Bottleneck

Ask whether this entity sets the ceiling on how much work the whole system can push through. Not whether it is busy or important, but whether everything else waits on it, so speeding it up speeds up everything.

Ask whether this entity sets the ceiling on how much work the whole system can push through. Not whether it is busy or important, but whether everything else waits on it, so speeding it up speeds up everything.

Example

The project coordinator is your department's bottleneck: every approval routes through her inbox. Nine days of vacation stalled three projects, which is the tell. Adding two more analysts changes nothing until her queue is split or a second person can clear it.