Course: ETLS Managing for Improved Performance Professor: George G. Gleeson Student: Kou Song

 Definition  Example video  Practical software examples  Conclusion

 Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt author of The Goal – “a system has a single goal, and that systems are composed of multiple linked activities, one of which acts as a constraint on the whole system.“  Methods to achieve the primary business goal of making money  Increase throughput  Money (or goal units) generated through sales.  Reducing inventory  Money the system invests in order to sell its goods and services.  Reduce operating expenses  All the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput 3

 5 Focus Step  1. Identify the constraint (the resource or policy that prevents the organization from obtaining more of the goal)  2. Decide how to exploit the constraint (make sure the constraint's time is not wasted doing things that it should not do)  3. Subordinate all other processes to above decision (align the whole system or organization to support the decision made above)  4. Elevate the constraint (if required or possible, permanently increase capacity of the constraint; "buy more")  5. If, as a result of these steps, the constraint has moved, return to Step 1. Don't let inertia become the constraint. 4

 Anything that prevents the system from achieving more of its goal  Equipment: The way equipment is currently used limits the ability of the system to produce more salable goods / services.  People: Lack of skilled people limits the system.  Policy: A written or unwritten policy prevents the system from making more 5

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7 - Critical To Quality (CTQ) to brainstorm and validate the needs and requirements of the customer of the process targeted for improvement. - Voice of the Customer (VOC) captured directly through meetings.

 System is identified as entire software process  Requirement Phase  Quote  Implementation (coding) Phase  Unit Test Phase  Validation Test Phase  Build and Documentation Phase  Release Phase 8

 Money – Inaccurate software quote provided to the customer. This delays project deliveries.  Inventory – Change in prioritization causes other software projects to idle. This increases inventory.  Operating Expense – Software project delivery increases while other task are injected within the project. Lack of resource availability. 9

Continuous software additions 10

 People are biggest contributing bottleneck  Customers have changes in prioritization  Emergency request  Yield improvement initiatives  Customer demands  Urgency of release causes defect  Artifacts are not reviewed thoroughly  Poor software project planning 11

 2. Decide how to exploit the constraint (make sure the constraint's time is not wasted doing things that it should not do)  Software group lead will be more involve with Process Improvement Team (PIT) meetings and New Product Development efforts  Software group will be included in change request meetings.  Software process will still be followed during emergency release. Software process effort will be incorporated into customer’s schedule. 12

 Management must continue to monitor operating expenses for software labor while at the same time minimizing investments in inventory (WRS) and productive assets.  Program Managers and production customer needs to follow proposed process.  Have customer communicate change request early in development phase. 13

 4. Elevate the constraint (if required or possible, permanently increase capacity of the constraint; "buy more")  Increase capacity by performing the following:  Allow software developer to finish existing project without interruption.  Avoid customer priority changes in middle of project.  Software lead and manager needs to take ownership of task. 14

 Need to present ideas to current Manager. 15

 TOC can improve software cycle time  Lack of management influential  TOC is applicable to software development process  Implementation of TOC is often difficult because it may require a complete change in the way the company operates. 16

 Cox, Jeff; Goldratt, Eliyahu M. (1986). The goal: a process of ongoing improvement. Hudson, NY: North River Press.  Watson, J. K., Blackstone, H. J, and Stanley, C. G. (2007). The evolution of a management philosophy: The theory of constraints. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from University of St. Thomas Applied Science & Technology FT database. 17