Critical Chain Project Management is a project management methodology defined as a set of interlinked techniques and tools that work collaboratively to significantly improve the processes and operation of scheduling and execution in project, program, and portfolio environments.Eliyahu Goldratt developed CCPM. Goldratt had been working on improving factory efficiency and advocated identifying production bottlenecks and focusing on keeping production operating at maximum efficiency. Goldratt extended his work beyond factories and into project management, publishing ‘Critical Chain' in 1997.

Preamble

Tasks often take longer than the estimated time, but very rarely get delivered early. Goldratt cites three reasons for this: <ul><li>Student Syndrome</li><li>Dependencies</li><li>Parkinson’s Law</li></ul>

Key Problems that the CCPM Methodology Tackles

This truism suggests that most people do not fully apply themselves to activities until at least half the time allocated has elapsed. This idea of planned procrastination has been backed by research and appears to be entirely normal behavior. But it does mean that any margin for error is removed, resulting in a tendency for work to be completed late, no matter how much time has been allocated.

Student Syndrome

When several workstreams on a project come together into a single dependent activity, that dependent activity cannot start until all of the preceding workstreams have been completed. This means that if you have five workstreams all coming together for (for example) an end-to-end system test phase, then even if 4 of the 5 streams finished early, the testing will still start late if the fifth stream is delayed.

Dependencies

Attributed to C. Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson’s Law on the pursuit of progress states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

Parkinson’s Law

Given what we know of Student Syndrome and Parkinson’s law, adding contingency to tasks on a project simply results in the project delivering later. Often, contingency is mentally factored in by people working on the project, they will start fully applying later than normal when there is an understanding that contingency exists. This can end up with situations where adding contingency not only makes delivery later, but the contingency is actually over-run, and projects get even later. For this reason, CCPM usually requires specialist software to calculate and keep track of the time buffer.

Aggregating Contingency - Factoring in Considerations

When using the CCPM, we avoid focusing on milestones for delivery. Instead, we focus on encouraging and rewarding behaviors that lead to the delivery of critical activities as fast as possible. This requires a change of reporting and a change in mindset. To avoid Parkinson’s law, we focus on delivering as fast as possible, rather than focus on milestone dates. Rather than getting updates in terms of percentage complete, we ask for estimates of ‘Remaining Duration’. Reporting in this way provides a more realistic picture of when activity is likely to complete and prevents late-emerging issues

Remaining Duration Reporting

The Critical Chain model introduces Feed Buffers for the noncritical chain. Feed buffers are not included in the overall Project Buffer but are used as a way of insulating the critical path of the project from non-critical workstream elements. By building in Feed Buffers, CCPM reduces the risk of projects overrunning due to dependencies.

Feed Buffers : Averting Dependencies

CCPM introduces a new type of chart to track projects, The Fever ChartThe fever chart plots the percentage of the Project Buffer that has been consumed against the percentage of the critical chain that has been completed. Progress is plotted as a line graph, giving a running commentary of how the project is performing. This can be applied in program and portfolio levels as well, as a diagnostic tool.

Fever Charts : Assessing Project Performance

CCPM is very clear on its views on multitasking. It advocates for strict discipline where no one working on a critical path activity should be working on anything else at the same time. Eliminating multitasking can have a significant impact on productivity.

CCPM on Multitasking

Since the strength of a chain is determined by the weakest link, then the first step to improve an organisation must be to identify the weakest link.

Dissecting the core of this business management novel : Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) Methodology

This fast-paced business novel does for project management what The Goal and It's Not Luck have done for production and marketing. Goldratt's novels have traditionally slain sacred cows and delivered new ways of looking at processes which seem like common sense once you read them. Critical Chain is no exception. In perhaps Eli's most readable book yet, two of the established principles of project management, the engineering estimate and project milestones, are found wanting and dismissed, and other established principles are up for scrutiny - as Goldratt once more applies his Theory of Constraints. The approach is radical, yet clear, understandable and logical. New techniques are introduced, and Project Buffers, Feeding Buffers, Limit Multitasking, Improved Communications and Correct Measurements make them work. Goldratt even handles the complicated statistics of dispersed variability versus accumulated variability so deftly you won't even be aware of learning about them - they ll just seem like more common sense! Critical Chain is critical reading for anyone who deals with projects. If you use block diagrams, drawings or charts to keep track of your activities, you are managing a project - and this book is for you.

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Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Critical Chain

This book is about Johnny Bunko, who's a lot like you and me. He's a great guy, who set's off on his career, like what everyone around said he was supposed to do and lo, he ends up in a dead end job @ Boggs. All this changes, when he gets the chance to summon Diana, a genie-esque career advisor by cracking the chopsticks he acquired at the ukai sushi & noodles. But there's a catch - he only has six pairs of chopstick and each crack materializes to an unprecedented session of career wisdom from the whimsical Diana.

What's This Book About

You can't sit there at age 21 or 31 or 41 or even 51 & map your life's trajectory all out. You may think X will lead you to Y will lead you to Z, but it never works that way. The world changes. In a decade, your job might be in some other geography and even your industry might not even exist. And, you'll change too. You might discover a hidden talent. That doesn't mean you should let random things happen with you, you'd need to make smart choices, based on instrumental reasons or fundamental reasons. This would make you an enlightened pragmatist.

Lesson 1 - There's No Plan

The key to success is to steer through weaknesses and focus on your strengths. Instead of trying hard to improve what you're bad at, capitalize on what you're good at. This creates more instances of flow state in the work you're doing.Additional lesson - In a big company, nothing is private. Leverage it to create more chances, suiting your strengths. This would gain you more visibility.

Lesson 2 - Think Strengths, Not Weaknesses

It's not about you, but your clients. Use your strengths to improve others' lives. You're in your role to serve, not self actualize. This mindframe solves the clients' problems and adds value to their process or output. The most valuable people in a team, bring out the best in others. They aid in their teammates success and make their boss look good. Always remember : Think outward, not inward.

Lesson 3 - It's Not About You

One among the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. Though talent is important, the world is littered with talented people who didn't persist and thought they could ride on talent alone, whereas people with comparatively less talent pass them by. You get intrinsic motivation, just for the fun of doing a task. The more intrinsic motivation you have, the more you persist. The more you persist, the more likely you are to succeed.

Lesson 4 - Persistence trumps talent

Instead of focusing to avoid failures, a crummy way to achieve spectacular success is to make huge & honking mistakes, that puts you a little closer to excellence & makes you little better, probabilistically.

Lesson 5 - Make Excellent Mistakes

Think about your purpose, to recognise that your life isn't infinite. You should use your limited time here to do something that matters. To potentially do a service of something larger than yourself. To leave anything a little better than before. This isn't just a career advice.This summary is a small imprint that I leave, embedding a few crisp lessons in you, through the medium of this digital dust.

Lesson 6 - Leave An Imprint

Bun.ko (v) - to make a mistake from which the benefits of what you've learned exceed the costs of the screw up

Skimming through the last career guide you'll ever need

Look out for Daniel Pink’s new book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing From Daniel H. Pink, the #1 bestselling author of Drive and To Sell Is Human, comes an illustrated guide to landing your first job in The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need. There’s never been a career guide like The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). Told in manga—the Japanese comic book format that’s an international sensation—it’s the fully illustrated story of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to the Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early months as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to rethink his approach. Step by step he builds a career, illustrating as he does the six core lessons of finding, keeping, and flourishing in satisfying work. A groundbreaking guide to surviving and flourishing in any career, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko is smart, engaging and insightful, and offers practical advice for anyone looking for a life of rewarding work.

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Personal Development

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Corporate Culture

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Learning & Education

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Teamwork

Daniel H. Pink is the author of six provocative books — including his newest, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. WHEN has spent 4 months on the New York Times bestseller list and was named a Best Book of 2018 by Amazon and iBooks. Dan's other books include the long-running New York Times bestseller A Whole New Mind and the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 39 languages. He and his wife, who live in Washington, DC, have three children -- a college senior, a college sophomore, and a high school sophomore. 

Critical Chain

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

Rishekesh Ramesh