Critical Chain

Rating:
Summary: Good sales pitch, but lightweight
Review: Don't get me wrong - I think Goldratt's "Critical Chain" idea is great! This book does a good job on selling the idea. However, if you want to really understand the idea in enough depth to apply it, you need more than this book. I'd recommend Newbold's "Project Management in the Fast Lane"

Rating:
Summary: Read this if you are a proj manager needing new solutions
Review: I received this book for an executive MBA operations management course. I found it particularly easy to read and interesting, since I had worked in project management for ten years, but in services rather than manufacturing. A most interesting concept discussed is "padding", or protecting particular steps in a project. The book discusses elevating the essential steps of a project (hence "critical chain") and removing that padding that is placed around non-essentials that can waste time and money. It also talks about realistically planning/estimating time, and how during projects we tend to over-estimate time to plan for unforseen problems (again, padding). Key take aways were the chapters about getting vendor buy in to critical chain stuff, convincing our outsourcing companies to buy in to how maximizing critical efforts can save resources and earn them additional profit. Four stars were given because of two reasons-the author assumes that we all have the inherent ability to get the higher ups unconditional buy ins that will be needed to apply this theory. The second reason was the authors sometimes patronizing portrayal of women and holier than thou professor characters.

Rating:
Summary: My Review of Critical Chain
Review: This is my book review, as published in the Northeast Florida Chapter of the Project Managment Institute July 200 newsletter: "I just finished reading a great book! Critical Chain is written by Eli Goldratt, previously of the Avraham Goldratt Institute (AGI), who is now leading his own organization. One could refer to Eli Goldratt as the father of the Theory of Constraints (TOC). TOC is an overall philosophy usually applied to running and improving an organization and readily applied to managing projects. The TOC tools relate to problem solving (what to change from, what to change to, and how to make that change) and daily management (win-win conflict resolution, effective communication, team building skills, delegation, and empowerment). In a nutshell, critical chain (which is a part of TOC) is a project management concept where slack is not applied to each task, but is instead collected as a buffer at the end of a project. Progress is based on performance against the schedule, coupled with calculating what portion of the buffer has been used. I was intrigued with the critical chain approach, so I picked up this book and am glad I did. While many educational books are dry reading (let's face it), Critical Chain is both educational and entertaining. The author provides a fictional setting to present step-by-step instructions on how to use the method, along with useful examples. More importantly, he explains how each step of the process evolved and what problems it resolves. Critical Chain is the latest in a series of books which discuss these solutions in detail (the preceding books are The Goal, The Race, and It's Not Luck). It took me about five hours to read and was so good that I'm anxious to read the others!"

Rating:
Summary: Project Management simplified
Review: An excellent book, just as his previous works - Goal, Its not Luck - makes us understand everything about Project Management and how to complete projects on time. A must for Eliyahu's fan, but also a must for all people involved in any ways in Project or its management.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to read, nothing really new.
Review: This book teaches some concepts regarding project management that any experienced project manager already knows. Experienced project managers know to pay attention to all the critical dependencies in the project, not only the critical path. Cutting all estimates in half and adding one third at the end of the path as a buffer sounds like a good idea in principle. However, it easily falls apart in reality when you realize that most of the projects fall under the other end of the spectrum by being too optimistic. It is important to mention that by writing this book in a novel format, the author does not have to be as thorough as in a non-fiction business book. This is just a novel and should be treated as such. As for the "new" concepts, you will be better off by practicing the basics. Get the PMBOK from the Project Management Institute, read it, apply it, and your projects will benefit a lot more.

Rating:
Summary: WHY IS THE COMPETITION AFRAID
Review: The content of this book works. It is one of the best business books around. You can understand what the author is saying. It's a book you can read and use rather then put on your shelf. If you read the review below which gives this book only one star you will see that the author of that review is in a competative business to Dr. Goldratt and his followers. His low rating is SELF-SERVING and a dishonest presentation. Why not tell us up front that you are competing with TOC. There is room for everyone with out this kind of low and nasty attack.

Rating:
Summary: WHY IS THE COMPETITION AFRAID
Review: If you read the review below which gives this book only one star you will see that the author of that review is in a competative business to Dr. Goldratt and his followers. His low rating is SELF-SERVING and a dishonest presentation. Why not tell us up front that you are competing with TOC. There is room for everyone with out this kind of low and nasty attack.

Rating:
Summary: Old wine in new bottle
Review: Anyone who has been managing projects or helping others manage project for any length of time will find that this book contains no new ideas. However, its parable style may be useful for those whose prior knowledge is nil or lean. It comes across as "the next breakthrough" but is no more than a reasonable methodology for those projects for which its rather unlikely preconditions hold true. For example, the entire methodology rests on the assumption that projects start with a very large amount of "fudge" built into them. This assemption may have been true in a few fat organizations several years ago. But in this day and age any group that comes to top management asking for money with this amount of presumed "fudge" built in will either have their head handed to them or will be laughed out of the room. In my 30 year experience, project leaders are much, much more likely to be overoptimistic. If you do not accept this "much fudge" assumption, then the rest of the book has no validity. The author also assumes that there is but ONE so called critical chain one can focus on. This is an extremely rare condition in the world of modern day projects where most paths of tasks are either critical or near critical or will be made so when the problem of scarce resources is properly dealt with. He does present a way to quantify risk into the process and that is very good since this is often not done. However, there are much better alternatives such as Monte Carlo techniques available. The writer is a very charasmatic person who has mesmerized a lot of young people into proclaiming the author as the next project management guru. Articles written by these minions always refer to this book as the basis behind something called "The Theory of Constraints". I have read the book twice and failed to find a definative theory anywhere. I have also failed to find ANY publication where this theory is spelled out. This book is a parable. This style has been used purposely, I believe, to avoid being critiqued in a logical, scientific manner. You read the book and either you BELIEVE or you don't. Since reading the book, I have talked to a dozen true experts in this field and have failed to find anyone who BELIEVES.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult to comprehend
Review: I've been familiar with CPM for twenty years, but haven't heard of many of the terms used (e.g. feeding buffers, chains, etc.). It's too philisophical for me. Today, in this labor market the skilled worker is highly paid and in short supply and they know it. The only effective management tool that I find now is to stay close to the work and 'pull' the parties along. It makes more work for me, but it's the only way to half-way maintain a schedule and keep a handle on quality. I believe this book would interest those loftier managers who are far removed from the trenches.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best project management books in years!
Review: This book has lots of practical tips and how-to information for both beginning and experienced project managers. It confirmed my own beliefs that most projects go off course because the managers are looking at and reporting on the wrong information, not to mention wasting time planning projects the wrong way. This book will show you how to do it a better way. I recommend reading "The Goal" first - it will introduce you to the Theory of Constraints.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my own management style, considered successful, embodies a lot of what Dr. Goldratt advises - therefore I feel qualified to state that his ideas REALLY do work!