CPM MECHANICS TODAY!!When a Construction Attorney encounters delay, acceleration, and other time-related construction delay claims brought by Owners or Contractors on projects that overrun their contractual deadlines, the normal course of action is to bring in a Construction Claims Consultant who can assess the merits of the opposing assertions, develop affirmative arguments in rebuttal, assist in forming defense strategies and tactics, provide expert opinions and reports, and testify in court.
At the heart of virtually all delay claims is the Critical Path Method. Arguments turn o whether a particular "issue" had a direct bearing on the Project Schedule's "critical path." Sword-fights between opposing scheduling experts quibble over the nuances of the Critical Path Method, thrashing about a slew of technical terms and concepts that seem only understandable by other equally-educated consultants. (Top of Page)
As one who has served as a construction claim consultant on more occasions that I care to recall, I cannot count the number of times I have had the good (but frustrating) forture of working with a construction lawyer had very limited understanding of what Critical Path was all about. Honestly, I found it quite irritating -- not just that he or she did not know the basics of CPM, but that he or she didn't seem to want to know.
What you and I both know, as practicing scheduling experts, is that an attorney does his client a grave disservice by not learning all there is to know about the Critical Path Method, since the Critical Path is the de facto barometer against which time-related disputes are ultimately decided, and are at the center of all windows delay analysis computations.
There is no substitute for pure knowledge. And now your client-attorneys have the opportunity to learn everything they need to know about the Critical Path Method in one book that is written in friendly conversational style, and that adopts the "crawl-walk-run" approach to teaching. (Top of Page)
You may be agreeing with us that your attorney-clients could well benefit from reading this book. But why would you benefit, too? After all, you are already a scheduling "expert," right?
The answer is that there is quite a lot about the Critical Path Method that even seasoned veterans may not fully understand or appreciate. See how you react to the following statements:
We could go on, but the above bullets are sufficient to make our point. There is still much confusion and misunderstanding about how the Critical Path Method really works "under the hood." CPM Mechanics is a nearly 500-page book, with over 225 illustrations, and another 125 pages of included ICS-White Papers ... all intended to make CPM more understandable than ever before. (Top of Page)
Concurrent with the writing of the other nine volumes of the ICS-Compendium has been the creation of the ICS-Dictionary, with its hundreds of importanrt terms and concepts. Never before has such a collection of Project Time Management definitions been gathered into one document.
And because all volumes of the ICS-Compendium use the same terms, with the same meanings, the ICS-Compendium stands alone as the most consistent, multi-volume treatment of Project Time Management to be found. By comparison, while there are many other good works on Project Time Management topics, they emanate from different authors, using terms and definitions that conflict with one another.
What we would hope for is the adoption of the ICS-Dictionary definitions by the construction claims community. Imagine all claims consultants (and their attorney-clients) "speaking the same language." (Top of Page)
Just as important as (indeed, perhaps more important than) learning how the Critical Path Method works "under the hood," is discovering its many Achiles' Heels. The Critical Path Method has a number of weaknesses ... that any Construction Claims Consultant needs to know about ... before entering the courtroom or even giving a deposition.
Don't get caught in a trap. Learn the subtleties of the Critical Path Method from someone who has lived and breathed it for 35 years. If you do not learn something new from this book, you can have your money back. We are that confident that it will shed new light on a fascinating and somewhat complex topic.
And id we are right, that you may not know everything there is to know about Critical Path Method mechanics, then doesn't it stand to reason that such voids in understanding might make their way into your cumulative impact analysis, constructive acceleration calculations, time impact analysis, or forensic schedule analysis?
CPM Mechanics is required reading ... if you really want to use the Critical Path Method to win your case!
