Review of A Technology Based on Critical Chain for Project Scheduling

The critical chain is a new technique that applies the Theory of Constraints to project management. It not only takes into account the activity durations and precedence relations, but also considers resource conflicts among project activities. It stresses the importance of the dynamic management in the process of project implementation and the continuous improvement of the whole project procedure. As a new project scheduling technique, it has aroused many scholars’ concerns and explorations. Based on a critical analysis of the existing literature, this paper sums up three research directions of a technology based on critical chain for project scheduling: how to determine the critical chain, how to determine the size of the buffer and critical chain project management application. Moreover, this paper introduces research process on the three studies in detail. Finally, the paper indicates suggestions for further research.