#process #continuous-improvement

idea

Theory of constraints is a process improvement method. The main thesis is that processes are as slow as their slowest step, and if you elevate the constraints on that step, the process as a whole gets better. It goes

• identify the constraint
• decide how to elevate it
• subordinate everything to that
• alleviate the constraint
• repeat

There is some opposition to the basis of ToC, claiming the Anna Karenina principle as the source that reality is more complex{ref needed}. I don't care much for these because

1. Compromise as a default is the mark of people who don't want to try
2. I've had success with the method
3. It's a methodology, even though it might indeed be more complex, it still provides a framework that helps.

links

references

• The goal by Eliadu Goldratt is the foundational book of ToC

• The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim et. al. is the ToC applied to IT