Eliminating Process Bottlenecks: The Theory of Constraints

Managers often fall into the trap of making sure that everyone is busy. It seems logical that we should keep all of our highly paid “resources” (ouch!) fully utilized. Surprisingly, optimizing for maximum utilization (busyness) actually creates less business value. Not surprisingly, it also can lead to quality problems, lowered job satisfaction, and even burnout. Join Chris Sims for this experiential session about the Theory of Constraints in which we explore better ways of optimizing how teams work. We will launch a fictitious aerospace company, build airplanes (albeit paper ones), and track our financial results. We'll apply the “Five Focusing Steps” from the Theory of Constraints: identify, exploit, subordinate, elevate, and repeat. We'll devise a process to evolve and improve our efficiency, our satisfaction in a job well done, and, ultimately, our profitability. As we build a lot of paper airplanes and have a great deal of fun, we'll generate and capture insights that you can take back and apply in the "real world."