All in theory of constraints
This is a booklet that describes the process of thinking through a situation, using the TOC Logical Thinking Processes, to show how systems thinking plays an important role in really developing lasting solutions to problems, whether they bedevil the homeowner as in this example, or a business. Thinking is the key in any systems thinking approach!
Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag has taken on the mantle of writing a business novel in the style of her father, Eli Goldratt. Goldratt’s Rules of Flow takes Eli Goldratt’s “Four Concepts of Flow” into project management environments and shows how some basic rules of flow can significantly reduce the chaos and improve results.
Dentistry with a Vision: Building a Rewarding Practice and a Balanced Life by Gerald I. Kendall and Gary S. Wadhwa is a Theory of Constraints business novel, this time focused on dentistry practice. As with many of these books, putting the story into novel form allows the ideas to develop and a “guru” to provide guidance in a more visceral form than one might get from a textbook or workbook.
Taking a look at Will Kelly’s article on Do DevOps and the Theory of Constraints still relate with my perspective on the Theory of Constraints and the five focusing steps. I suspect there are some familiar mis-apprehensions of TOC embedded in the article. Happy to discuss!
I heard a different way to articulate conflicts today on a podcast that might help shed some light or give some different language. Rather than thinking about the actions people want to take as causing the conflict, think of them as positions. And the positions come out of interests. People get entrenched in their positions, as it often seems the only way to meet their needs. But when we articulate the situation more clearly, we can start checking underneath - how does that position satisfy that interest? (How does that action meet your need?) Articulating the conflict often helps us see there maybe there are some things in common as well as understanding the assumptions we have about why our position is “right.” This new terminology adds to the options I have when thinking about these kinds of situations.
Graham Scott has written a nice, short book that feels like a conversation, incorporating the ideas of Theory of Constraints - focus and leverage: Practice Makes Profit: The small business owner’s guide to making more money by NOT working harder.
A second set of observations from the TOCICO 2021 conference - quick thoughts on talks from Henry Camp, Philip Marris, Graham Scott, Boaz Ronen, and Rob Newbold.
The 2021 edition of the TOCICO (Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization) annual conference was held online last week. Here are some observations from the talks I was able to attend - I might have some more on reviewing archived videos.
A quick note of an article from Brad Cairns of the Center for Lean Learning, Where Lean Meets Theory of Constraints. In it he gives an overview of both Lean and TOC and how they can work together - something that isn’t always obvious to people deep in one approach or the other.
So you want to spend money, but it is difficult to figure out if its worth it. ` Or you’ve been tasked with calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) for a piece of equipment or undertaking a new initiative. Where to start? ROI = [△(Sales-TVC) - △Operating Expenses] / △Investment (△ is delta or “change in”)
The TOCICO hosted an online Critical Chain 2020 conference this week. As it seems most online conferences are running, the talks themselves were pre-recorded and the speakers were available in chat during their talk, and this conference had live Q&A immediately following each speaker. This made for fewer talks overall, but good opportunity to learn a bit more from the presenters and other attendees. Examples in the conference ranged across multiple industries (aerospace, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc) and application areas (manufacturing, product development, information technology, etc.)
The HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict by Amy Gallo is a quick read, directly on topic. As I read the book, it became clear that my idea of “conflict” has been colored by my close work with Theory of Constraints and the way TOC thinking processes talk about conflict and conflict resolution. The conflicts in this guide are the interpersonal conflicts we run into all the time in business, be they created by disagreements on the what (task) or how (process) of work, or who is ultimately responsible (status) - which often devolve into relationship conflicts. The TOC perspective on conflict is more about understanding the system which creates the conflict, rather than resolving the personal challenges that result from the conflict. Both aspects are important to successful business.
A lot of people struggle to identify the “real” problem they have. Some thoughts about the typical challenges with problem statements and ways around them.
Mike Dalton has been writing a series about “the growth equation” and innovation management at Innovation Week. The last one is The Growth Equation: Upping Your Market Impact (6 Steps for Focusing Your New Product Efforts on High-Impact Opportunities). In it he takes the questions for technology and adds some thinking about how financial measures might be added into the questions. It’s always those last questions that trip up change efforts though.
How about an article that tries to apply Theory of Constraints to the arena of hockey? A post on a New Jersey Devils blog describes the Five Focusing Steps and then applies them in a couple scenarios - one on the ice and another in scouting / recruiting.
An interesting video of a presentation from the Skype team on how they used the first of the Five Focusing Steps from Theory of Constraints to identify their constraint to delivering value.
My review of Kevin Kohl’s Addicted to Hopium - Throughput: Using the DVA Business Process to Break the Guesswork Habit. The book is a fictionalization of the long history that Kohls has had in bringing Theory of Constraints and related approached to GM and other organizations. Kohls gives us the story of MegaCo and engineer Andrew Wright and their journey from barely being able to keep their heads above water to applying a strategic approach to improvement, thanks to the impetus of a guru in the form of a possible customer.
Beyond the Goal is a great encapsulation of the TOC ideas and concepts. Eli Goldratt summarizes the previous 20 years (and more) of thinking and many of the topics in this audio book continued to be developed beyond this publication.
Gene Kim and John Willis recorded a set of conversations called Beyond the Phoenix Project to talk about the DevOps movement since the publication of The Phoenix Project. (It’s available as an audio and a transcription.) I very much appreciate that the thinking behind DevOps has been geared around learning and applying concepts and ideas from all of these areas. I'm sure there are cargo-cultists who simply try to mimic what they see other people doing, but the people who are developing and growing in DevOps are clearly those who are looking at the giants that have come before them, climbing up on their shoulders, doing something new that is relevant to their current view of the world, and then sharing that back with the community to test and refine and develop further. I got a strong sense of excitement and desire to learn from this.
Clarke Ching has created a new book to try to help people understand what is blocking their work (or life?). The Bottleneck Rules: How to Get More Done (When Working Harder isn't Working) is a quick read and got me thinking more about how I talk about this topic with people.