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Glossary
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Teaching Kids Leadership
- Problem Solving Checklist
- Adjusting Leader Style to Personality Types
- Plan Do Check Adjust (PDCA)
- So what can adults do to help kids learn leadership?
- A rose by any other name is still a rose
- Natural Consequences Versus Coaching and Correcting
- Help Kids Develop Improved People Skills
- Five Year Old Laments 'My sister is making me mad!'
- Socratic question-based discussions
- Have the child report on what they saw that day'
- Great question for the adults trying to teach kids
- Teach Kids How to Deal With Stress Well
- Teach Kids the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 Principle
- Maslov Pyramid Perspective on Kids
- Reading Partner Questions
- Watching Examples and Discussing with the Youth to Help Them Process What They Saw
- Trust is crucial to leadership
- Teenage Decision Making
- Character Development - What is character anyway so kids can develop it?
- Defining Leadership
- Blog Vocabulary Not at Child's Level
- Encouragement for the Single Parent
- Giving children opportunities to lead
- Habits of Mind from Project 2061
- Horizontal Leadership-There are more chances to practice this type for children
- How young is too young to start?
- Introduction for those new to leadership
- Producer or Consumer of Leadership?
- Scouts provides opportunities to practice leadership
- Set High Expectations
- So why should anyone take on the challenge of leadership?
- The Beginning of My Journey of Discovery
- The Paradox of Service to Others
- The Well Trained Mind
- Vertical Leadership is not where kids typically start out
- What about cultural differences?
- What can children pick up about leadership anyway?
- What is age-appropriate for teaching kids leadership?
- What is the Payoff for the Hard Work of Leadership?
- What lessons did I learn trying to develop leadership in my own children (so far)?
- Who cares about leadership?
- Character Development - How do we grow strong character and help children do the same?
- How do we measure our current character?
- Character Development - Fairness as a Character Trait
- Children Can Learn Leadership
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Blog
- Gallons of Ink
- Got Yubikey Setup
- Experimenting with Ink Containers for Travel
- Cigar Case Pen Protector
- More Ink Mixing for Refill Bottles
- MacOS Sandboxing can Impact Reuse
- Python Programming
- Primary
- How to Make Family History Website and Book with Same Data
- Further Adventures Making DIY Fountain Pen Ink
- Cursive Writing
- Have Pens. Now I Need Paper
- eBook Conversion
- My Copper Metal Pen Arrived
- Do It Yourself (DIY) Mixing Fountain Pen Inks
- Microlearning
- Emergency Preparedness with Mobile Devices
- The Nature of Lisp and Writing with Pollen
- Fountain Pens
- Learning Simulation
- I Wish Familysearch.org Exported Data
- Raising Chickens in Florida
- Climbing the Learning Curve
- Gardening
- Dont Give Up
- The One Thing
- Opportunity Management
- Quote About Questions
- Mindset - Be sure you encourage kids toward 'growth' not 'born talent' with its fixed limits
- Demonstrating Respect and Choice versus Force and Coercion
- Behavioral Styles
- Applying Precepts
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Family History
- Author's Contact Information
- Conventions Used
- Family History
- Family History Frontmatter
- Family History Introduction
- Historical Timeline
- Note to Future Family History Maintainers
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Our Lanham Paternal Lineage
- Josias Lanham Family 1628 (Not our direct line)
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Curtis Harden Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Hiram D. Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the John Lanham (1661) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Jonathon Lanham (1630) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the O.S. Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Robert Lanham (1560) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Sylvester Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the T.B. Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Thomas Lanham (1701) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Thomas Lanham (1757) Generation
- Our Lanham Line - The Paternal Lineage
- The Amanda Francis Lanham Family
- The Andrew Shepherd Family
- The Archibald Lanham Family 1751
- The Benjamin Garfield Lanham Family
- The Burress and Ida Roberts Family
- The Calvin Powell Dorsey Family
- The Charles Selby Family 1762
- The Clifford Wayne Lanham Family
- The Curtis Harden Lanham Family 1813
- The Curtis Harden Lanham Family 1875
- The David Lanham Family 1595
- The Edward James Holt Family
- The Edward Lanham Family 1685
- The Elmer Harn Family
- The Emmitt F. Welborn Family
- The Eugene WILLIAMS Family 1855
- The Frank Robinson Family
- The Gideon Wilburn Ashley Family
- The Hiram Demarcus Lanham Family 1845
- The Issac Elam Family 1803
- The Jacob Shepherd Family 1812
- The James Bedford Ray Family (Cliffie M. Lanham)
- The James Kennedy Family
- The Jasper Shipman Family
- The Jeremiah Lanham Family 1755
- The Jesse Elam Family 1782
- The Joe A. Madden Family
- The John Hendrickson Corely Family
- The John James Roberts Family
- The John Lanham Family 1661
- The John Lanham Family 1690
- The John Nicholas Jacks Family 1740
- The John T. Scott Family
- The Jonathan Hammer Cook Family
- The Jonathan Lanham Family 1630
- The Josias Lanham Family 1590
- The Oran Stroud Lanham Family 1916
- The R.J. Craighead Family 1907
- The R.J. Craighead Family 1907
- The Richard Lanham Family 1697
- The Robert Lanham Family 1584
- The Roger Lanham Family 1560
- The Stephen Lanham (1726) Family
- The Stephen Lanham Family 1760
- The Stephen Lanham Family 1784
- The Sylvester Lanham Family 1790
- The Thomas Benton Lanham Family
- The Thomas Berry (T. B.) Lanham Family 1882
- The Thomas Lanham (1757) Family
- The Thomas Lanham Family 1700 or 1701
- The Thomas Sisk Family 1858
- The W.T. Lanham Family 1850
- The Walter Lee Ray Family
- The William Curtis Lanham Family
- The William Lanham Family 1699
- The Willie Green Scott Family
- The Wortha Leon Lanham Family 1907
- Reference Materials
- Rockwall Cemetery Listing, Rockwall, Texas
- The 2006 Journey to Find Thomas Lanham's Grave Site
- The Lanham family of Wortham (Research Details)
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The Maternal Side of Our Family Lines
- The A. Sion Wheeles Family
- The Aaron Jones Family
- The Abednego Chandler Family 1752
- The Adrian Alford Colbath Family 1893
- The Alex L. Baker Family
- The Alford Nolen Jones Family
- The Andrew Jackson (Jack) Kitchens Family
- The Beall Family
- The Benjamin Colbath Family 1758
- The Chisel True Baker Family
- The Daniel Horne Blackmore Family
- The David Amick Family
- The George Henry Slattery Family
- The J. E. Sisk Family
- The James McHale Family
- The John C. Colbath Family 1820
- The John Chandler Family
- The John Jones Family
- The John Lacey Family (bef 1778)
- The John Patrick Carmody Family
- The John Sappington Family 1723
- The Larkin (Lark) Patrick Williams Family
- The Lazarus Rufus Jones Family
- The Leah Unknown Family
- The Luther Jason Head Family
- The Luther Troup Baker Family
- The Mason Jones Family
- The Michael Gonzales Family
- The Michael Yost Family
- The Patrick Joseph Merrick Family
- The Patrick Merrick Family 1883
- The Patrick Williams Family
- The Perry Rufus Jones Family
- The Peter Logan Yost Family
- The Quirke Family
- The Richard Head Family 1802
- The Richard Merrick Family
- The Robert Chandler Family 1687
- The Stephen Grey Family 1894
- The Thomas Edmonson Head Family
- The Thomas Lacey Family 1808
- The Thomas Winthrop Colbath Family 1851
- The William Estes Family 1785
- The William J. Roberts Family
- The William Milton Jacks Family
- The William Patrick Williams Family
- The Willis Ashley Family
- The Winthrop Colbath Family 1786
- The Time and the Places
- Mental Models
- Contact
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Theory of Constraints
Where should I improve first? Where should I focus? This question has caused people to lose sleep worrying about where to apply limited resources to make a significant improvement to their flow of products or services.
The good news is that there is an answer. Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt developed his Theory of Constraints and described it in his popular book, The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox. Goldratt later credited Toyota and Lean as his foundation for the Theory of Constraints.
To help organizations profitably succeed, the Theory of Constraints aims at increasing throughput, reducing inventory and reducing operating expenses.
We see constraints or bottlenecks in play daily in commuting to work.
To apply the Theory of Constraints to knowledge work, we also have to think of partially completed work inventory. Work in progress (WIP) is inventory in both manufacturing and knowledge work like software engineering. Just like manufacturing, in knowledge work excessive inventory is a expense, not an asset. Inventory is bad. Agile Kanban (as opposed to manufacturing kanban) is based on this idea too.
The Theory of Constraints is a way of identifying the main limiting constraint, or bottleneck, in a process and then systematically improving that constraint to increase throughput. This is the path to getting the most improvement for the least investment of resources.
Rather than flowing cars on a highway, the next Theory of Constraints example shows work items on a Jira board or other team board. The following image is from Hacker Noon.
Why
The Theory of Constraints aims to help us answer five big questions:
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"What needs to change first?" (the weakest link in the process 'chain')
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"What should it be changed to? What is the To-Be state?"
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"What actions will cause the change?"
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"Did the change improve throughput, inventory or operating expenses?"
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"What needs to change next?" (the next weakest link)
The Theory of Constraints also accounts for complex adaptive systems with many linked activities. It provides the following:
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A way to identify and eliminate constraints
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Thinking tools for problem solving (root cause analysis reality tree diagrams, 5 whys, etc.)
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A way to prioritize improvement actions on one main constraint at a time
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Compatibility with Lean and Agile
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Reduction or elimination of bottlenecks resulting in less work in process (WIP)
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Improvement of overall organizational profit, rather than sub-optimizing at a lower level
How
The Theory of Constraints consists of five steps:
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Identify the constraint (or bottleneck)
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Exploit. Improve what you can with what you’ve got aiming to increase the throughput of the constraint (Do better without additional investment)
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Subordinate. Subordinate the rest of the process to the constraint or bottleneck. Don’t let other process steps go faster than the bottleneck.
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Elevate. Do what you can to improve the constraint further.
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Repeat. Look for the next bottleneck. Kaizen. Continual improvement.
Focus
Use Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints to focus Lean efforts on the priorities that matter to the business or enterprise.
There is no point to improving areas in a flow that are not the constraint because the bottleneck is the limiting factor on the flow of value to the customer in your value stream.
The following image is from Just Plan It, shows this well.
Note the original constraint was improved, the flow widened, and then it was no longer the constraint. Another place in the value stream is the new constraint. Rinse and repeat.
I have used the Theory of Constraints successfully over a decade and strongly recommend it.
For more information, contact The Theory of Constraints Institute.