The purpose of this paper is to objectively review the merits and the pitfalls of the critical chain(CC) method.
Firstly, the differences and the correlations between the CC and the existing methods for the project scheduling are analyzed
briefly, such as the classical critical path method/program evaluation and review technique(CPM/PERT) and the resourceconstrained
project scheduling problem(RCPSP). Secondly, the achievements in the CC are classified and commented
based on three aspects: the optimization model, the buffer mechanism and the application of the CC. Accordingly, two
shortcomings of the CC are also probed. Finally, the four further extensions are presented as the trends of the CC: the multiobjective
optimization, the dynamic CC, the integration with the robustness, and the mergence with other theories of project
managements. The review will shed some new illuminations on the future CC for researchers and practitioners.