Eli passed away on June 11, 2011. He was a unique person. A genius, an inspiration and a teacher. Every meeting with him was packed with meaning. All of us who met him experienced the magnetism of his person. The people who stayed on to pursue TOC live with the impact of his ideas every day of our lives. We are different people for having met him and interacted with him. I share a few of my memories. I invite others to do the same in the comments or in separate articles.
First Meeting
I visit Eli to capture requirements for the Project Management Simulator. I am not quite sure what to expect. I have never met him, but he comes with a fearsome reputation. Eli asks me about my background. We talk about my interest in Mathematics. The struggles in thinking clearly is a common interest. I talk about the ideas of necessary and sufficient conditions in mathematics; the confusion that exists between these in the thinking of people. He talks about the latest knowledge being developed in TOC. He is excited about the three cloud approach. He explains with the picture of connected dots the meaning of “simple” in physics. He talks about the multi-project solution. He is still mulling over the need for a capacity buffer on the Drum in a project context. We start to discuss the simulators – he explains things starting with the idea of variability and dependency. I pause – it is not clear to me what these mean. He draws the toy examples of activity dependencies and resource dependencies. I use these till today to start my explanations about how to manage with uncertainty and the challenges it creates. My education in TOC begins.
He asks me about people I admire. I mention Mahatma Gandhi. He brings up the dilemma of means and ends. He has not made up his mind yet. Do ends justify the means?
He sets me thinking.
TOCICO – Miami
Eli is giving his update. He talks about the chaotic nature of most organizations. He describes the butterfly effect. The ineffectiveness of any approach that is focused solely on reducing variability. I am encouraged by the topic to ask a question that has been on my mind – There are organizations for which uncertainty is positive – it is positive value they bring. How can we improve processes in these organizations if reducing variability is at the core of process improvement. I think he likes the question. He asks me to keep thinking about it. I do. This is now my life’s work. Thinking about uncertainty – both as a source of waste but also as a source of great value and freedom.
Eli’s house Israel
I am visiting Israel often for the implementation of CCPM at Amdocs. I visit Eli at his house. We talk about the struggles in implementing CCPM. The challenge of maintaining quality. I ask a question – How can we control the outcome of the implementation? It seems like we have to manage people very closely to achieve the results. He reacts strongly to the word “control”. He asks me “where did that word enter in your thinking?”. I realize I am going down a wrong path. It shifts my focus in thinking about managing results. We should focus on the inputs. It is a trap to try and control outcomes. It leads to amplification of noise. This is an important insight for me.
Last visit
He is very sick but takes the time to meet with us. He is talking about the green curve and the red curve. He talks about the amazing results from just cutting multi-tasking. The impact that multi-tasking has on human ability to focus. He is thinking more deeply about the impact of the current paradigm on people. This is a shift in emphasis for me. I have been very focused on understanding TOC as a science of flow. It creates cognitive dissonance for me as I try and reconcile these ideas. The power of TOC goes beyond the mechanics of flow. This is a direction I am still exploring.
Each visit was brief. Every interaction planted seeds of new ideas. Truly a remarkable genius. I am very fortunate to have met him. I count my blessings. His mark on me is indelible.
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