|
|
Books : Critical Chain : A Business NovelIn association with Amazon.comRating:  - InnovativeAn interesting concept presented in an innovative novel. Easy to read and follow. Just like a novel once you start, it is a page turner and hard to put down. I highly recommend this along with Goldratt's first novel, The Goal. Rating:  - If you like learning from novelsA "made-for-TV" novel with a lesson about a new method of project scheduling. Goldratt invented the "Theory of Constraints," a general problem analyis and planning method which he then applies to various areas. Each application presented in story format. "Critical Chain" = "Critical Path" x "Theory of Constraints". Read this book if you want an easy read and a fun introduction to the subject. But if you actually want to apply the Critical Chain method, you'll probably need a textbook format. Or make the effort to abstract the method from the dialogue of the story. Rating: - 5 star concepts in a 3 star novelEli Goldratt is one of the most respected experts in the field of Project Management. His work on the Theory of Constraints provides project managers with some very useful tools for keeping projects focused, on budget, and on target. I have definitely benefitted from Goldratt's insights into these topics. Unfortunately, this work of fiction, with three largely separate story lines, makes for an awkward read. The 246 page novel has about half of its page count spent on two stories that add little to the main message of the book. The ongoing storylines about fixing the business school's executive MBA program and the main character's relationship with his wife Judith have nothing to do with project management. Fortunately, these two superfluous stories are at the end or beginning of each chapter and it is easy to skip over them and get to the useful subject material in the main story line, the running of projects and their problems. Skipping over about 100 pages of the book makes me question the value of paying for a book that could have easily been less than half as long. I might be OK with that if the stories were interesting or well written, but they are not. Using the book as a reference would be challenging. It has no Table of Contents, no Index, nor a Glossary. The Chapters do not even have titles, or a summary of the key concepts at the end in most cases. I would struggle to find an important concept if I went back to the book more than a week or so after reading it. A much slimmer, edited version of this book, with just the TOC and project management material, laid out end to end would be an instant must have, and a valuable learning tool. Rating:  - A must for every potential project managerI've been introduced to CCPM (critical chain project management) years ago in school, but thought it was boring. Reading Goldratt's novel opened my mind to it in a much deeper way, and I'm now using it at my work with great success. I also recommend his other business novels. Rating: - if you manage projects for a living...Face it, everything that happens in a business is either a process or a project. Even companies that manage projects for a living (e.g. construction, software development) often are lousy at managing internal projects (working ON the business). If you have anything to do with projects, you need to read this book. It will change how you look at projects forever. This guy is brilliant. |
||