I have begun using the Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes. Specifically current reality trees and future reality trees.

These are not new. I had to buy a paper copy of Thinking for a Change, Putting the TOC Thinking Processes to Use, by Lisa J. Sheinkopf because there was no ebook. They did not make ebooks back in 1999. I’ve also been listening to the audio book of It’s Not Luck, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. It was published in 1994, but is still applicable today because using our brains has not changed much the 25 years since Goldratt published this book. Goldratt’s book is in a novel format with a story that blends in how to use the techniques.

His story is engaging, but it is hard to apply from that format. Lisa’s book is much easier to look up how-to information.

Anyway, these processes work well. They take time to create, but are easy to communicate to others once drawn out.

I’m using a UML editor to create the diagrams.

The processes are listed below.

The sales presentation example in It’s Not Luck using these tools was quite good.