Theory of Constraints
Any serial process will be slowed by its weakest link. There are constraints on that process, and the tightest constraint will dictate the flow through the entire process.
Aphorisms
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”
Examples
I was booking a flight to Sydney. I spent an hour trying to figure out the best combination of flights only to realize that it didn’t matter, because each airline only flew one flight from Los Angeles to Sydney every day, so nothing else really mattered. I could only identify that flight and work backwards.
The book The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement is business fiction about how the theory of constraints works in manufacturing and business.