CADENA CRÍTICA: DIMENSIONAMIENTO DE LOS BUFFERS DEL PROYECTO

Abstract

Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is an analytical procedure of project management based on the search for those mechanisms that allow to manage the uncertainty of a project reducing its duration, with greater confidence in the completion date, less chaos and a re-planning of deadlines. Defined by Goldratt in 1997, this methodology establishes that the tasks should be stripped of their individual protection to focus this safety in certain key points of the project (Steyn, 2001), taking on consideration the calculation of buffer size as one of the main challenges of using the CCPM. Unfortunately, Goldratt gave little guidance on buffers sizing (Hoel & Taylor, 1990), so setting up general rules for size estimation has become one of the most delicate points of planning. The objective of this article is to analyze the empirical techniques most used for the calculation of the size of the buffers of the projects, studying the pros and cons of each one of them from the comparison of the same ones by the study of an example case.