The Theory of Constraints Change Process

Everywhere we go people are talking about the need for a change, be it a small, local change like finally maintaining a healthy weight or having a better environment at the office or a big, global change like reducing poverty or illiteracy. Sometimes this talk translates into action - we go on a diet, the boss sends out an email with a new policy, people take to the streets to demonstrate.... sometimes a revolution erupts. But after the dust settles and as time goes by we repeatedly find out that the "after" picture is just as unappealing as the "before" picture. Efforts have been put forth - blood, sweat, tear, sometimes lives, to generate a totally unsatisfying result. In business speak, we'd call that a negative Return On Investment (ROI). Not exactly investment best practice, even if money did not come into play.

A main reason for these poor results is incomplete planning. We've all heard it - fail to plan and you plan to fail. But how do you plan?  Theory of Constraints calls for a 3 stage planning process:

1. Define what you want to change
2. Define what you want to change to
3. Define how to change

I see way too many change processes, at all levels, where people "put the pedal to the metal" half way through stage 1. So we figured out, sort of, what we dislike in the current situation and off we go to "do something about it". Yes, of course I'm as guilty as hell of this, aren't you? 

It's just like a trip or a hike. Step 1 is our starting point, step 2 is our end point and step 3 is the planned route. Notice this is the logical order - if you do not know where you plan to start and finish you can't decide on the route. Of course, we can always go out and stroll aimlessly, but if the starting point has been defined as unsatisfactory then such a stroll, that could easily lead back to the starting point, is counter productive.

What will happen if we go through the whole process before we begin changing things around? I don't have an answer to that, the process seems logical so I would expect a high return on investment, but I have to try it out myself before I can make any statements. In the book "We All Fall Down" Julie Wright and Russ King clearly show the negative loop this kind of behavior creates.

In the mean time, here is an example. The story line represents the order of execution - 1-3-2. See if you can deduct all the stages from the clip and if you can figure out better (or more efficient) solutions.....

Fall from grace

It has been over a year since I last wrote in this blog and while I have plenty of excuses, I'll be the first to admit most of it was just inertia. The other part, the thing that veered me in the wrong direction in the first place, was another round of disillusionment. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not finger pointing, it is totally my fault that I let this disillusionment take over, but that's just how it goes.

This is not my first round of disillusionment with Theory of Constraints and I consider these just growing pains, mainly since I am going through the process on my own, without a guiding hand. So I thought I may not be alone in this and that it might be a good idea to share my experience, it might be helpful to others.

I was first indoctrinated in Theory of Constraints through Dr. Goldratt's business novels, as I believe many others have been.  Business novels make a great teaching tool and I find a business novel creates the best business management book, as they make holistic action easy. They also read a bit like a cook book. When you read a cook book you can visualize everything coming out perfectly. In much the same way, business novels make things look easy even when the characters claim they are struggling. So when I tried to put these enticing concepts to practice I failed, miserably. I blamed the writers of the books, claiming it's easy for them as they control the fantasy world in which the story takes place. "It's like detective books" I told myself, "life doesn't work this way". And with that I put Theory of Constraints aside for many years.

I was lured back in the the Theory of Constraints world by courses I took during my MBA and then I had a chance to hear Dr. Goldratt talk. I was sold, it just made so much sense, it was just so simple it had to be right. This led to my decision to commit to learning Theory of Constraints and now there are plenty more resources available. I went to the Goldratt House for a seminar, read "The Choice", one of my highly recommended business books. Following all this I got the TOC handbook (well, the Kindle ebook, it's much lighter) and started making my way through it. Good read. A lot of useful information and then BAM, the idealization took another hit.

I was reading a chapter about the different uses of the evaporating cloud when it hit me. To me, this is one of the major shortcomings of the Theory of Constraints teaching I have encountered so far. I thought this presents a major set back for self learners and maybe for all newcomers, since it did for me. The problem is simple -  many of the examples available are recycled. The same example is used over and over to explain or present different aspects, without any new spice being added and it just looses traction, it is no longer explanatory. As far as I'm concerned, being that I learn better by doing and so need plenty of examples I can relate to, using the same example to explain the same concept is just as bad. I want new examples so they point to things I have not noticed with the previous ones.

Now, just to be clear, I am not claiming there is but one example out there. Certainly not! I am also not saying all Theory of Constraints thought leaders are doing this. Far from that! I'd also like to admit I understand where this practice is coming from, writing up examples is hard and even harder when you need to keep propriety information under wraps. All that being said, I think that if this is hindering my ability to use the text as it was meant to be used (that is - learn from it), it is my duty to point it out and share this information with the writers of the texts.

So yes, I was acting like a petulant teenager who just realized her idol was merely human, and I had it coming to me, as I really should not have done that. Still, the issue is real to me and I am taking liberty and calling out to all Theory of Constraints scholars - please make sure you give us a wide range of substantial examples.

And if you are on your own Theory of Constraints journey, please remember this is not a cult but a science and as such it has shortcomings. Just like in any other science, the work is never done. So do not idealize, that way you will not experience a fall from grace when things aren't exactly perfect. When you find that imperfection - that's your chance to make your mark in the world of Theory of Constraints, by doing what you can to fix it. I promise I'll try and contribute to fixing the example issue, even though I think I'm far from being a Theory of Constraints scholar.....

Book Recomendation "Go For No"

I've just finished reading this book called "Go For No" by Richard Fenton and Andrea Wlatz. I thought it would be an interesting investment to go over some sales 101 and improve my career opportunities. Turns out it is a business novel that is focused on selling skill, but not limited to it. The thing is, as soon as I finished this book (and it is extremely short, took a couple of hours), I thought to my self - "well, here's something I can't connect to TOC, I'll just add this to my list of recommended business books as a good read". Sure enough, I then immediately realized I was totally wrong.

I've read Dr. Goldratt's "The Choice" (if you didn't read it yet - do, I think it's the best business management book I've read) about a year ago. It is a book that needs more than one reading, at least I needed. Each time I re-read it I gain more value from it. This is not your usual Goldratt business novel. This time there is no mercy, nothing is easy. The concepts aren't easy to grasp and some of them are definitely not easy to implement. The rewards, though, are plentiful.

One of the concepts I struggled most with, and still do, is the concept of experiments. Dr. Goldratt's outlook on life was that of an experimenter. When you set out on a new project and start building prototypes or start training, you do not expect things to work out perfectly from the get go. At least, you should not. Just like learning to ride the bike or any other skill you picked up along the way - learning has a curve and sometimes it means falling or stumbling. So, very much like a scientist or an engineer, you should view it as an experiment, understand what needs to be fixed or changed and try again. The difference between everyday and the lab is that in the lab we regularly expect things to fall short. We are actually running the experiment just for this reason - to figure out what is it that caused the results to fall short in order to change it. In everyday we expect things to turn out right in the first try, so we don't brace ourselves and take a hit.

Well, I can certainly talk the talk. But just between us friends - I do not walk the walk. I do not view my actions as experiments, I expect perfect results right away, and I get crushed when the results don't measure up. I did try to shift my mindset, but I guess I was just going about it the wrong way. I was committing a grave TOC faux-pas and treating the UDE highlighted by "The Choice" instead of diving in to the root cause.

This is where I see "Go For No" helping. The book uses the business novel format, using a very lame plot line, though the story telling skill is nice. Truth be told, I don't think it outlined any new concept, I've heard it all before. It did, however, take one step further and on top of the well known "slogans" there is a suggested path to making it all happen. So, from the self help point of view - it may have its imperfections but I find it to be a great place to start both for the process of getting to the root cause (the direction set in the book is towards the fear of failure) and for the process of improving my resilience and looking at life from the experimental view point.