Is There a Better Analogy for the Theory of Constraints?

It’s tough to think of a better analogy that the weakest link defines the strength of a chain, the most basic TOC representation. Flow is often used as well, with water flowing through funnels. I’d like to offer a different analogy, especially since it fits the model I want to use for Personal TOC (PTOC). It’s based on the Throughput Improvement Process, the most successful TOC process to date. The analogy changes to a gardener with a hose. Let’s break down the elements.

The Goal

We can start off the goal not as a pot of gold but as a flower in a pot. In our PTOC discussion, we have talked about making enough money as a Necessary Condition and the goal itself as potentially independent. It’s hard to get away from the concept that a personal goal that someone has for themselves is to make as much money as possible, so we’ll have to make it include it as a possibility. In the PTOC, we first have to make enough money to reach then our goal of many as much money as possible or something that fits the goal wording of whomever is stating the goal statement.

You are the gardener. From a PTOC perspective, you start with deciding how many goals or flowers you want to deal with. While it is possible in the manufacturing world to have just one, we may find on a day-to-day basis the ability to change the focus from one day to another. The key here is how we prioritize the time we have available. If you are a TOC purist, you may just resort to the goal of “Living a Happy Life,” but that appears to be a method of ensuring the problem meets the criteria of the solution. To live an unhappy life doesn’t appear to be as insightful as the realization and understanding that comes from the need to focus an organization towards a goal. ?The key will still be focus, prioritization, and minimizing the number of things we apply our time and effort to achieve. It does point out the need to resolve conflict, probably using the Cloud methodology, and that conflict resolution will not give the same results even on a day-to-day basis.

Focus

The gardener in this analogy can then choose where to focus their attention. The “water” from the hose can be distributed among the many flowers, while some of the water will need to be used for Necessary Conditions (NCs). Perhaps using the water to power a water wheel might be an example, but let’s just keep the analogy simple and point the water to whatever NC we are talking about. In PTOC, making enough money is one of them.

But the flowers are different, and some are closer than others. The gardener’s talent and their throughput or “flow” of attention will determine how well the flower grows – how well the goal is being obtained. Some flowers will require talent the gardener doesn’t have or will require more time than the gardener has available to be able to reach the flower. As much as they want to reach this goal, they may simply may not have the time and talent to do it. Or they may have to make changes, devoting more time to improving their talent and improving their motivation or “water pressure” to close the gap. Making these kinds of decisions impacts the other goals and resources the gardener interacts with.

The Hose and Throughput

The hose is typically thought of as the manufacturing production system. Water flows through the hose but loses pressure as it does so. The hose's flow is determined by its biggest “kink” in it. It could be a knot in the hose, something that is sitting on it, someone standing on it, perhaps on purpose, or you could be accidentally standing on it yourself. The difficult part will be finding the constraint in this long, messy hose you dragged out of the garage. You’ll have to work back from the spray head, untangling knots, some that you thought would help but do not. While they might have been a problem, they were not the constraint. Finally, you find it, and once unkinked, water spurts out of the hose, often with sudden and unexpected results.

You may not prepared to use the flow, having to turn it off at the nozzle so as not to waste it. All of these impact how much water you can use when it is available, and the kink determines how much flow you can get. Of course, if there is not enough water pressure in the system, the kind won’t matter.

The Water Spigot and Motivation

The gardener turns the spigot on and off, which represents motivation. Are we really interested in gardening? Then let’s turn on the hose. But the gardener can only do this for so long, turning off the spigot when they are sleeping or eating. They keep the pressure low when they are watering plants that are easy to reach but crank up the water pressure if their goals are far away. But we may find we are really interested in another goal. Or we may be depressed and have no desire to do anything at all, leaving the spigot unused. ?

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Habits

Experts in the Throughput Improvement Process establish a habit to ensure throughput is improved from the first design concept until demand is reached on a consistent basis. The same perspective is needed with PTOC, where the gardeners should plan on designing a habit that will lead to long-term success. ?What time should they get up to tend to the garden? When should the sprinklers come on automatically? What day of the week should be used to add fertilizer? Training is also part of the habit design, so the gardener should plan on taking classes to become a master gardener or getting subscriptions to “Fine Gardening” and “Gardeners’ World.” They should circle the date on the calendar for the Winter House and Garden Expo.

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Lack of Habit Leads to a Lack of Success

It’s worth noting that this is not part of most Continuous Improvement processes or the typical TOC implementation. Once established, creating a habit of performing TOC activities allows it to occur without management support. Because of this, TOC is mostly a temporary solution, ending when the leader who sponsored the process moves along. Ask most people who have been exposed to TOC, and they will give you an example from when Goldratt was alive, first pitching the process when The Goal was first introduced.

After they are established, habits occur almost without conscious thought and become part of the day-to-day decision-making process that we use in PTOC to set priorities for how we want to live our lives. Habits are the lifeblood of change for long-term PTOC success.

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How PTOC Helps in Your Personal Life

PTOC helps in many ways. The toughest decisions are in the beginning – choosing which goals to pursue. You have to take care of some basics first – when will you turn the spigot on? How many different flowers do you want to grow? Do you have the skill to grow these, and if not, how will you acquire it? Does training need to be part of your habit? Having fewer flowers that you have the skill to grow will give you a better chance of success. Other people who can help you will make a difference as well.

Feedback

For all the time you spend growing flowers, they may not do as well as you hope. People will look at your flowers and tell you you have done poorly; you will never be a great gardener, etc. You want to sell the flowers, but they sit on the shelf. This may affect your motivation—your desire to turn on the spigot and grow flowers. People will have expectations, and how well you meet them will impact the decisions you make along the way.

Selling Flowers

If you do well, people may want to buy your flowers. Your goal may have been just to grow the flowers, but if you do it well, people will want to buy them. You may be sponsored for growing flowers or wear sponsors' names on your hat! Of course, your goal may have been to be a professional gardener. Selling flowers is now making money, an effect of success. If your goal all along was to make money from your passion for being a gardener, then you are on the right path.

Many might argue that Alfred Sloan’s “Car for Every Purpose and Purse” was just a marketing strategy to make money, but it wouldn’t explain why he hired Harvey Earl, the father of tail fins, to create the design that became the pride of GM vehicles after WWII. Sloan and Earl's passion and strategy aligned with their goal of making money. For many, however, they will see the money as an effect of success, and the act of doing something they are passionate about as being the goal.

Indeed, it is difficult to see the people I consider the most successful as being in it for the money. Walt Disney and Steve Jobs may have been tremendously wealthy when they passed away, but their wealth was due to their success in pursuing something they were passionate about.

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The Penalty of Success

The results of being wealthy and famous can also come with significant penalties. The significant amount of time Tiger Woods devoted to playing golf, no doubt led to him suffering numerous injuries, particularly to his back and knees, requiring multiple surgeries. His level of fame can create a pressure cooker environment that makes personal problems more difficult to manage privately, especially as they came to the surface as a result of a car accident where he was injured.

Success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Close

In the end, PTOC is Focus and Throughput. It's about being certain about your passion and aligning it with your goals, prioritizing the work you do, and finding out how you can get more work done in the time that’s available. We only have so much time available. Let’s make sure we do something we love to do something worthwhile.