If Critical Chain comes from TOC thinking, what is the constraint thats involved?
When we are talking about the idea of a constraint in any area, it has meaning only in terms of the system that we are concerned with. In the application of TOC to project management, there are two systems that can be involved. The first is the system that is a single project. The second is the system that is the organization responsible for delivering projects — a multi-project environment. Let’s talk about single projects first. The goal of a project is to deliver some benefit to its sponsor — a new product sold to a paying customer, a usable building, or a new process that improves the ability of that sponsor to achieve more of their goal(s). If the goal of the project is defined like this, then the sooner the outcome is delivered, the more potential benefit can be accrued (in most cases at least). What is the limiting factor (the constraint) on the ability to take advantage of that outcome – to get more benefit? It’s the fact that there’s a bunch of work to be done to deliver it
