Blasting bottleneck and squeezing systems for success [bookshelf]

Tune your systems with the theory of constraints for impact

Lonely Planet Travel Guides. Barn Study - photo from Ollin

One of the enjoyable things about being a tech leader is that you get to continuously solve problems. Over the years I’ve found that extremely satisfying and frustrating in equal measure. If you like tough problems being a little bit thwarted by it and banging your head against the wall is no bad thing. That’s where the satisfaction and reward come from when you finally crack the problem. If it’s too easy it isn’t quite as much fun.

When I was business school I struggled through economics and accounting. I was no slouch thought, and a good grounding in management accounting has served me well since I graduated. The thing about biz-school is it draws a diverse crowd, or at least that was my experience. That means everyone found things were our core strengths, and also weaknesses. My strength was operations. I’m an engineer after all.

A set text in the MBA program was The Goal by Goldratt. Funny thing is, it’s over forty years’ old now. It still stands the test of time. The lessons are still as strong today as when I read them 25 years ago and when they were originally published in 1984. Why? Well looking for constraints is one of those evergreen techniques we learn as engineers. Applying that to operations and business works just as well because at its most basic, it’s an approach to systems problem solving.