Many resource allocation decisions are made necessary by poorly regulated workflows that saturate resources with work. When a system is saturated with work, every resource becomes a potential constraint on throughput. The saturated condition creates competition for the resource and the variability in the decisions about resource allocation increases the complexity of the system – it becomes more chaotic.
This phenomenon is often called a roving constraint and makes the business much more difficult to manage because the limiting factor on performance is moving faster than management can adapt.
The best way to deal with this problem is not to become more agile.
The best way to deal with the problem is to dissolve it.
Regulate the workflow to prevent saturation conditions, then stabilize and protect the constraint. This restores simplicity to the business.
Management tools like Kanban and Drum-Buffer-Rope are designed to regulate workflows and stabilize the constraint. When supplemented with simple, and ideally visual, rules for prioritization the system works much more smoothly. The constraint is protected and focused on generating value. And the value generated by the system increases as throughput through the governing constraint increases.
Focus on Executability