--- product_id: 229951166 title: "Critical Chain" price: "AED 9" currency: AED in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.ae/products/229951166-critical-chain store_origin: AE region: United Arab Emirates --- # Critical Chain **Price:** AED 9 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Critical Chain - **How much does it cost?** AED 9 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ae](https://www.desertcart.ae/products/229951166-critical-chain) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description A business novel focusing on project management. The novel aims to provoke readers to examine and reassess their business practices and transform the thinking and actions of managers. Review: Interesting ideas about project management in this management novel. - I was reading Critical Chain when I heard the news that the author, Dr Eliyahu Goldratt died. The Theory of Constraints guru focuses his attention on project management in this book after looking at constraints in the production process in The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement and in the marketing strategy in It's Not Luck . Again it is written as a business novel, this times from the perspective of an assistant professor at a small university whose job is at risk. The hero is offered a chance to teach on project management course on the executive MBA program. It's a subject he doesn't know much about so he has to learn as he goes and his ideas clashes with traditional project management theory. Projects are measured on three criteria - Time, Quality and Budget. As a general rule, projects are delivered late, not up to the original standard and over budget. They cost you more, give you back less and what you get is much later than expected. Projects are everywhere. I think I probably had too narrow a view when I read it the first time as I inevitably spent a lot of time reflecting back to a significant Year 2000 computer project I managed for a client and all the issues that arose. On my second reading, I reflected on smaller improvement projects where I didn't have a dedicated staff. Eli Goldratt is pushing against an open door - there's huge demand for a new way to manage projects that delivers on the original promises and commitments... and according to the author, that means managing the critical chain. If you've done any project management, you'll know of the critical path - the longest sequence of dependent activities which must be done for the project to be completed. The critical chain builds on the critical path and also assumes that one resource will be the constraint or bottleneck and activities by this resource are likely to be delayed. That constrained resource is the focus. The author makes some interesting points about why project performance is so bad. Slack is built into the time estimates because we don't go for an expected 50% success but 90% success and then miss it because we delay starting things we think we've got time on. The way around this is to take away the spare time from the individual project tasks and instead have a time buffer on the project and a buffer on individual critical activities. I like the idea and certainly agree that built in slack does happen. Many people will give themselves extra time to complete a task and still miss the deadline. I've also known people chronically underestimate the time it takes people to do a task when working on it full time and I've even done it myself. Few people will admit to padding out their time estimates when challenged but probably will confess to a high degree of confidence in getting the task done before their estimate. Few tasks get finished early because there's always a little extra you can do to make it better. Using the ideas of the normal distribution curve, you can prove the logic that time must be padded away from the median, 50% of the time. I really liked the emphasis on the cost of project time overruns because there's a temptation to scrimp and save on the resources because keeping within budget seems more important than hitting the project deadlines. The cost is much more visible than the missed revenue and profit streams that come from the project but in reality, cost may be tiny in comparison. There is an interesting section where we touch on the TOC Thinking Processes and the conflict involved with trying to manage costs and throughout with different emphasis needed on local efficiency (the cost world) and system effectiveness (the throughput world) I enjoyed reading Critical Chain but, as a novel, it's not as compelling as the classic book, The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement . I had some aha moments as I was reading it and wished that I'd known about some of the ideas when I was managing large projects. This book will challenge the way you traditionally think about and plan projects. In fact, so different is this way of thinking that I feel you need to read it at least a second time. By then you'll have accepted the big ideas and you'll be ready to focus on smaller but important nuances. My one concern is that the book is fiction so it's easy to have a story of project chaos without critical chain thinking, and peaceful sanity using the ideas of the critical chain. The real world is a much harder taskmaster. I had less problem with this in The Goal because it involved repetitive manufacturing and people could learn. In projects, every time is unique. Paul Simister, a business coach who helps business owners who are stuck, get unstuck. Review: Four Stars - Theory well communicated through a story. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 341,350 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,182 Reviews | ## Images ![Critical Chain - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71-DotAVOFL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Interesting ideas about project management in this management novel. *by P***R on 4 December 2015* I was reading Critical Chain when I heard the news that the author, Dr Eliyahu Goldratt died. The Theory of Constraints guru focuses his attention on project management in this book after looking at constraints in the production process in The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement and in the marketing strategy in It's Not Luck . Again it is written as a business novel, this times from the perspective of an assistant professor at a small university whose job is at risk. The hero is offered a chance to teach on project management course on the executive MBA program. It's a subject he doesn't know much about so he has to learn as he goes and his ideas clashes with traditional project management theory. Projects are measured on three criteria - Time, Quality and Budget. As a general rule, projects are delivered late, not up to the original standard and over budget. They cost you more, give you back less and what you get is much later than expected. Projects are everywhere. I think I probably had too narrow a view when I read it the first time as I inevitably spent a lot of time reflecting back to a significant Year 2000 computer project I managed for a client and all the issues that arose. On my second reading, I reflected on smaller improvement projects where I didn't have a dedicated staff. Eli Goldratt is pushing against an open door - there's huge demand for a new way to manage projects that delivers on the original promises and commitments... and according to the author, that means managing the critical chain. If you've done any project management, you'll know of the critical path - the longest sequence of dependent activities which must be done for the project to be completed. The critical chain builds on the critical path and also assumes that one resource will be the constraint or bottleneck and activities by this resource are likely to be delayed. That constrained resource is the focus. The author makes some interesting points about why project performance is so bad. Slack is built into the time estimates because we don't go for an expected 50% success but 90% success and then miss it because we delay starting things we think we've got time on. The way around this is to take away the spare time from the individual project tasks and instead have a time buffer on the project and a buffer on individual critical activities. I like the idea and certainly agree that built in slack does happen. Many people will give themselves extra time to complete a task and still miss the deadline. I've also known people chronically underestimate the time it takes people to do a task when working on it full time and I've even done it myself. Few people will admit to padding out their time estimates when challenged but probably will confess to a high degree of confidence in getting the task done before their estimate. Few tasks get finished early because there's always a little extra you can do to make it better. Using the ideas of the normal distribution curve, you can prove the logic that time must be padded away from the median, 50% of the time. I really liked the emphasis on the cost of project time overruns because there's a temptation to scrimp and save on the resources because keeping within budget seems more important than hitting the project deadlines. The cost is much more visible than the missed revenue and profit streams that come from the project but in reality, cost may be tiny in comparison. There is an interesting section where we touch on the TOC Thinking Processes and the conflict involved with trying to manage costs and throughout with different emphasis needed on local efficiency (the cost world) and system effectiveness (the throughput world) I enjoyed reading Critical Chain but, as a novel, it's not as compelling as the classic book, The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement . I had some aha moments as I was reading it and wished that I'd known about some of the ideas when I was managing large projects. This book will challenge the way you traditionally think about and plan projects. In fact, so different is this way of thinking that I feel you need to read it at least a second time. By then you'll have accepted the big ideas and you'll be ready to focus on smaller but important nuances. My one concern is that the book is fiction so it's easy to have a story of project chaos without critical chain thinking, and peaceful sanity using the ideas of the critical chain. The real world is a much harder taskmaster. I had less problem with this in The Goal because it involved repetitive manufacturing and people could learn. In projects, every time is unique. Paul Simister, a business coach who helps business owners who are stuck, get unstuck. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Four Stars *by C***S on 1 December 2016* Theory well communicated through a story. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another great Goldratt book *by D***W on 7 February 2020* This book clearly explains how to use use TOC in projects. If you're interested in this arena then this book is a must-read. ## Frequently Bought Together - Critical Chain - The Goal: 40th Anniversary Edition: A Process of Ongoing Improvement - It's Not Luck --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ae/products/229951166-critical-chain](https://www.desertcart.ae/products/229951166-critical-chain) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Arab Emirates* *Store origin: AE* *Last updated: 2026-10-18*