What I learn from reading “Critical Chain”

This book is about project management. Specifically, the book emphasizes the concepts of critical path vs critical chain. In a nutshell, a critical path accounts for all the tasks that must be done sequentially in order to complete a project. To estimate project completion using the critical path method, one needs to estimate all the times it takes for each step to complete and sum them up. For comparison, the critical chain accounts for the tasks as well as the resources to complete those tasks.

In the first few chapters, the author talks about the reasons why many projects fail to complete on time. He talks about a principal that basically says that work expands to fill the allotted time^2. This means that if a task is estimated to complete in a week, then it would take up to a week if not more to finish. However, if the same task is estimated to complete in a month, then it would take up to a month even if the amount of work remains the same. This is because of our tendency to wait to complete a task until the deadline comes close, and then we start rushing to finish the task, thinking we don’t have enough time. In fact, this principal totally speaks to me as I have lost count of the times during which I wait to start on a task, thinking I still have plenty of time.

The author further explains why projects still don’t complete on time, even though we put in buffers at every step of the project. Again, this is because we tend to waste the buffers by not starting on the tasks as soon as we could.

This book is an interesting read or listen to if you get the audible version. I like the approach of explaining the concepts by telling a story, much like a novel.

I encourage you to check out the book to gain more understanding on how to manage and ship projects better. ^1

Footnotes

1. Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. Goldratt | Goodreads
2. Parkinson’s law – Wikipedia