Steve Holt is a Technical Fellow at Boeing. We started talking about how the Navy Fighter Weapons School, TOPGUN, influenced John Boyd in the 1970s, and we decided to hit record.
TOPGUN and Boyd
Dan Pedersen’s book TOPGUN gives a window into Boyd’s move from closed systems to open systems. Steve and I look at how Boyd’s E-M theory changed aircraft design. We also touch on the Free Energy Principle and agility.
The Goal
The talk turns to the Theory of Constraints and its roots in Eliyahu Goldratt’s business novel, The Goal. A constraint looks like a limit. Steve shows how understanding it can lift a whole system’s performance. Goldratt’s approach asks what is going on in the system and how to make the most of it.
Inherent simplicity
Steve explains inherent simplicity, an idea people often misread. It gives managers a way to handle capacity and constraints in a system that looks complicated.
Flow, constraints and orientation keep meeting in this conversation. A clear picture of the system comes first.
What is the one constraint that sets the pace for your whole organization?
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