Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)

What Does Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) Mean?

Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is a project management methodology introduced in 1997 by Eliyahu (Eli) M. Goldratt. It applies Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (TOC) to resolve project task and delivery issues.

Techopedia Explains Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)

CCPM addresses issues related to project timing, increased costs, performance and under-delivery, versus traditional methods, such as critical path, where the emphasis is placed on tight scheduling and ordered tasks.

CCPM approaches projects by applying the following steps:

• Planning: This stage includes defining the critical chain, which is comprised of critical tasks; reducing task estimates and safety.
• Execution: Project resources are prioritized according to determinations defined in the planning stage.
• Review: Buffer management is applied to assess the status of each task. Buffers and their consumption rates serve as excellent touch point indicators for projects and related tasks.