This website or its third-party tools use cookies which are necessary to its functioning and required to improve your experience. By clicking the consent button, you agree to allow the site to use, collect and/or store cookies.
Please click the consent button to view this website.
I accept
Deny cookies Go Back

Intelligent Management

Deming and Theory of Constraints for CEOs and Executive Teams for the Age of Complexity. Ess3ntial Critical Chain Project Management

  • Home
  • about us
    • the founders
    • Dr. Domenico Lepore
    • Intelligent Management Success Stories
    • Our Books
    • Clients
    • Expanding Spiral of Positive Systemic Results with Intelligent Management
  • Decalogue Methodology
    • Decalogue Methodology for Whole System Management
      • How to adopt systemic organization management
    • Management Must Evolve Fast – 15 Days to Radically Improve Company Performance
    • 10 Steps for Transformation
    • Systemic Organization Management
    • Resource Library for Systemic Management
    • Our Education Modules for Systemic Management
  • Contact
  • Our Whole System Blog
  • Intelligent Management Italia
You are here: Home / Systems Thinking / A Practical Process for Working Remotely in a Team from the Theory of Constraints

Mar 26 2020

A Practical Process for Working Remotely in a Team from the Theory of Constraints

Over the last three weeks of lockdown in Italy, the team at Intelligent Management has been working intensively with clients and partners remotely. We have been able to switch from working onsite to working remotely with great ease thanks to years of consolidated practice using the Thinking Processes from the Theory of Constraints. People always want practical solutions. This is yet further proof that nothing is more practical than a good theory. And thank heavens for Zoom, GoToMeetings and other technologies that allow us to do this. 

I would urge anyone seeking to collaborate on projects at a distance to explore the Thinking Processes. Not only do they provide a visual approach that is easily shared and easy to consult, they actively promote people’s ability to thinking systemically about problems and how to overcome them. They provide a catalyst for focus and reduce dramatically the time that people spend in meetings. It’s like being able to eat and losing weight at the same time!

To help readers become familiar with using these Thinking Processes, we are reposting today a blog post about using the Prerequisite Tree. 

Achieving Laser Focus in a Meeting the Systemic Way

I recently participated in a meeting for an innovative digital project where speed is now of the essence.  We were able to surface assumptions that saved us endless conversations, weeks of delay and false starts based on misunderstandings. In that meeting I saw in action, yet again, the power of a Thinking Process Tool from the Theory of Constraints. 

While the details are confidential, the gist  of the meeting was about onboarding an important resource who was at last ready to become actively involved. Up until that meeting, the leader of the project had made a series of assumptions about the motivation of that person and the role they would play. Thanks to the use of a Prerequisite Tree, those assumptions were quickly challenged and a major shift was achieved.

Transforming obstacles

Before the meeting, the project leader, together with other key resources, had worked on a Prerequisite Tree to identify the key actions that would lead to achieving the first release of the project. The Prerequisite Tree is used in the deployment phase of a project and starts with identifying all the obstacles towards the goal, then transforming them into intermediate objectives. Those intermediate objectives are then sequenced towards the goal in an order that is based on which actions are prerequisites to others. It provides a very clear pathway that avoids working on the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Up until this meeting, discussions with the new resource had been very generic. When the new resource was shown this Prerequisite Tree, they were able to give their response to something extremely concrete and sequential. What quickly emerged was a considerable mismatch between what the new resource wanted to contribute and the assumptions the leader of the project had so far made about the role and motivation of that new resource.

Focus and clarity

Once this mismatch became clear, the conversation became instantly focused and realistic because everything about the project was out in the open. The Prerequisite Tree we built was far from being simply a “decision tree” or a list of actions. It was a deeply cohesive, systemic roadmap that was organically extracted from all the obstacles we perceived on our path to accomplishing the first release of the project. The tool provided complete transparency, both of the goal and what needed to be done to achieve that goal. It allowed everybody in the conversation to see clearly how the new resource could be involved in way that would satisfy everybody, without misunderstandings or cross-purposes.

Addressing complexity in human efforts

Human endeavours are complex because we all have our own mental models and egos. By developing the Thinking Process Tools, Dr. Goldratt has given us a powerful means to reduce conflict and variation in communication, thus unleashing and accelerating the real potential of a group of people in their efforts towards a clearly identified goal. In that meeting, the project and everyone involved took an important step ahead. Although I have seen this happen countless times over 20 years, it is always a thrill to see clarity emerge where confusion and misunderstanding could have dominated.

For an example of building a Prerequisite Tree from the online Knowledge Base of my business novel ‘The Human Constraint, click here.

About the Author

Angela Montgomery Ph.D. is Partner and Co-founder of Intelligent Management, founded by Dr. Domenico Lepore.  Angela’s new business novel+ website The Human Constraint looks at how Deming and the Theory of Constraints can create the organization of the future, based on collaboration, network and social innovation.

BUY ‘THE HUMAN CONSTRAINT’, SOLD IN 41 COUNTRIES, EXCLUSIVELY FROM www.thehumanconstraint.ca

Written by angela montgomery · Categorized: Systems Thinking, systems view of the world, Theory of Constraints · Tagged: Prerequisite Tree, systemic thinking, team, theory of constraints, working remotely

Search Form

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for our Blog and receive our White Paper ‘Out of the Crisis – A New Kind of Science for Management’

Sign up for our blog here to receive all our blog posts by e-mail.

Search Form

Recent Posts

  • Physics and Management: What You Must Understand to Lead and Manage Today April 15, 2021
  • Systems Thinking and Quantum Theory – Why We Need Them for Business April 8, 2021
  • How to Cope With Change: Understanding Cause and Effect March 26, 2021
  • Managing Change Effectively with a Systemic Framework and Method March 17, 2021
  • Decisions and Change – Thinking Processes for a Complex World March 10, 2021
  • Effective Decision-Making? Understand Your Driver Needs First March 6, 2021
  • Why Is Managing Change So Hard and How Can We Make it Easier? February 25, 2021
  • Creating Connections Between Company Functions – Back to Deming February 19, 2021
  • Human Resources – a New Perspective for Our Post-Pandemic World February 10, 2021
  • What’s Driving Profitability in Your Business and What Isn’t – How to Find Out February 3, 2021
  • Business, Politics, Wall Street: the Learning Organization and Our Interconnected Future January 29, 2021
  • What Does it Take to Be a Leader in Today’s Complex World? January 21, 2021
  • A New Economics for Sustainable Prosperity – Out of the Crisis Series Part 7 January 13, 2021
  • Identifying Assumptions to Unlock Innovation and Move Beyond the Crisis – Out of the Crisis Series Part 6 January 6, 2021
  • Learning to Think Systemically to Make Informed Decisions and Pre-empt a Crisis – Out of the Crisis Part 5 December 30, 2020

Social Icons

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Archives

  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011

Recent Posts

  • Physics and Management: What You Must Understand to Lead and Manage Today April 15, 2021
  • Systems Thinking and Quantum Theory – Why We Need Them for Business April 8, 2021
  • How to Cope With Change: Understanding Cause and Effect March 26, 2021
  • Managing Change Effectively with a Systemic Framework and Method March 17, 2021
  • Decisions and Change – Thinking Processes for a Complex World March 10, 2021

Connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Sign up for our blog

  • Home
  • Blog Theory of Constraints & Deming
  • Library
  • How to adopt systemic organization management
  • Knowledge Base for ‘The Human Constraint’
  • Contact Us

© 2020 Intelligent Management Inc. Canada

Privacy Policy