Hi Randy, nice analogy for TOC. Permit me to add a little bit to your dishwasher example.

When we purchased a dishwasher what did we do? We made a policy decision to batch process our dirty dishes. We only run the dishwasher when full or near full so we find that our inventory of clean dishes in the cupboard or drawers are insufficient to meet the demand for clean dishes. So the first response is to buy more dishes, rather than take a dirty dish out of the dishwasher and hand wash it. I think this is true for most people. Usually double the quantity or at least to the level where you doo not need to reach in to get a dirty dish. So inventory doubled ($). If the goal is to always have clean dishes available on demand then the constraint is that which most limits us having clean dishes. Ok, so dishwashers in one respect are time savers. But this decision leads to a batching policy that limits availability of clean dishes. Your solution to pre-wash and air dry separately helps exploit the constraint by reducing wash cycle time.

On another point you make referring to Yishai Ashlag. TOC is about both what not to do and what to do. Very important to recognise both. In your example with your new role you stated that you take weeks and months to find those things what not to do that slows down flow. There is a simple systematic way by using the TOC POOGI process. As we use buffer management for real time feedback of buffer status and causes of disruption we get a picture of what things need attention to help flow. These are prioritised according to severity of impact. It may take a few weeks or months to flush them out but the solution brings them clearly to the surface. Do this in parallel with hunting for poor subordination. Find UDE's and their causality and take action to remedy. What not to do. Play within the noise.

Episode 001 of the Projects and Systems Podcast.  Today we talk about the importance of building in time to perform "spikes" in uncertain environments.

Episode 001 - The need for spikes

Today we talk about needing to find the "enough point" on the curve where we balance precision with adoption.

Book mentioned: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Episode 002 - The Friction of Precision

In today's episode, we focus on process improvement--specifically using our dishwashers as a simple, easy-to-understand example of the key constraint idea that sits at the base of the Theory of Constraints.  Then, I give an example of how this applies to business.

Episode 004 - What our dishwashers can teach us about TOC

Concise, practical tips about project management and process improvement from the real world.  Each episode is 10-minutes or less.

Episode 004 - What our dishwashers can teach us about TOC

Projects and Systems Podcast

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