Principlev1

Address bottlenecks by increasing the constraint's capacity

Address bottlenecks by increasing the constraint's capacity or by distributing its load across parallel paths rather than optimizing components that are not constraints.

Why This Is a Principle

Derives from The behavior of a system arises from its structure, not from (system behavior from structure) and A production system produces results; roughly 94% of (system problems vs individual problems). The principle prescribes where to invest optimization effort based on understanding that constraints govern throughput. It's highly actionable (Theory of Constraints application) and general across all system types.

Source Lessons

L-0258

Bottleneck relationships create fragility

When everything must flow through a single connection that connection is a critical vulnerability.

Connections

Derived From (2)

AxiomThe behavior of a system arises from its structure, not from AxiomA production system produces results; roughly 94% of

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