- Paperback: 253 pages
- Publisher: Gower Publishing Ltd (4 Sep 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0884271536
- ISBN-13: 978-0884271536
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.5 x 1.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 431,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Critical Chain: A Business Novel
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Product Description
Product Description
"Critical Chain," a gripping fast-paced business novel, does for Project Management what Eli Goldratt's other novels have done for Production and Marketing. Dr. Goldratt's books have transformed the thinking and actions of management throughout the world.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There is an old saying: To a carpenter, every problem looks like a nail.
Having now read two of Mr. Goldratt's books, it appears that to him every management issue is a scheduling and coordination problem. While that's true, product development management of difficult tasks is also sensitive to many other things like getting competent resources, having the right amount of input from each function early in the process, and developing the ability to produce the finished product efficiently and effectively. Those other issues are essentially untouched in this book.
Think of this book as applying the system coordination and optimization concepts of Mr. Goldratt's famous novel, The Goal, to project management.
If you have already read The Goal, this book will be much easier to understand than if you have not. Although many of the same concepts are explained here as in The Goal, the explanations in this book are not nearly as thorough and clear. Also, the plot and plot line in this book will probably not be as enjoyable to you as The Goal. I rated the book down two stars for these kinds of weaknesses.
If you have read The Goal, Mr. Goldratt basically substitutes scheduling safety margins for work-in-progress inventory, and then applies the same debottlenecking concepts as in The Goal.
If you have not read The Goal, Mr. Goldratt's argument is that schedules are put together with too much slack. Everyone wants to be almost sure they can meet a deadline. The deadkube date they pick usually relates to the most they can get away with. Usually, that much time is not needed and people start late. If they end early, they never tell anyone. So any delay puts the whole project back because there is no project scheduling slack. With many tasks going on simultaneously, often none of them get done well.
The solution is to cut back on each individual schedule in favor of having all of the slack managed for the whole project, and communicating frequently about when the work really will be done so the next step can be ready to take up the baton. Then focus all measurements on project completion, rather than task completion. Give priority to whatever can hold the whole project back. Add resources there, too, if possible. In doing this, focus on both activities and resources as potential bottlenecks.
The book also has some good sections on how to negotiate with external suppliers to improve performance, and how to think about the tradeoffs between speed and cost as a supplier and as a purchaser of supplies and services.
Without changes in top management policies, most project managers will not be allowed to use all of these principles. So be sure to share this book upward, as well as sideways, and downward in the organization. If you are in a small company, it will be much easier to do.
After you have finished reading this book, I suggest that you look at the last 20 projects that your organization has done. What was done well? What was not? Which of these issues can be helped by Mr. Goldratt's ideas? Which cannot? For these latter, I suggest you look for best practices and imagine what perfection could look like to design a simple, but effective, alternative with better communications. The new book, It's Not the BIG etc., may be helpful to you in this regard.
May you continuously improve your effectiveness in project management!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Unlike other project management guides or BoKs, it uses real life like examples to introduce Critical Chain (Theory of Constraints) approach to project management.
Storyline is around an executive MBA Project Management class, where the professor (Richard Silver, main character) discusses and tries to address issues in project management using real life example from the class. In the process, they evolve "Critical Chain" approach to project management by applying principles of Theory of Constraints.
The book is written very much like a fast paced novel with quite a few plots; struggle of a professor at work and home, shortcomings of teaching methodologies, project management using theory of constraints and few more.
good: fast-paced, like novel not a guide, challenges thinking process
bad: bit difficult to follow without understanding of Theory of Constraints, not as good as The Goal.
Must read for all project managers, as it gives another perspective or approach to project management, and can be applied to their existing framework.
Storyline is around an executive MBA Project Management class, where the professor (Richard Silver, main character) discusses and tries to address issues in project management using real life example from the class. In the process, they evolve "Critical Chain" approach to project management by applying principles of Theory of Constraints.
The book is written very much like a fast paced novel with quite a few plots; struggle of a professor at work and home, shortcomings of teaching methodologies, project management using theory of constraints and few more.
good: fast-paced, like novel not a guide, challenges thinking process
bad: bit difficult to follow without understanding of Theory of Constraints, not as good as The Goal.
Must read for all project managers, as it gives another perspective or approach to project management, and can be applied to their existing framework.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed reading it - and learnt a lot from it. There are some real nuggets and it changes the way you think about constraints on improving performance. It's set in a project management context, yet the potential application of the thinking is much wider than that. Not many books you can read this easily and yet get so much from. At times it's a little patronising, but you get more than enough out of it to forgive this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Goldratt Weaves Another Great Story!
Stories are one of the best ways to teach and Eliyahu Goldratt is a master story teller! In Critical Chain Goldratt weaves a tale to teach concepts to project managers on how to... Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2008 by C. Clayton
don't waste your time
I am sorry but this is not a management book , it is not even worth reading on holiday . It is disappointing to see some established people recommend this book and it makes you... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 1999
Professionaly, very disappointing.
The "Critical Chain" represents old and out of date project management concepts, belonging more to the Industrial Revolution Era. Read more
Published on 6 Aug 1999
Very insiteful for Prject Planning.
I felt the book was written very well. I was left wanting more of an explination of the other areas in which TOC can be used. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 1999
Another excellent book from Goldratt
If you've read "The Goal" & "It's Not Luck", follow them with this book. Once again you will be left reeling at the end, from just how much common sense... Read more
Published on 9 Jun 1999
A must read for all IT professionals.
This is an absolute must for all IT professionals/managers. Since some 75 plus percent of all projects are either killed or delievered late by the IT departments. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 1999
great for IS people
This is a must read for any IS manager in the world. It will revolutionize your on-time delivery performance!!!
Published on 4 Feb 1999
Very Good. A must read for mgrs in Engineering & Systems!
Very good lessons can be learned as to what delays projects in New Product Development and systems development/implementation. Read more
Published on 29 Oct 1998
This book is the real deal.
Mr. Goldratt hits the nail on the head when it comes to TOC. Our company had tried for years to implement one type of system or another with only minimal success. Read more
Published on 25 Sep 1998
Breaks paradigms about project management
Harris Semiconductor used many of the principles in "Critical Chain" to bring a new semiconductor factory online in only 13 months (less than half the industry norm)-... Read more
Published on 24 Sep 1998
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