Principlev1PR-1354
Identify your information pipeline bottleneck by testing…
Identify your information pipeline bottleneck by testing each stage (capture, processing, storage, retrieval, output) in sequence and investing improvement effort only at the bottleneck stage, since non-bottleneck improvements produce zero throughput gain.
Why This Is a Principle
Derives from The behavior of a system arises from its structure… (system behavior from structure) and In any network of dependent tasks, the longest chain… (longest dependency chain determines completion time - Theory of Constraints application). The principle applies Goldratt's constraint theory to personal knowledge management. It's actionable (diagnose bottleneck, improve there) and general across information contexts. Clearly derived from systems theory, not foundational.