Week 11 Lesson 10- Using Critical

Chain Project Management

Reference Wysocky, 2014, R.K. Effective Project Management

Traditional, Agile, Extreme. 7th Edition, Wiley.

Lesson 10
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CODL- BIT( External)
University of Moratuwa 1
 Learning Outcomes
After learning this chapter, you will be able to

• Explain the difference between the critical path and the critical chain

• Identify resource constraints and know how to resolve them

• Use the critical chain approach to project management for single projects

2
Lesson Outline
• What is the critical chain?
• Variations in task duration
• Statistical validation of the critical chain approach
• The critical chain project management approach
• Establishing buffers
• Track record of critical chain project management

3
Using Critical Chain Project Management
What is the Critical Chain?

The critical chain is the longest duration path through the project,
if you consider both task dependencies and resource constraints
 Using Critical Chain Project Management

Variation in Duration

 Common cause variation

the natural variation due to the capacity of the system to repeat
itself

 Special cause variation

variation due to the circumstances under which the event occurs
Using Critical Chain Project Management

Using Contingency to Reduce project time

Using Critical Chain Project Management

The Early Schedule

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The Late Schedule with Resource Assignments

Using Critical Chain Project Management

One Way to Resolve the Resource Conflict

 Using Critical Chain Project Management

Another Way to Resolve the Resource Conflict

Using Critical Chain Project Management

Buffers

Buffers are segments of time that

are placed at the end of a sequence
of tasks for the purpose of protecting
the schedule of those tasks

 Project Buffers
 Feeding Buffers
 Resource Buffers
 Using Critical Chain Project Management

Project Schedule with Buffers Added

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Buffer Penetration and Action Decisions