Critical

Chain
Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Plot
The main story in the book is about an associate professor named Rick Silver
who is struggling to make it in the academic world. He is a very good teacher,
but he wants tenure and is in need of publications. His area is project
management and he wants the articles to make a difference in this field. The
fact is that the theories applied to project management are not effective and
projects are running late at high expenses. The work is moving very slow, but
he gets the inspiration when he is assigned to teach a course in an Executive
MBA course.
Plot
During the course professor Silver and his students develop the concept of
the Critical Chain. The teaching style of professor Silver is conversation with
the students about different topics. The students get homework to do and in
this course the homework tasks becomes case studies for the theories that
they develop in the classes. He is also helped by the fact that three of his
students are involved in a project at their company to develop a way to cut
product development time.
The Critical Path
The longest path to the finish of a project
The Critical Path determines the time it will take to finish a project
Any delay to the critical path will delay the completion of the project
A manager has to make decision weather to start the non critical path early
or late

Safety time (Because Murphy does exist)
The difference between the median of the probability distribution and the actual
estimate is the safety we put in.
Murphys Law
- In any field of scientific endeavor, anything that can go wrong, will.
- If the possibility exists of several things going wrong, the one that will go
wrong is the one that will do the most damage.
- Everything will go wrong at one time.
- That time is always when you least expect it.
- If nothing can go wrong, something will.
- Nothing is as easy as it looks.
- Everything takes longer than you think.

Murphys Law
- Left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse.
- Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
- Given the most inappropriate time for something to go wrong, that's when it
will occur.
- If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked
something.
- If in any problem you find yourself doing an immense amount of work, the
answer can be obtained by simple inspection.
- Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to make
it complex and wonderful.

Theory of Constraints
Identify the systems constraints
(that which prevents the organization from obtaining more of the goal in a unit of time)
Decide how to exploit systems constraints
(how to get the most out of the constraint)
Subordinate everything else to the above decision
(align the whole system or organization to support the decision made above)
Elevate the systems constraints
(make other major changes needed to increase the constraint's capacity)
Do not allow inertia, go to step 1 if a constraint is broken



Theory of Constraints
In order to mange well, managers must control cost, and at the same time, throughput
We cannot be satisfied with one without the other
Organizations traditionally are managed according to the cost world

Three Safety Insertion Mechanisms
Time estimates are based on a pessimistic experience, the end of distribution
curve
The longer the number of management levels involved, the higher the total
estimation
Estimators also protect their estimations from a global cut.

Three Safety Wasting Mechanisms
Student Syndrome
Multi-tasking
Dependencies between steps

A delay in one step is passed, in full, to the next step. And advance made in
one step is usually wasted

Student Syndrome
We first fight for safety time
When we get it, we have enough time, so why hurry
We sit down to do it at the last minute, thats human nature


Multi-tasking
Multitasking is probably the biggest killer of lead time.
A
B
C
A B C A B C
20
10
10 10
Buffers
Project Buffer
Inserted between the last task and the completion date.
Any delays in the project will consume some of the buffer.
Feeding Buffer
It protects the critical path from delays occurring in the corresponding
noncritical paths
Resource Buffer
To ensure the availability of people & skills for the critical chain tasks.
Buffers

A1
1
B1 B2
2 3 4
F
B
F
B
Project Buffer
Thank You