Optimize only the single slowest step — improvements…

When This Fires

• After measuring workflow step times (Measure actual elapsed time over 3-4 cycles before…) and identifying the bottleneck
• When you're tempted to optimize a non-bottleneck step because it seems "easy to improve"
• When workflow optimization efforts produce local improvements but no overall time reduction
• When prioritizing which process improvement to tackle first

Common Failure Mode

Spray-and-pray optimization: improving multiple steps simultaneously under the assumption that all improvements add up. They don't. Only bottleneck improvements compound into throughput gains. Non-bottleneck improvements create excess capacity that sits idle upstream of the bottleneck or creates congestion downstream of it.

The Protocol

(1) Measure all workflow steps (Measure actual elapsed time over 3-4 cycles before…) and identify the single slowest step. (2) Direct 100% of optimization effort at this step. Ignore all other steps regardless of how obviously improvable they are. (3) After improving the bottleneck, re-measure the entire workflow. The bottleneck may have shifted to a different step. (4) Repeat: identify new bottleneck → optimize → re-measure. This cycle continues until the workflow is fast enough or further optimization has diminishing returns. (5) If you catch yourself optimizing a non-bottleneck step, stop immediately. Ask: "Is this the measured bottleneck?" If no, it's wasted effort. Redirect to the actual constraint.