TOC course · Lesson 4 of 6
Elevate only when needed—then look again
Investment is justified when exploitation and subordination still leave the system short of needed capacity.
Elevation changes capability
Exploitation gets more from what exists. Elevation changes the constraint's effective capacity, authority, or structure—usually with cost, risk, or organizational consequence.
| Exploit first | Elevate later |
|---|---|
| Standardize the RFC decision packet. | Add commercial-analysis capacity. |
| Batch a protected approval session. | Delegate approval authority within limits. |
| Remove obsolete work from active WIP. | Automate estimation or data gathering. |
| Route only decision-ready RFCs. | Buy scarce specialist capacity. |
The elevation test
Show residual shortfall
After exploitation and subordination, demand for constraint output still exceeds effective capacity.
Price the lost throughput
Estimate the additional goal output that capacity could unlock—not the local hours it would make busy.
Choose the smallest elevation
Prefer a reversible capability increase before permanent structural cost.
Define the movement signal
Predict where WIP or starvation will appear if the old constraint breaks.
How the IT-Premium constraint might move
If approved work increases but execution age rises and invoiceable completions do not, the constraint likely moved downstream. If invoiceable work rises but cash does not, collection or commercial policy may now limit the broader cash system.
Practice: retrieve the next move
Primary reading
- Goldratt Research Labs: What is TOC? — Steps 4 and 5 and the warning against inertia.
- IT-Premium case — the measured capacity mix, decision-flow constraint, and “if execution then grows as the queue” reassessment rule.