Critical Chain: A Business Novel Read Online Free PDF

because of a streak of good luck. It must be that somehow they succeeded in avoiding the generic pitfalls that get almost every other project."

"How did they do it?" Ruth asks the question that bothers everybody.

"Wouldn't it be nice if we deciphered it?" I answer. "Which brings me to your assignment for the next class."

No matter what the age of the students, the reaction is always the same—a deep sigh.

Heartlessly I continue. "Select a project in your company. A project that has recently finished or is about to be finished. Interview the person running this project—the project leader. Interview the people who did the actual work, and interview the bosses of the project leader. Prepare two lists for class. One: the official reasons for the overruns. The second: the unofficial reasons.

"See you in two weeks."
     
    I stop on my way home from the university to pick up some fried chicken. Judith is in New York for the weekend, so nobody is expecting me at home. I hope she enjoys her trip. On second thought, knowing too well what she enjoys most, I hope not.
     
    Judith finds joy in buying things, currently, for our new house. Not exactly ours. We borrowed the money for the down payment. And the mortgage payments swallow my salary increase and then some. This summer I didn't make much extra by tutoring. It's tough.
     
    But the house was such a sweet deal. A real bargain. Judith knows a bargain when she sees one, especially in houses. She is a real estate agent. This year she closed three deals. All involving other agents, so her share was abysmal. The last one she closed last week. Six hundred and eighty-seven dollars. That's why she is now in New York.
     
    The flight and the hotel are about six hundred. Not a chance she will spend only eighty-seven dollars, and our credit lines are stretched to the limit. Maybe we should have another little talk? I shiver. Better not.

Chapter 5
     
     
    B.J. looks out her office window. The campus is particularly beautiful at this time of year, when the trees are so colorful and the students, once again, fill the university with young life.
     
    Less than a hundred yards away is the main entrance to the impressive complex of the business school. She watches Dean Page hurrying down the broad steps. He's heading straight to her office. It's not going to be a pleasant conversation.
     
    B.J. pours the tea, and using silver tongs she neatly transfers two lumps of sugar and hands the cup to her guest. She doesn't need to ask, she knows what he likes; she knows him inside out. She has to. He is a very important player in her game.
     
    "I'm sure you liked it," he gestures toward the general direction of her mammoth mahogany desk. He doesn't mean the desk. He's alluding to his thick, bound document, now resting there.
     
    "For the most part," she smiles.
     
    He is slightly older than she is, and dressed as elegantly. A few years ago his dress code was quite different; sneakers, opennecked shirts, nylon Windbreakers, a professor who liked to blend into the academic environment. No more. Not since he reached the position he always wanted. He won by a narrow margin, but now his position is secure. The business school is his fortress. Professor Christopher Page II intends to stay the maximum term as dean. Maybe even to change the rules that define that maximum.
     
    It's their informal meeting to discuss the business school's proposed budget for next year. They both prefer to hammer out their differences in private much before the budget is formally due. Not that Christopher Page is expecting any difficulties. His proposed budget is what B.J. would expect. The same fifteen percent or so increase from year to year, no surprises. Of course, they'll have to go through the ritual; she will ask for a cut, he will resist, in the end they'll compromise. He even knows on which items. He suspects B.J. knows as well.
     
    "Let me tell you a story," B.J. softly says. "My first job was in a small private