Theory of Constraints (TOC) is an overall management philosophy that aims to continually achieve more of the goal of a system. If that system is a for-profit business, then the goal is to make more money, both now and in future. TOC consists of two primary collections of work: 1) The five focusing steps and their application to operations; 2) The Thinking Processes and their application to project management and human behavior.
According to TOC, every organization has - at any given point in time - one key constraint which limits the system's performance relative to its These constraints can be broadly classified as either an internal constraint or a market constraint. In order to manage the performance of the system, the constraint must be identified and managed correctly (according to the Five Focusing Steps below). Over time the constraint may change (e.g., because the previous constraint was managed successfully, or because of a changing environment) and the analysis starts anew.