Find the Constraint Before Adding Effort

Before adding effort, locate the limiting condition. Decompose the Flow Break the work into states: intake, waiting, doing, review, rework, release. The bottleneck is usually not where people complain loudest. Ask Why at the Wait Root-cause analysis is especially useful at wait states and rework loops. Ask why the work cannot move, then why that condition exists. Test the Constraint Run a small change that should move the bottleneck if your hypothesis is right. If cycle time does not change, your constraint theory was wrong.

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