My family and I went from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island back in 2018.
Had to load our car and us on a big boat to cross the sea that is separating both islands.
That big boat has limit, of course, as to how many cars it could take on — the surface deck limits it and/or the weight load limit per boat’s specifications.
The loading of cars was first-come-first-served. Makes sense.
What if the president of the U.S.A. were in need to cross using the same big boat due to national emergency?
The objective of the president and the nation out-ranks our objective in that instance.
For that reason, we all yield, high-ranking objective is first served due to the limited load or/and limited deck surface of the big boat.
The sequencing of loading the president’s entourage cars is inconsequential … as long as the objective is met, all is good.
That is the spirit of the relationship between WIP Limit and PI Objectives.
When push comes to shove — meaning: WIP is very limited — highly ranked Committed PI Objectives get the focus… and this calls for decentralized decision-making … it is already ranked by the Business Owner … go ahead, refocus if/when need be.
Remember, WIP is always limited. Therefore, as a principle:
Build the right thing at the right time, architect it for releasability, and build the thing right.
