights which tasks must be prioritized to ensure that the project stays on track. For example, if any activity on the critical path is delayed, the whole project will be delayed unless corrective measures are taken.

In contrast, resource allocation refers to how resources such as time, money, and workforce are distributed across various project activities, which does not specifically address the scheduling implications of tasks. A project milestone is a significant point or event in the project timeline but does not encompass the entire chain of activities like the critical path. Task dependency describes how one task's completion affects another task's start or finish but doesn't inherently indicate a lack of slack time, which is the defining feature of the critical path.