|
[Subsection: Constraint
Management Model]
Dettmer has synthesized the
constraint management model for strategy from relevant parts of the strategy planning schools
Determine The Paradigm
The key to this methodology is
the use of an intermediate objectives map. An intermediate objectives map is a pre-requisite tree without
the obstacles. It uses necessity-based logic to map cause and effect, in this case the goal, necessary
conditions and critical success factors of the organization at some period into the future. As such it
establishes the question “why change.” Step 2 addresses “what to change,” steps
3 & 4 address “what to change to,” and steps 5 & 6 address “how to cause the change.”
Analyze The Mismatches
The intermediate objectives map
doesn’t, however, survive in this form in the final product. It is just the starting point.
From this starting point it becomes easy to produce a current reality tree that lists the symptoms of the gap between
where we are now, and where we should be now or in the future if we want to support the vision in the intermediate objectives
map. Senge called this gap creative tension (5). For Boyd the mismatches and
discontinuities that the gap represents are to be celebrated; Hammond summed this up as follows. “It
is the mismatch, the lack of fit, the incongruity, that is the spur to creativity. It
is our recognition of it and ability to contend with it and make something of the opportunity that determines our success
or failure, our prosperity, the quantity and quality of life itself (6).” Recognizing
the mismatch is the heart of the OODA loop and the heart of the Constraint Management Model for Strategy too.
Create A Transformation
Reducing our symptoms or undesirable
effects to one core problem, or one core conflict, or even a few select critical problems allows us to deal with these using
clouds. We set out to remove the core problem or break the core conflict with a new assumption about reality
– an injection, or if you like, a countermeasure. We create a transformation.
Design The Future
We can take the injection or injections
that we developed above and use them to build back to a future reality tree, making sure that we negate or overcome all the
undesirable effects that we presented in the current reality tree (and that we don’t create any more). We
also need to include and incorporate the critical success factors, necessary conditions, and the goal that we produced in
the first step, the intermediate objectives map – but here it is now converted from necessity-based logic to sufficiency-based
logic.
Plan The Future
The basic planning tool of Theory
of Constraints is the pre-requisite tree – sequence of intermediate objectives that must be implemented to ensure that
the injection can be actioned. These intermediate objectives are the detail of our tactics that support
the strategy as per our design of the future.
Deploy The Strategy
We have mentioned planning and
control several times in these pages. Critical Chain is the planning stage of project management.
Buffer management is the control function. If you recall from our discussion of supply chain and
manufacturing buffers, they really are an exception reporting device. Buffers and their critical placement
are the mechanism that makes Theory of Constraints logistical applications so damn robust. Again check
the Critical Chain references if you are unfamiliar with this application in order to see how buffer management is applied
in this situation.
Review The Strategy
The last step serves two purposes.
One is the evaluation of the current plan. The other is a less frequent and more “big picture
stuff” – a periodical review to make sure the direction that the company is taking is indeed the one that the
company wants to take.
[Subsection: Strategic
Advantage]
Theory of Constraints allows us
as individuals and as organizations to shape and adapt to unfolding circumstances so that we can survive on our own terms.
[Subsection: Strategy]
The constraint management model
for strategy addresses the question of why change through the use of a strategic intermediate objectives map – essentially
a cause and effect diagram of the absolute necessary conditions required to enable the organization to move towards it’s
goal. The beginning of what to change is obtained by determining the mismatches between these essentials and the current
reality. The current reality tree is the tool that achieves this.
(6)
Hammond, G. T., (2001) The mind of war: John Boyd and American security. Smithsonian Institution Press,
pp 191-192.
|
