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Project Management, as Taught by Eli Goldratt

Seven lessons that follow Eli Goldratt's analysis of project management, from the complaints every project manager knows to the solution that halves lead times. You follow Leo, a project manager with all the responsibility and none of the authority.

• 7 lessons, about 145 minutes in all
• Free, no sign-up. Your progress is saved in this browser
• Certificate of completion when you pass all seven quizzes

1. 1 The same complaints, everywhereSoftware, construction, aircraft, pharma: projects are as different as can be, yet their managers complain about the same seven things, and have for forty years. Goldratt's first question: is the cause uncertainty, or the way we manage projects? 15 min
2. 2 The project management cloudBuild the conflicts behind three complaints, late projects, changes and rework, and watch them generalise into one cloud every project manager lives in. Then the three ways to attack it, and the one that leads to a generic solution. 20 min
3. 3 Where the safety goesEvery estimate hides a lot of safety, and almost none of it reaches the end of the project. Goldratt's step-by-step explanation: the long tail of uncertainty, estimates that turn into commitments, Parkinson's Law, the student syndrome, and why gains are never passed on while delays always are. 24 min
4. 4 The vicious cycleRun a well-padded project a thousand times and it is still late two times out of three. Watch the vicious cycle of blame and more safety, then step into a multi-project matrix, where project managers carry the responsibility, resource managers serve many masters, and priorities are set by the level of screaming. 18 min
5. 5 Bad multitasking, and how to stop itSwitching between projects doesn't waste much work time; it destroys lead time. Goldratt's three-project simulation, the story of an aircraft repair depot where engineers held fifty open problems each, and the counter-intuitive cure: start later to finish sooner. 22 min
6. 6 Critical chain and buffersProtect the project, not the task. Cut estimates in half, gather the safety at the end as a completion buffer, protect the merge points with feeding buffers, and find the critical chain with the five focusing steps. Plus the two wrong questions that send people astray. 22 min
7. 7 Buffer management, measurements and actionThe next leap comes from execution: set every priority by buffer consumption. Two rules settle any contest for a resource, three measurements tell the true status of a project, and the last 10% stops taking forever. Then the actions that start it, and Goldratt's answers to the usual questions. 24 min
8. ✓Your certificateUnlocks when all seven quizzes are passed.

Start lesson 1

If you've taken TOC in Project Management, this is the same solution told as Goldratt built it, with his simulations and cases. The ideas belong to Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Avraham (Rami) Goldratt, who taught them in their TOC Insights programme and the Goldratt Satellite Program broadcasts. The story, the characters and the wording are mine; this is an independent course, not a product of the Goldratt organisation.