Most entrepreneurs pick up a business book every now and then and find nuggets of information that they can apply to their business. Rarely though do we find those books entertaining. Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. Goldratt accomplishes both.
The story revolves around a university professor in his final year who is trying to gain tenure in the face of budget cuts. Tasked with finding something new in Project Management, he uses his unique teaching style to work through problems with the students in his executive MBA class.
While the story was fun, the nuggets of information – particularly around estimating and the Theory of Constraints – are what really stood out. In project management, estimation is always one of the most difficult tasks. This is particularly true in software development. What the students found in the professor’s class was that a large part of their estimating challenge stemmed from the safety being added from each individual working on the estimate. Eliyahu teaches us that every project needs a buffer, but that buffer has to be managed at the project level, not the iteration level. It is really important to take the safety out of each step, focus the team on delivering as efficiently as possible, and understand that steps along the way will be late sometimes and will need to tap into the project level buffer.
He also shares some great concepts around how to structure budgets. Often times we think too much about the cost to produce something on time and fail to focus on the bigger picture. How much does a delay in that project cost us in lost revenue opportunity? By thinking through this differently, Project Managers are better able to structure contracts with vendors and internal incentives within the team.
If you’re looking for a good, fast read on Project Management, I’d definitely suggest getting yourself a copy of Critical Chain – http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Chain-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/0884271536
Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
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