Lisa Scheinkopf of Goldratt Schools discussed her thinking behind a different approach to bringing more and more people to learn TOC.
Eli Schragenheim presented on "Managing Under Uncertainty in the TOC Way," expanding on the idea that we should never say, "I know." Nor should we think, "I don't know." How do we use what we DO know to help deal with uncertainty?
How to break the global vs local conflict in organizations or systems that are very big (complex - or at least big enough that there is not time to fully understand the system).
One of the challenges all along for TOC Thinking Processes has been the perception that it is very focused on Logic without connection to the more "human" elements. It's not accurate, of course. Rami Goldratt discussed this in the context of Kristen Cox's morning keynote at the TOCICO conference.
Excellent keynote by Kristen Cox on her journey (so far) of implementing Theory of Constraints in the Utah state government, from her position as the head of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget.
What does it mean when you report a status of "fine" in your work or your project?
Two useful, easy to consume versions of The Goal are available... One a book and the other a one-page comic.
People are notorious multitaskers - not just one age group. I see my mother respond to every ding and jingle of her phone or iPad. And my kids. And me. And many others. Change the behavior by teaching and showing and expecting different behavior.
The larger Theory of Constraints community has been a great source of business novels over the past year. My latest find is The Human Constraint by Angela Montgomery. The story was compelling, and I thought the approach to talking about the formal process was very light-handed with just enough to make me curious to find more.
Another version of "too long, didn't read" is this cartoon. A friend sent me a slightly modified version, so I tracked down one that looked more original.
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein
Break away from Groundhog Day of solving the same problem over and over. Dissolve the problem instead of merely resolving it.
Many people have talked about Angela Duckworth' Grit: the power of passion and perseverance. I was happy to find a high-level summary from Inc. Magazine that describes the "11 signs of grit."
What are the real ways to revitalize manufacturing? Will changing governmental policies and regulations do the trick? I suspect not.
I've seen many examples of end-of-the-month syndrome, but this example from Airbus is a great example of the same effect happening at the end of the year.
Don't block yourself because you think you know. There is always something to learn.
If you find yourself dragging, and the coffee is merely a delicious distraction, maybe the problem is a little more interesting: lack of clarity!
We seem to be addicted to busy. Does the busyness help? Does it hurt? Do we swim around in a lake, getting nowhere? Or do we row down the river, ensuring we don't get stuck?
I see a lot of projects within business support organizations that look like "implement this tool." And then the organization is surprised when the project takes much longer than expected and the tool doesn't get used to the extent expected.