The resource that acts as the governing constraint (a physical or logical bottleneck) for a system limits the system’s ability to produce whatever it produces. The system cannot produce more than the governing constraint.
Intuitively we don’t like governing constraints. Our normal reaction is to break them; to find some way to remove limitations.
However, making a strategic choice about where to place governing constraints is enormously helpful. You capture the benefits of complexity without incurring the messiness of complexity. You get more signal and less noise.
And when you subordinate all the other resources to the governing constraint, the constraint becomes a single focal point for managing the system’s performance. You can use the constraint as a leverage point for the whole system.
Instead of trying to optimize resource allocation for every resource, focus on optimizing the constraint and all the other resources are automatically synchronized for global optimization.
Stop Generating Unproductive Complexity