In your example you are assuming that the PK field is incrementing by 1 and when you have data like in the example that cannot be guaranteed. The CTE version in the article is simple, easy to read and understand, and adaptable. I have used similar methods to your self join, but they really involve joining to derived tables. The CTE is cleaner and easier to read and, I think, should be the preferred way to handle it in SQL 05 and later.