Lessons tagged “theory-of-constraints”
11 published lessons with this tag.
Optimize the bottleneck first
Improving anything other than the bottleneck is wasted effort.
Workflow bottlenecks
Identify the slowest step in each workflow — that step determines your throughput.
The theory of constraints applied to personal systems
Identify exploit and elevate your personal bottlenecks systematically.
Common personal bottlenecks
Decision-making information processing energy management and context switching.
Exploit the bottleneck first
Before adding capacity make sure the bottleneck is fully utilized.
Subordinate non-bottlenecks
Adjust other parts of your system to support the bottleneck rather than running at their own pace.
After fixing one bottleneck another emerges
The constraint shifts — return to step one and find the new bottleneck.
Bottleneck cascades
Sometimes fixing one bottleneck reveals that a downstream constraint was hidden.
Human bottlenecks in team systems
In collaborative work specific people are often the constraint.
Tool bottlenecks
Sometimes a tool is the constraint and upgrading or replacing it unblocks the whole system.
Process bottlenecks
Inefficient processes create artificial constraints that can be designed away.