How to resolve stubborn business and personal problems Part 2 - Identifying queues.

Identifying queues is an essential step in resolving stubborn business and personal problems. At Galaxie, we approach complex systems by studying queues as the fundamental building blocks of systems rather than analyzing individual actions and decision-making. We can better understand complex systems by focusing on the system's objects.

What is a queue?

Every system comprises actors, their actions, and the objects that actors interact with. These objects are quantifiable stacks such as money, produced goods, people's morals, and more. Anything measurable and subject to change over time can be considered a queue. Although each actor is not a queue, actors can be a queue.

Suppose we consider safety on a production floor as a system. In that case, we will typically observe the following queues:

• The number of new teammates
• The number of training sessions
• The number of incidents
• The number of recordable incidents
• The pressure level
• The body battery level of team members
• The production bonus
• The downtime
• The satisfaction level of team members with their work

When maintaining weight, tracking metrics such as weight, blood pressure, satisfaction level, and social pressure is essential.

All the queues above can be measured, although some are more difficult to measure than others.

It is essential to understand that an individual performing actions on queues should not viewed as a queue. Similarly, any activities carried out by agents on queues should not seen as a queue. For instance, a safety manager or general manager cannot be viewed as a queue, whereas the number of teammates on the floor is a queue. The safety manager's training sessions are not a queue, but the number of individuals who have completed the training is a queue.

Type of queues

Here are several types of queues that help with resolving stubborn problems:

• External Queues: when solving a problem, we often focus on a specific system. However, every system is part of a containing system, which means external factors can affect the system we're trying to fix. These external factors are known as external queues and can impact the sub-system we're looking at. For example, the "customer demand a day" is an external queue that can affect the sub-system we're focusing on.
• Internal Queues: Some queues exist within a system, known as internal queues. One example of an internal queue is the number of recordable incidents in a safety system. Understanding internal and external queues can help us better understand the problem. We will delve into this topic in greater detail later on.
• Critical and Minor Queues: Queues are not independent systems; they tend to affect and be affected by other queues. A network diagram is an excellent tool to demonstrate how queues interact. The queues with the most connections to and from them are critical, while those with the fewest interactions are minor.
• Man-managed queues vs. unmanaged queues: There are several queues in a production line, some of which are managed by people. One example of a managed queue is the number of parts between two working stations. However, other queues can be unmanaged or managed to some extent. The "pressure level" on the production line results from various factors such as stress and other conditions; therefore (in this example), it is the least-managed queue. On the other hand, the production downtime is subject to more management than the stress levels.

How do you identify a queue?

This task is quite simple to understand. If you freeze a system, like during the weekend, only the queues in the system will have countable elements. The actions will be zero. At the end of a shift, when teammates leave, the parts left behind by them form a queue, but actions they perform may have countable parts just while carry on. When everyone goes home, the production line does not weld any parts, but any leftover welded parts form queues.

How do queues help us to resolve problems?

It's important to understand that queues can impact each other without human intervention. Queue interaction means that stress levels can increase the number of safety incidents, and incidents can, in turn, affect stress levels. While people can have some influence on incidents, their impact on stress levels is relatively small. The level of one queue can affect the level of another, regardless of the cause. Understanding this dynamic is crucial to understanding how systems work.

Looking at queues helps us uncover the truth about a system and how it operates. While it may be overwhelming, it's essential to consider the interactions between queues to get a complete and accurate understanding of the system. Only focusing on the actors and their actions will give a simplified depiction of the system.

Identifying the root cause of problems is essential to finding a lasting solution. Without understanding the underlying cause, any solution will be temporary. It's just a matter of time before the problem reappears.

To effectively deal with complicated systems, it is crucial to have a good understanding of queueing theory. Our next post will explore how to work with non-linear and non-deterministic realities.