LivingTV had started out small with wild ideas and big dreams. They built a prototype out of blood and sweat, pouring in hours of overtime to steadily growing the company’s technology. Then a few years later came the big push to expand. Go public—launch a new technology and make everyone millionaires. As part of this big expansion they leased out a building four times their current size. They pushed to build up reserves of venture capital and major investment money. They grew from 40 to 150 employees. But, they could not develop the market fast enough. They could not get the new technology out soon enough. They were unable to grow the revenues as quickly as they had expanded the company and counter the resulting growth in expenses. Dreams are good but expanding quickly past your capabilities can turn out to be very, very fatal.

The company was gone; left to a handful of patents for its investors and lawyers to fight over. Tim started to promote the Theory of Constraints (TOC ) at LivingTV. But too little, too late. Now, like 149 others, Tim too had to figure out what was next. Do some engineering work? Maybe consulting? Probably best to ponder his next steps over a cup of coffee at his favorite coffee shop.

“TIM!!! Hey Tim!!” Tim looks around and tries to shake the cobwebs out of his head. Someone is yelling across what used to be a quiet coffee shop disturbing Tim and multiple patrons in the process. It is Randal, an old college buddy Tim has not seen in years. He has aged a bit, is dressed to the hilt in a fancy suit, and is quickly advancing toward Tim’s table.

“TIM!! What are you up to buddy?” Randal says, full of zeal and vigor.

“Not too much at the moment Randal; just contemplating my options,” Tim responds somewhat lethargically.

“Options! So how soon is your company going public? Will you be able to cash them out pretty soon or are you in the lock-out period?”

“Well,” Tim says, wanting to get this over with, “my options started out at $12 per share.”

“Not too bad; so what are they worth now? Have they grown in value?”

“Well, the company just folded a few hours ago,” Tim responds, “so I’m figuring they’re worthless now. But I could possibly use them for wallpaper,” he says, half joking. “What I was really contemplating were my job options.”

“Oh Tim! I am very sorry to hear that. No worries, though. You’re good. I’m sure you will figure out something in no time.”

“So how about you, Randal?” says Tim, anxious to change the topic.

“I worked at a few companies here and there, building up my marketing skills over the last few years since we last saw each other. Right now I’m very excited about finishing up my executive marketing MBA. I’m hoping it will give me a chance to move up the corporate ladder a bit. As part of the MBA graduation requirement, I have an internship at a software start-up.

“What is the new software start-up like?” The software part catches Tim’s interest.

“The software company has been around for a few years and they are getting ready to launch their latest line of products. The company has made it through several rounds of funding. We just need to get some of our new products out to a few key customers and we’re good to go. I even get some of the pre-IPO stock as part of my internship contract. How about you, Tim? Last we talked, you were looking into project management consulting.”

“Correct. I learned about the Critical Chain project management solution and I was trying to use it to help LivingTV deliver its projects more quickly and reliably.”

“Interesting,” Randal says, thinking about some of the issues he heard during his internship, “I might want to hear a bit more about that.”

“I was also able to learn a great set of TOC tools.”

“TOC as in Table of Contents?” Randal says, staring strangely at Tim.

“No, no. TOC as in Theory of Constraints. It is a great set of general problem-solving tools that you can use to look at the organization as a whole, identify areas to focus on, and drive overall improvements.”

“That part sounds a bit involved,” Randal says, his eyes glazing over.

“It can be an important step. The TOC analysis can help ensure the Critical Chain implementation’s success. In fact, the TOC analysis can help focus teams on any improvement effort from Critical Chain, Scrum, Agile, new technology deployments, and so on.”

Randal looks a bit unconvinced. Then, looking down at his watch, he says, “Crap, late again. Tim I have to head off to an exec strategy meeting. Maybe we can meet here Monday and you can tell me a bit more about Critical Chain and meeting deadlines? Same time? I’ll call you just before to confirm.”

“Ahh…sure,” Tim says hesitantly. “My schedule seems to be pretty open.”