Theory of Constraints Lesson on Evaluating an Idea

This text is from a county emergency manager in Minot, North Dakota

WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here in the Northern part of North Dakota we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 25’ of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10 ' s of thousands.

FYI:

Obama did not come.

FEMA did nothing.

No one howled for the government.

No one blamed the government.

No one even uttered an expletive on TV.

Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.

Our Mayors did not blame Obama or anyone else.

Our Governor did not blame Obama or anyone else either.

CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit - or even report on this category 5 snow storm.

Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.

No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.

No one looted.

Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.

Nobody expected the government to do anything either.

No Larry King, No Bill O ' Reilly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.

No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Streisand, No Brad Pitts, No Hollywood types to be found.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water.

Sent out caravans of SUV 's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.

The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn’t ' t ask for a penny.

Local restaurants made food, and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound families..

Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.

We put on an extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".

We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for ' sitting at home ' checks.

Even though a Category 5 blizzard of this scale is not usual, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

I hope this gets passed on.

Maybe ......

SOME people will get the message ......

The world does Not owe you a living.

12/29/10

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Isn’t this interesting?  I don't know if it's really true, that it was sent by an emergency manager in North Dakota, but I love the message.


Now for the Theory of Constraints lesson …


If you were in charge of emergency management for your county how would you prepare?


In Theory of Constraints, one of the things we use to prepare is the phenomenal human ability to find anything and everything wrong with an idea. We call it the “yes, but”.


Whenever we are presented with an idea or solution that did not originate in our own heads, we think and sometimes say “yes, but …”.


We are saying yes to part of the solution, BUT we have a concern about another part of the solution or about a negative that we think could result.


And in some cases the “yes, but” could be the result of our misunderstanding of the solution.


But in any case, and in many company cultures saying it out loud is frowned upon, at least depending on whose idea it was. So many “yes, buts …” never get verbalized.


What a shame and what a missed opportunity!


We use the “yes, buts” technique in the Velocity Scheduling System and our Mafia Offer Boot Camp.


“Yes, buts” can clear up miss understandings, improve already good solutions and help you to find a solution for what seems like an impossible situation.


So if you were in charge of emergency management, would you encourage “yes, buts”? Would you follow every potential negative to see where it leads and determine if it’s worth being prepared for?


I think you would. So why not do that as you're making decisions in your company? Why not make voicing “yes, buts” a positive thing?


Let me know what you think, by leaving a comment on this post.   


And you may also want to check out this related article:
http://drlisamaxprofit.blogspot.com/2009/12/theory-of-constraints-poogi-part-53-yes.html


Dr Lisa Lang
President, Science of Business
 
2011 Copyright, Science of Business.  All rights reserved.

Subject: Theory of Constraints 2 Laws of Leadership (Part 2)

In Part 1 I covered the Theory of Constraints first Law of Leadership -- “Don’t be a sissy!” And I have to admit I was holding my breath as I clicked the send button. I was direct (as I tend to be) and I wasn’t sure what your response would be.
 
It stirred up a lot of response. My heart rate increased as the first responses starting showing up within 10 minutes! Here are just a few of the first responses I received:
 

“Liked this one a lot!”

“I really love this – I talk to “just do it” all the time in my work (it’s in a frame on my desk). Adding “don’t be a sissy” is fantastic.”

“Amen”

“Great mail Lisa!”

“Agreed and amen!!“

So it seems that I have your permission to be direct (except for the few people who unsubscribed).  Now, I want to cover the second Theory of Constraints Law of Leadership – “Just do it!”

So now that you know how not to be a sissy and you’ve decided what you are going to go do. Just do it!

“Just do it” does NOT mean steam rolling your people (but at the same time don’t let THEM be sissies!), it means to focus and get it done NOW.

Use the Theory of Constraints buy-in and “yes, but …” processes to get agreement on what you want to do and why you want to do it. These processes also serve to clarify what exactly you’re going to go do and usually the solution improves in the process.

Then, if you have someone who just doesn’t want to do it -- do it anyway. Ask them if they are willing to try (really try) it. If so, then get on with it. If not, it maybe it’s time to replace that person with someone who is.

Don’t make excuses as to why you can’t start now. If there are other things going on, and those things are NOT your biggest most important project (yes singular) – stop doing them. You can start them again if they become your biggest priority.

There are really only 2 Theory of Constraints “Just Do It” measures:

1) Reliability – did you do what you said, when you said you’d do it. Whatever the something was you decided to do that we talked about in Part 1 – did you do it on-time? If you are unreliable you didn’t. If you are reliable you did it and finished when you said you would. Due date performance is a type of reliability measure.

2) Effectiveness – you didn’t waste time being distracted on other things and/or doing things you shouldn’t have been done. Ineffectiveness is the biggest cause of unreliability and “not doing”. If you’re doing things you shouldn’t, typically you are making it very difficult to be reliable and get done what you should. Inventory is a type of ineffectiveness measure – if you have produced something ahead of when it was needed in order to be efficient or to save money.

Being ineffective is really a focusing issue – both not working on the right things and working on too many things at one time.

So get really clear on what you’re going to do and what you’re NOT going to do and then get it done.

And to me, that takes care of leadership. There are only 2 things you need to do:

1) Don’t be a sissy!

2) Just do it!

One of the best leaders I’ve interacted with recently was one of my Velocity Scheduling System clients – Tanya DiSalvo, President, Criterion Tool. Her team was struggling with buying into VSS but she held firm (definitely not a sissy) and then focused on doing it. And doing it right, not some watered down version of what the group was first willing to do.

Here’s the payoff she and her team got:

 
And I received this email update from Tanya on June 6, 2010:

“Welp it’s Criterion’s one year anniversary with the VSB (Velocity Scheduling System) and WE STILL love it!

A few major projects went thru our building: new product launch in Oct- Dec, another new product launch currently under way, reduction of staff thru attrition and increase in work, and in most cases we came thru with flying colors.

Attached is our score card. :)”

Wishing you unsissified success,

Dr Lisa

P.S. Make sure that you click on the links above. They link to additional information and some really good stuff.

P.P.S. If you run a custom job shop and are frustrated with scheduling -- check out the Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program  http://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/

P.P.P.S Download the "9 Challenges to Scheduling Your Job Shop and Why Your Schedule is Dead on Arrival" special report here: http://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/ebook/

Theory of Constraints POOGI - Part 55: 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.}

Dr. Lisa: Back to the process for handling a “yes, BUT”. We are saying “yes” to the solution, and the “BUT” is a negative we anticipate if we go forward with the solution. So the first step is to identify which part of the solution your concern stems from. State this explicitly. Next, indicate what your concern is, what negative could occur (called Negative Branch Reservation). Now together you can figure out that (1) either that you misunderstood the solution or (2) that you are correct that the negative could happen. If so, how could we modify the solution to eliminate completely or substantially the possibility of the negative?

Brad: That sounds a little theoretical. Do you have an example?

Dr. Lisa: Sure. When we are doing the Velocity Scheduling System with a machine shop, someone in the management team will often have the idea to do preventative maintenance. In this example, this is the “part of the solution the concern stems from”. Someone will respond that there isn’t enough capacity to do preventative maintenance without being late on orders. This is the concern, the negative that could occur.

Brad: What’s the solution to trim the negative branch?

Dr. Lisa: To do both -- to complete ALL the orders on-time AND do the necessary preventative maintenance. The Detailed Planning portion of the Velocity Scheduling System is what we use to see and plan for opportunities for preventative maintenance while maintaining 100% due date performance.

“Dealing with yes, BUT’s” is one of the bonus videos included in the Velocity Scheduling System which is based on Goldratt's Theory of Constraints and Drum Buffer Rope.

Get a daily TOC Tip on Twitter, just follow http://twitter.com/TOCExpert.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

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

Theory of Constraints POOGI - Part 53: Yes, but… The Value of Concerns and Objections

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: Both as a business owner, and back when I worked for large companies, I have found a lot of negative people. Someone has a good idea, and then it seems like everyone has a “yes, but…” It’s irritating.

Dr. Lisa: Particularly if it’s YOUR idea. In Theory of Constraints, we call that a “yes, BUT”; Small yes and a big BUT.

Brad: Why can’t people be more positive and optimistic? It seems like such negativity blocks progress. Perhaps such people are the problem.

Dr. Lisa: Hold on. To voice concerns is part of human nature. When we hear an idea or solution presented, it is natural to think of what negatives might come from it. The presenter is normally very proud of his or her suggestion, and just as often is not fully aware of what negatives might result from implementing it.

Brad: So he or she is expecting praise and to get credit for the idea?

Dr. Lisa: Exactly. Now, depending upon the trust level and power relationships within the group, and whether there have been previous bad experiences from raising concerns, the concern might not be expressed. Instead, you might hear “let me think about it”. However, we don’t think about it. What we think about is our “BUT”, and hope the idea just goes away. So, we don’t benefit from the idea, and we miss the opportunity to improve it by voicing the concern.

... to be continued in Part 54.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

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