Critical Chain Paperback – December 10, 2002

Eli Goldratt continues his application of Theory of Constraints (TOC) to various business processes by focusing on project management with this latest business novella. TOC is a method of creating ongoing improvement in operational processes, as well as a general management philosophy. Goldratt introduced this theory to world in his best-selling book THE GOAL, where he applied the principles to a manufacturing setting.In CRITICAL CHAIN, Goldratt builds upon the teachings found in THE GOAL. He quickly describes of constructs of TOC, while spending more time addressing some specific phenomenon of project management versus process management. This is where the "Aha"s come into play.Goldratt's characters debate and learn why projects often run overdue and over budget, or finish with less completed than originally specified. The characters debate critical path vs. non-critical path tasks, early vs. late start, resource conflicts, safety buffers in each task, negotiating with subcontractors and suppliers, as well as the erroneous progress accounting/measurement techniques that give everyone a false sense of progress toward completion.Each of these topics were useful in challenging the conventional wisdom of project management. Each presented some new techniques for managing projects more aggressively. In my job, I indirectly manage a large number of construction project managers, and this was useful in understanding some of the reasons we struggle to deliver on time and on budget.For those of you looking for the same enlightenment that you probably derived from THE GOAL, you will be mildly disappointed. For those of you who have not yet read THE GOAL, I highly recommend reading it, because it will provide the foundation material (TOC) in much more depth and clarity.For me, TOC completes the loop of operational concepts that I have pondered over my career, namely how to improve processes and improve overall organizational productivity, while eliminating "fire fighting" and bottlenecks in production. CRITICAL CHAIN furthers the progress of this thinking relative to a project vs. a process environment.

In this book Goldratt is applying the TOC to PM. Here He is introducing a new approach to PM called Critical Chain, applying concepts such as scheduling at 50% of completion time, using early finishes, avoiding student syndrome and Parkinson Law, etc, Goldratt promise that projects using this concepts would finish on time and under budget.I find very innovative the concept of Buffer Management. Here we are taking the slack time from all the project activities and place that time at the end of the project in an activity called "project buffer". Other great concept is do not Multitask, which in my oppinion is one of the principal project of why projects do not finnish on time.A weakness in this book is: there is not an application of Critical Chain in a multi-project environment.In summary, I've found in this book several interesting concept to improve project performance. Now, there are much better bookS than critical chain, in example Critical Chain Project Management by Leach and Project Management in the Fast Line by Newbold.

This book is actually fiction, although it intended to be used as a instructional manual for implementing a new approach to project management. As a project manager I think the book is very practical and I think his approach would work very well for many projects. However, the theory that Goldratt proposes goes against all of the other commonly used project management tools (Gantt, Critical Path, PERT) that are based on timelines and milestones.The book is written from a common-sense approach (in contrast to the approach used by textbooks) and some of the problems it addresses are:1. Projects often run over budget but rarely finish under budget2. Multitasking is actually detrimental to projects3. Constraints arrise when multiple projects use the same resources4. The true cost of a project (which Goldratt says is much higher than most think)5. Negotiations with subcontractors used on a project6. Net Present Value and payback period are inadequate measurements for the cost of a projectDon't be discouraged if you don't understand any of the typical project management jargon. Goldratt does a great job of introducing each concept and describing the basic, underlying concepts. The technical concepts are explained in question-answer form that would be similar to attending a seminar.Lastly, Goldratt uses two types of projects (product development and construction) as examples in this book. However, the concepts and his approach could be applicable to many different types of projects. In my opinion, the determining factor for applicability of Goldratt's approach is the structure of the organization and not the type of project; the less burocratic, the more applicable.

I revisited this book to bridge the Multi-project Environment concepts to the Patient Flows in the Healthcare setting.It is so apparent to me that I’ll start applying it and measuring the outcomes.Excellent book and highly recommend to my colleagues in Healthcare Management.