Introduction to the thinking processes of the theory of constraint. Create a Current Reality Tree to examine your current situation and use it at decision help!

1. 2011 Current Reality Tree
Examination Of Current Situations
Theory Of ConstraintsTheory Of Constraints

2. The Author
• Consultant for Agile & Process
Improvement
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Sebastian Schneider
Consultant for Agile & Process
Improvement
• Kugler Maag Cie GmbH
• http://www.sebastian-schneider.eu
• http://de.slideshare.net/schneseb
• http://prezi.com/user/SebastianSchneider/
• http://facebook.com/Sebastian.Schneider.eu
• https://twitter.com/SeSchneider
Sebastian Schneider

3. Necessary-Cause-Logic
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Cause A Effect BAssumption
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Battery
is empty
The engine
doesn’t startAssumption: The engine does not start
because the battery is empty

4. Nomenclature
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Cause
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Effect
Intermediate
Effect

5. Predicted Effect
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Stove doesn’t
work
Stove doesn’t
work
Washing machine
doesn’t work
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No electricity
No electricity

6. Additional Cause
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Stove doesn’t
work
Stove doesn’t
work
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No electricity
No electricity No power cord

7. Insufficient Cause
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Stove doesn’t
work
Stove doesn’t
work
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No electricity
No electricity Electric system

8. How To Start?
• Define the system for observation
• List all negative symptoms that you observe (UDE)
• Check the tree
• Identify Root Causes
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• Identify Root Causes
• Rework the tree
• Identify “core causes”
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9. Define The System For Observation
• Define within your group the system you
want to observe
• Examples
– “Our sales area does not lead to any
sales”
– “Our engineering department is not
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– “Our engineering department is not
able to document the code”
• “is – is not”
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10. List all negative symptoms (UDE)
• Group work
– Whiteboard
– All team members
– Brainstorming
• Tips
– Write SMART if possible
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– Write SMART if possible
• Specific, Measurable, Accepted,
Relevant, Time limited
– Write active
– Write in present
• Example:
– “Currently we sell not the estimated
50.000 products per month”
Sebastian Schneider
Find round about 3-7
Undesirable Effects
for your system

11. Check I
• UDE‘s
– Are they sufficient?
– Are they detailed enough?
– Do they have all needed information?
• Example:
– UDE: “We do not reach our desired
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– UDE: “We do not reach our desired
recommendation rate of 70% per
training”
– Ask if this is really the root cause, it
might be that
• “The participants are not
requested to rate the training”
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Check every UDE
regarding granularity
and root cause

12. Check II
• New intermediate effects
– Look for new elements that are not
UDE’s but add additional useful
information to the tree
– In general they are not “good” or
“bad”
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• Example:
– “The feedback form is available” is a
general statement
– It does not state any problem but
helps to understand the logic
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Check if you need and
find intermediate
effects

13. Root Causes
• Check if the root causes are really root
causes and have no predecessor
• This causes are either out of your control
(preconditions) or can be influenced by
you
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14. Rework
• Do rework with all the stakeholder
• Generate common understanding and
committing
• You can use the “5-Why-Method”
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• Check if all UDE’s are really UDE’s, that
intermediate effects are really
intermediate effects, …
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15. Core Driver
• Count in- and outputs
• Identify the core driver of your current
reality tree
• The core driver are quite similar to the
constraint in the ToC.
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constraint in the ToC.
Sebastian Schneider