Theory of Constraints 101

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
Below you can find all the posts published so far and a quick 3 point summary of each

101 INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES
The basic premise of the Theory of Constraints as outlined in The Goal by

The Theory of Constraints is deceptively simple It starts out proposing a series of obvious statements Common sense really And then before you know it you find yourself questioning the fundamental tenets of modern business and society

Eliyahu Goldratt laid out the theory in his 1984 best selling book The Goal It was

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
In the previous post I argued that many people unknowingly subscribe to a defunct management philosophy that you can improve the performance of a company as a whole by individually improving the performance of its parts

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
In the previous post I described how many companies embrace of local optima leads to overwork and burnout for employees and reduced throughput and profitability for the bottom line

Before we look at what TOC proposes as a

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
In the previous post I told the story of how Eliyahu Goldratt proposed time as a new mechanism for limiting work in process using a new method he designed called Drum Buffer Rope DBR

Let s examine how

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
In the previous post I explained Drum Buffer Rope DBR the original application of TOC to production environments like manufacturing We re now ready to take a closer look at a real world example that brings together all the ideas

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
In the previous post I told the story of a software engineering team at Microsoft who used the Theory of Constraints to produce dramatic improvements in productivity

But I hope something bothered you how exactly did they know

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
In the previous post I introduced the Five Focusing Steps used to improve any system of value creation

Identify the constraint
Optimize the constraint
Subordinate the non constraints

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
In the previous post I described how to go about identifying the constraint in a knowledge work organization The next step 2 in the Five Focusing Steps is to optimize that constraint

Identify the constraint
Optimize the

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
Previously I described how to go about optimizing the constraint in an organization The next step 3 in the Five Focusing Steps is to subordinate the work of all other employees to that constraint

Identify the constraint

A SERIES OF 5 MINUTE POSTS ON APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF FLOW TO KNOWLEDGE WORK
Previously I described how to go about subordinating the non constraints of an organization in order to maximize its throughput The next step 4 in the Five Focusing Steps is to elevate or relieve the constraint itself

Identify