Dr Alan Barnard is one of the leading Theory of Constraints (TOC) experts in the world. As CEO of Goldratt Research Labs, he worked directly with Dr Eli Goldratt (international best selling author, scientist, business leader and creator of Theory of Constraints) to spearhead the research and development of new applications of TOC in especially large and complex organizations from both the private and public sector wishing to achieve more (goal units) with less (resources) in less time. Alan also contribute his time and experience to a number of non-profit organizations to help apply the insights and benefits Theory of Constraints to public sector organizations, NGOs and individuals.
Specialties: Finding simple, practical and sustainable solutions for seemingly complex problems using the systems approach of Theory of Constraints.
This is the best talk on continuous improvement I've ever heard. Dr. Barnard presented a framework for making improvement decisions that is the clearest and simplest I've ever seen.
Ive only just “discovered” Dr Barnard but he seems to explain things with unusual clarity and in a way I can visualise applying things in real life. A very rare talent 😊
The One to One model is perfect, and can be easily implemented using LLMs, trough finding/solving conflicts one by one in a endless loop! In this way the process will looks more like a traditional model where all segments are controlled simultaneously, priority will be selected organically according to market feedback and company efficiency metrics. Within 6 months such open source LLMs will be available for all, and the business will boost from linear to exponential growth. The best thing of all is that you will be able to run such an LLM from a local computer for 2000 euros, without being an expert in finance, management, marketing... the concept of administrative simplicity will be transferable to all business areas, crazy!
Consider all the social science (nonsense) degrees: women's studies, gender studies, social justice, etc. These "degrees" do not prepare anyone for a real job.
Thank you for this video. I have alwayd thought that "Necessary but not sufficient" was the least understandable of the Goodratt's novels This talk clarifys many ideas.
I saw your videos and was impressed by the quality of your content. However, after analysis, I noticed there needs to be improvement for getting more views and subscribers. You are working hard but the main motive to reach an exact audience is not fulfilled. You are working for your audience if the video can't reach them. That's a waste of your energy and time also. I will show the problem in your video and share how to fix it. Only say ‘yes’ if you want to grow your channel.
*Sir I see, Your all videos' SEO scores are very LOW. (RU-vid SEO is a process of optimizing your videos to increase their ranking and visibility on RU-vid top & Search) *
Hi Dr. Alan Barnard, can you make a video how to use Pro Con cloud on a real life situation? How can this be applied to a daily life situation or business event? Do you have a case study or a concrete example? Very nice video, I subscribed. Thank you.
Thank you for placing it on youtube. This message should help a lot of people to get up and do something good. I was working with Ramy for 9 years since 2015. I wish I was working more. There was still a lot to learn from him. He was really amazing person. He is missed already. RIP Ramy 🙏
"The greater the task uncertainty, the greater the amount of information that must be procesed among decision makers during task execution in order to achieve a given level of performance" (Glbraith, 1973) - quote is based on Herbert Simons Cognitive Limits Theory from 1957 - I was here in April 15, 2024
Thank you for this phenomenal frameworks You saved me form crashing a long standing relationship with my aunt i was blind sided by what i wanted but I didn't think of what she wanted which was the root cause of the issue we were having.( step 2b)
I 've been struggling with limiting beliefs lately especially not with my abilities per say but time constraint and potential consequences if i don;t get things done. Fortunately i found Dr Ben hardy's channel and now yours . Thank you for this Dr Alan. I can't believe this is free This Is probably the best simple (life changing) question a person can ask himself regularly.
What happens in a scenario where there is low compliance with high performance? This seems to be a state which many companies are in right now. How do you address that? Strictly speaking that too is a constraint to a sustainable system of operation?
Gilbert Ling wrote on the book Life at the cell and below cell level: In the beginning, the separation of science into physics, chemistry, biology etc., was not bad. On the contrary, this simplifying approach made possible major progress in the last two centuries. Still, segregation means fragmentation. Long continued, fragmentation is a dead end. Thus without input from other branches of science, each of the isolated subgroups would sooner or later reach the end of the road. This is not just my private fear; there are already signs of this happening.
I think Eli would say, MRP, ERP, B2B, E-commerce and now AI! Depending on the application, I see huge potential, and on others, necessary but not sufficient.
Dear Dr. Alan Barnard. Thank you for your teaching. 1. Substitute visible complexity for invisible simplicity. How to make tough decisions. E + R = O (Event + Response = Outcome) 2. VUCA (Volatility/ Variability, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). Not easy to predict all probable scenarios accurately. 3. Constraints: Limited attention span, limited trust, limited motivation and energy. 4. VUCA in addition to constraints makes decision-making difficult. 5. Events are either positive or negative. It’s not always under our control. 6. However, our responses to the events, either negative ones or positive ones, are in our control. 7. Is the event really important (to yourself or to the people you care) that deserve your response? To make yourself less overwhelmed, there is no need to response to those things we can do nothing about it or it is not important. 8. On average, a person makes 35,000 decisions every day. Most of them are made as automatic responses or “reactions”. 9. Four types of automatic responses: Flee, Freezing, Fawning, Fight back 10. Many people take “fighting back” as their first or only option. To deal with thousands of decisions, we tend to react in fully automatic mode rather than responding with methodical thinking. 11. The fifth type of response could be to slow down or relax(take a deep breath) and decide how to response. 12. Learn and practice this fifth type of response and make it your natural mechanism when you are facing a critical event. 13. Instill this “mechanism” to deal with big decision-making. 14. Avoid two types of mistakes: 1) react automatically with something we shouldn’t 2) unable to react with those things we should. 15. There are two options you can consider: change something or not to change. 16. People normally stick to only one option but actually there are at least these two options available (change or not to change). However, either option has their unique pros and unique cons that hinder our decision-making. 17. After listing the pros and cons, we may realize that it will become too complicated to evaluate them. Also it is impossible to accurately predict all the scenarios. So we need a systemic method to analyze. 18. Our intuition can easily predict the best case as well as the worst case we are facing and they are what matters the most for us. We can assess “(a)“the best case benefit” and (b)“the best case cost” versus (c)”the worst case benefit” and (d)”the worst case cost”. 19.(Important!) Rule No. 1: Do it if “the worst case benefit is greater than the worst case cost” (i.e. (c) > (d) ). The upside is larger than the downside. Rule No.2: Don’t do it if “the best case benefit is less than the best case cost.”(i.e. (b)>(a) ). Then why bother to do it? It is a no-brainer. 20. Our mind tends to struggle constantly when giving up something good or fighting to get rid of the cost/risk. 21. In order to help us make better choice, we can further improve these two responses by adding another way to reduce the cost or risk of their downsides. By make these changes or improvement, we virtually create new options rather than forcing ourselves to rely on limited option with compromise (giving up the pros) or accept the high cost/risk(live with the cons). In short, the additional changes make the existing options more “viable”. 22. Sometimes we overreact to something unimportant or underreact/procrastinate to take action for the events keep hurting us. (refer to point 14) 23. Positive event + Positive response = Positive result Positive event + Negative response = Negative result or zero(all goodies wiped out.) Negative event + Negative response = Negative result(makes things worse) Negative event + Positive response = Less damage done or Positive result 24. Before making a response, think about the outcome first. 25. Think of any "Yes, buts ...". Convert them into "Yes and..." by providing ways to alleviate or remedy the downside(Cons).
Hello Dr. Alan Barnard. Thank you for your explanation. Since TOC is a great theory, what could be the bottleneck of the spreading of this knowledge like the popular Six Sigma, 5S or Deming's 14 points? My guess is if this theory is introduced widely in the college textbooks, people would consider it as a "legitimate" tool in business. Anyway, I am a fan of TOC and also brought your harmony app.
Love your reasoning about the sales conversation Dr. Barnard. As a sales analyst and consultant, I agree and think you are spot on with fear of uncertainty as major blocker for a client to make a decision to buy, which is really is a subset of a decision to make a change. The one thing that gets overlooked so often, even by seasoned sales people is, when we try to induce change, we forget we are selling to our clients perceptions and intrinsic motivations to change. This is why the old adage of "telling is not selling" holds so true. In my research I found that in discovery conversations, the top 1% of B2B enterprise sales people speak less than 15% of the time, instead asking very intentional, targeted, diagnostic questions about the current business outcomes, the implications of the outcomes and the current process. Then letting the client speak. The bottom 50% of sales people on the flip side, speak more than 40%, sometimes up to 80%, while being far less intentional and diagnostic in their approach. Sales outcomes directly correlate with the accuracy and depth of the current state diagnosis and desired future state definition of the client. This is why I tell my clients 80% of sales success is about systematic diagnosis as to helping the client recognizing the need to change first before introducing any type of offering of product. Selling is actually NOT about the product at all which is so often believed, but inducing people to change for their own benefit knowing that people rarely change UNLESS 🙂they perceive the current state as untenable. Thank you for your amazing work Dr. Barnard! 🙏
No freewill is not a dangerous concept. "We should..." why? I encourage you to consider deeply the implications. Humans have a desire to punish others - but is it helpful? More importantly, is it fair? No and no.
