CRITICAL CHAIN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Critical Chain Project Management



Content Summary:

Every business organization, whether public or private, works on different sorts of projects. They apply their innovative and modern techniques on the development of various projects to administer and manage. The public sector organization works on public projects which are aimed to provide services to the customers following a non-profit motive. While, private institutions work for administering certain projects for the sake of earning profits. (Stevens, 2002, pp. 42-48)

In any project there is an element of uncertainty related to the unitary character but also to the external environment which can be difficult to grasp. It is difficult to predict in advance exactly the hardness of materials that we will meet and this gives an uncertainty about the rate of progress. (Mabin, Vicky & Balderstone, 1998, pp. 205-214)

This paper critically analyzes the effective and successful projects managed by the project managers and the uncertainties which they face during managing these projects. The critiques are made on the basis of Theory of Constraints, used by the logic of cause and effect by the project managers to understand what is happening in the project as it helps managers to deal with the uncertainties during the project as well as at the time of completion of project. In this way, this paper will provide a better understanding of uncertainties in project management. Some real life cases of firms, who use critical chain project management, are also a part of this paper. This paper will help in analyzing the project management and also provide assistance to managers to deal with the uncertainties by understanding the changing global market conditions. After studying this paper, a manager can use his/her skills and abilities to deal with the suspicions associated with the project management. (David, Cleland & Gareis, 2006, pp. 33-34)

Introduction:

The Critical Chain Project Management Method is considered as the further development of Critical Path Method from the path analysis. It was introduced in 1997 by Eliyahu Goldratt in his book "Critical Chain" to the public. Critical chain is the application of the theory of constraints project. The goal is to increase the rate of output (or completion rates) of projects in an organization. (Kwak, 2005, pp. 102-104)

Critical Chain Project Management is a method that depends mainly on the resource and time management of a project. This method is taken away from the traditional Critical Path Method and new procedures in relation to the project implementation and culture exercised in project management. It is important to make the mark of a project through better on-time delivery, quality and cost of compliance with prescribed largely secure. To exploit the constraint, tasks on the critical chain are given priority over all other activities. The projects are planned and managed to ensure that critical tasks chains are ready to begin as soon as resources become available, subordinating all other resources to the critical chain.

Applying the first three of the five focusing steps of Theory of Constraints, the system constraint for all projects is identified ...