SPA2005 session: I'm not a bottleneck, I'm a free man!

One-line description:Explore the Theory of Constraints and learn to apply it
 
Session format: Working group [read about the different session types]
 
Abstract:Eliyahu Goldratt's "Theory of Constraints" is a continuous process improvement method that was developed in the manufacturing world and is now being applied to other industries, among others in IT. In this respect, its history is similar to that of "Lean Thinking". Where Lean tells you HOW to optimize a system, ToC tells you WHAT to optimize.

The basic insight of ToC is this: every system has ONE constraint (or 'bottleneck') that determines the throughput of the system. If you want to improve the system, you have to find and work on the constraint. The same way you need to strengthen the weakest link if you want to make a chain stronger.

From this idea, ToC derives a program of continuous improvement steps to increase throughput, by attacking the system's constraint. These ideas have been developed for manufacturing plants, but, like "Lean Thinking", they can be applied suprisingly well to software development. ToC principles have been applied to planning (the "Critical Chain" planning method), to accounting/management decision support ("Throughput Accounting") and to Systems Thinking (the "Thinking Processes").

In this session we will explore the ideas behind the ToC method and discover how they can be applied to process improvement, planning and measuring of IT projects. The session contains a mixture of presentation/discussion and small games/simulations that allow the participants to try out the different concepts in small groups.

The goal of a session is to come to a clear and concise answer to the question "What is the Theory of Constraints, and how can I use it?".
 
Audience background:An interest and some experience in managing or optimizing processes (in IT or outside of it) is a plus, but not required.

 
Benefits of participating:Learn a number of simple but powerful process improvement techniques
to find, visualize, and eliminate bottlenecks from your software
projects.

Rethink some assumptions about the way projects should be staffed, managed and optimized.

When another conference attendee, co-worker or friend asks you "You've been to that Theory of Constraints session? What's that all about?", you will have a clear answer :-)
 
Materials provided:Simulation materials
Reference books
 
Process:20 min: Introduction
30 min: Simulate a software delivery process to experience bottlenecks.
*** break ***
60 min: Apply the "5 focusing steps" to optimize the simulated process, in several iterations
*** break ***
30 min: Capture the basic ToC ideas in a few posters
30 min: Throughput Accounting as a way to measure and provide management feedback
planning our simulation
*** break ***
30 min: The Critical Chain planning method take into account (and exploits) the bottlenecks in the plan to deliver quickly and reliably.
30 min: The Thinking processes. Apply ToC's Systems Thinking tools.
*** break ***
30 min: Capture the 3 ToC tools and conclusions in a few posters
20 min: Session evaluation, feedback and closing
 
Outputs:The session's goal is to produce a clear and concise answer to the following questions:
- what is the "Theory of Constraints"?
- how can I use it?

A few posters to be exhibited during the conference contain the answers to these questions and pointers to more in-depth information. The posters include the names of people at the conference who are willing to talk more about the subject.

If there's enough interest we can schedule a follow-up BoF for those who were not at the session.
 
History:Belgian XP users group session
 
Presenters
1. Pascal Van Cauwenberghe
Nayima
2. Rob Westgeest
Agidem
3. Marc Evers
NIWI-KNAW