The scheduling of activities to maximize the net present value of projects

Approaches to the resolution of the problem of maximizing the net present value of a project through the manipulation of the times of realization of its key events are critiqued. The problem is stated as follows: Given the specified net cash flows at selected nodes - key events - of a project, what is the optimal schedule of the realization times of these key events in order to maximize the net present value of the project as a whole? A survey of the literature on project scheduling methodologies is presented. An elementary approach that maintains the essential simplicity of the problem is proposed.