Your “To-Do” List May BE the Problem! A Theory of Constraints Lesson

You know that song by Sugarland called All I Want To Do? There’s a line in it that goes something like “I got better things to do than my to do list anyway …”



Every time I hear that I just think – then you’re not doing your “to do” list correctly!


I know, I know – I’m weird. But, I think it’s true for a lot of people.


The traditional way of making a “to do” list is to brain storm all the things we need to do. But that is NOT how we do it in Theory of Constraints (TOC).


To make sure that you don’t have better things to do than your “to do” list, don’t use the brain storming method. Instead, understand what you’re trying to achieve and ask “What’s keeping me from that?”


List each obstacle to your goal, the result you’re after or to completing your project (depending on your situation). What it takes to overcome each of those obstacles is what you want on your “to do” list. That way you are only doing what needs to be done to get the result and aren’t getting side tracked by doing (or procrastinating doing) what really isn’t necessary to get the result.


In this way you will end up with a list of things “to do” that, when completed, should be getting you closer to your goal or whatever it was that you’re trying to achieve.


Too often when we brain storm, we put “to dos” that really are NOT needed to get the result we are after. This just delays the result.


Can you think of a time you brain stormed a “to do” item that really didn’t need to be done? Let me know by leaving a comment on this post.

 Wishing you success.,


Dr Lisa
President, Science of Business

P.S. For those of you keeping score at home this is part of the Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes and it's how we build a Prerequisite Tree (PrT).

Theory of Constraints Cloud Thinking Process Tool 4 Conflict Resolution

I just completed my first Stompernet faculty office hour where I covered the Theory of Constraints Thinking Process tool called the Cloud or the Evaporating Cloud.  The cloud is used to understand the root cause of undesirable effects and/or conflicts.

While the cloud is part of the complete Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes, it is also a very useful stand alone tool.  You can use this quick reference guide to get you started. 

Here is the one page overview I created for quick reference:  http://budurl.com/cloudsum

If you want a book on the subject, here's a couple that I recommend:
Thinking for a Change by Lisa J. Scheinkopf.
The Logical Thinking Process by H. William Dettmer (Bill Dettmer)

And in this one, Dr Goldratt talks about how to think and why clear thinking is so important:
The Choice by Eliyahu M Goldratt  (it's a novel)

If you want to be notified when the video is ready, sign up for the Theory of Constraints Ask Dr Lisa newsletter, here:  http://www.scienceofbusiness.com/free-stuff/free-newsletter.aspx

Here's to Maximizing Your Profits!

Dr Lisa
(c)Copyright 2010, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes (TOC Thinking)

TOC is a large body of knowledge. It’s very holistic.  Underlying all of it, though, are a set of thinking processes.  If you understand how to think, you can derive any number of the Theory of Constraints solutions.

TOC Thinking is a process to recognize, verbalize, and challenge assumptions (through the use of visual tools).

There are assumptions everywhere. Some are correct and some are incorrect.  Want to communicate better? Be really clear about assumptions.

Have you ever given instructions on what you wanted done and then been surprised or frustrated about things turning out differently than what you expected? That's assumptions at work.

3 Definitions of Assumptions:

• Accepted cause and effect relationships, or estimates of the existence of a fact from the known existence of other fact(s). [from businessdictionary.com]
• The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; supposition; unwarrantable claim. [from 1913 Webster]
• Assumptions are beliefs or ideas that we hold to be true — often with little or no evidence required. [from HyperTextBooks]

More to follow ...

Theory of Constraints POOGI - Part 54: Yes, but… The Value of Concerns and Objections cont.

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints. {This series was co-written with Brad Stillahn.}

Brad: You’re making the case for people expressing their concerns whenever a solution is presented? That this is a good thing? Doesn’t this slow down the whole process? If I have a good idea—and as a business owner, it goes without saying that all of my ideas are great ideas—why shouldn’t I just have everyone go implement?

Dr. Lisa: We weren’t taught how to deal with the situation where someone presents an idea, and we have a concern to express about the idea. In Theory of Constraints (TOC), we call the process “Negative Branch Reservations”. It is part of theTheory of Constraints Thinking Processes. There is a straightforward logical process for doing so. And yes, it is an important part of processing each and every solution, and getting your people to buy-in once all the reservations have been raised and dealt with.

Oh, by the way, a lot of your ideas aren’t so hot before we had addressed my negative branch reservations. Don’t you remember…?

Brad: Never mind about that. Explain the process, please.

Dr. Lisa: First, let’s agree on the criteria for a good solution. The presenter should feel good about offering an idea or solution to a problem. If someone responds by saying “let me think about it”, he or she should honor that agreement and does think about it. By thinking through the concern, we get the benefit of the idea and block potential negatives, thereby becoming better managers, and getting better results.

Brad: So the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

... to be continued in Part 55.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2009, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Theory of Constraints POOGI - Part 52: Dr. Goldratt’s book The Choice is better than The Goal

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints. {This series was co-written with Brad Stillahn.}

Most of you have read The Goal. Most of you enjoyed reading it. And most of you have lent or given a copy to someone you think will benefit from reading it. Today, it still sells as many copies a month as it did when it was first published.

Dr. Eli Goldratt’s newish book The Choice (his newest you will also find on this link) is even better than The Goal. It’s about thinking clearly and having a full life.

For those of you that follow Eli and the Theory of Constraints, you may know that when he was about twenty years old he chose as his goal in life “to teach the world to think”. What you may not know is that his daughter, Efrat, now a psychologist, chose as her life goal “to teach people how to be happy”.

Once again, he chose the format of a novel. In this one, Eli and Efrat have an ongoing conversation. Now 63, in this book Eli is summarizing their collective progress toward their respective goals.

In their conversation, Eli and Efrat chart the course for anyone and everyone to think clearly and have a full life. And in doing so, they reveal Eli’s unusual beliefs:

1. People are good. Rather than thinking that people are good, people tend to blame other people, or as Eli says “I want you to realize how careless we are in relating derogatory characteristics and intentions to people”. Once you blame someone, your ability to think clearly is blocked. “Blaming another person is not a solution… Blaming points us in the wrong direction, into a direction where we will not find a good solution. Even if the person is removed, in most cases the problem will stay. You will be able to refrain from blaming people when you are convinced there is no reason to blame them. Harmony exists in any relationship between people.”

2. Every conflict can be removed. “People’s perception is that conflicts are a given and the best we can do is to seek a compromise. When we face a conflict, especially when we cannot easily find an acceptable compromise, let’s do exactly the same thing scientists do when they encounter a contraction; let’s insist that one of the underlying assumptions is faulty. If, or should I say when, we pin down the underlying assumption that can be removed, we will remove the cause of the conflict; we solve the conflict by eliminating it.”

3. Every situation is exceedingly simple. “There is nothing wrong with people’s brainpower; there is something very wrong with people’s perception of reality. People believe that reality is complex, and therefore they are looking for sophisticated explanations for complicated solutions. Do you understand how devastating this is? The key for thinking like a true scientist is the acceptance that any real life situation, no matter how complex it initially looks, is actually, once understood, embarrassingly simple.”

4. Every situation can be substantially improved. “The undesirable effects people complain about are the result of a conflict—a conflict between the parties in cases of relationships, and an internal conflict in cases of individuals. People, and companies, lower expectations when they use protective mechanisms to camouflage from themselves the big chronic problems; the problems that they already gave up on resolving. Those who are not prepared will be blind to the stream of opportunities life presents them.”

5. Every person can reach a full life. “You claim that the only things standing in the way of me thinking clearly are some specific obstacles and practice. Rather than leaving it to chance—what people call good luck—my chances of living a full life will be much greater if I learn to think clearly. I’ll be able to generate, or at least to recognize, the right opportunities for me, and I’ll be better able to have more stamina to persistently follow enough of them to fruition.”

6. There is always a win-win solution. “For every relationship there is a change that will cause the parties to each achieve what they need from the relationship. Compromise is the attempt to share a finite cake. When do we find an acceptable compromise? When the perception is that the cake is not very important, or that it’s not too small to start with. But when the cake seems too small, seeking a compromise is a situation in which the more you win, the more I lose; seeking a compromise is, by definition, a win-lose approach. If we want our win to be bigger we have to ensure that the other side’s win will be bigger.”

To get The Choice at a price even lower than at Amazon, click on the book title. After you read the book, you may be interested in learning the TOC Thinking Processes. These are the tools Eli developed to help the rest of us systematically develop solutions to problems through rigorous cause and effect logic, just like he does in The Choice. The Management Skills Workshop will help your management team to learn and apply the Thinking Processes to your company. We’d be happy to point you in the right direction, so just call, email, or leave a comment below.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2009, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.