Jonah Program® - Systems Thinking

The Jonah Program® is our comprehensive offering that integrates various stand-alone programs into a cohesive and in-depth learning experience. This program includes Constraint-Based Decision Making, TOC for Workflow Management, TOC for Workflow Management – Overview, TOC for Managing Projects, TOC for Managing Production, TOC for Managing Supply Chains, TOC Situation Assessment & Analysis (SA2), and more.

10 days (50 hours)

An original education offering of AGI – Goldratt Institute, the Jonah Program® has evolved significantly over the last 30+ years.  The evolution has been based on new understandings and application-based learnings, with the objective of making it a process that individuals and leadership teams could more easily learn and use to achieve their goals.

We consider our most recent upgrade to the Jonah Program® to be a real breakthrough in this effort. Going back to our roots, we asked why people want to attend the Jonah Program®. Most said they would like to be able to think like Jonah – the character in The Goal who was able to help Alex develop “common-sense” solutions to address his problems. To think in that manner would help most every individual and leadership team to ask better questions and develop better, more actionable answers.

In The Goal, Jonah REALLY understood his subject matter. He knew the underlying principles that drive results in a production environment. He understood how dependency and variation interact to create the typical – probably too typical – outcomes. He knew how to explain this in ways that made it look like “common sense,” and he was able to use that understanding to lead a management team by asking the right questions.

With what he understood about the Rules of Engagement, Jonah could not only expose how the current Rules used by Alex’s management team were producing their performance problems, but what the new Rules would be to achieve their performance objectives. This enabled him to lead them through the transition from current-state to future-state.

This is exactly where the AGI’s Jonah Program® begins. Participants will understand the Rules of Engagement in Workflow Management, for Project-based, Production-based, and Supply Chain-based workflows. This understanding will then be used in combination with the two key constructs of logical thinking – causality and necessity – to derive the connections between business function actions and business performance outcomes, thereby creating the ability to think and communicate like Jonah. The result will be a formidable advantage for any individual, leadership team, or organization.

With more than 35 years of education and evolutionary experience, AGI – Goldratt Institute is proud to make available the most advanced Jonah Program® since the character first appeared in The Goal.

Part 1: TOC for Workflow Management (5 days - 25 hours)
Understanding how and why business systems achieve their performance outcomes 

The first five days examine the decision-making and resulting performance outcomes for Project-based, Production-based, and Supply Chain-based workflows. The solutions are derived using simulations, hands-on exercises and cause-and-effect logic.

Topics include:

  • Using “Strategic Constraints” to provide Focus and Synchronization in workflow planning, scheduling, and control

  • Impact of Dependency, Variability, and their Interaction

  • Developing Project Plans for Workflow Control including well-defined Objectives, Deliverables and Success Criteria, Appropriate Level of Task Detail, Clear Task Completion Criteria, Finish to Start Task Dependencies and Task Time Estimates with Variability Defined

  • Developing Schedules using Critical Chain Scheduling (CCS) and Portfolio Synchronization (CCPM) for Projects, and Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) for Production and Supply Chain

  • Using Time Buffer Management for Completion Status and Work Assignment Priorities

  • Assessing the impact of changes and variability on limited resources

  • Using properly located and sized inventory buffers to significantly reduce Supply Chain lead times

  • Setting Inventory Levels using Point-of-Sale (POS) or Point-of-Use (POU) Demand and Times to Reliable Replenish (TRR)

  • Using Time-Based Demand Patterns to Set Inventory levels and Evaluate Out-of-Stock Risks in relationship to Reliable Replenishment Times

Part 2: TOC for System Analysis, Innovation*, and Implementation (5 days - 25 hours)
Understanding how to analyze and change business system performance outcomes

Changing what we do, and the underlying reasons why we do it to achieve sustained performance improvement:

  • Using “Strategic Constraints” to provide Focus and Synchronization across all functions and levels of an organization

  • Connecting and aligning decisions and actions to desired performance outcomes

  • Developing Action Maps and Plans to transform from Current to Future Operational Strategy

*Innovation – the development and application of ideas that improve the way things are done or what can be achieved, with the aim of improving efficiency, effectiveness, or competitive advantage

 The key to achieving an Organization’s Goal(s) lies in the ability to:

  • Define the Operational Understanding that aligns the Operational Strategy with the Business Strategy

  • Causally connect Actions to Outcomes

  • Determine the sustaining Performance Measures and enabling Decision Support requirements

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The two key constructs of clear, logical thinking – causality and necessity – will be applied in a MUSAO format that provides a common process and framework for analyzing the current-state and defining a desired future-state. Mapping out current-state MUSAO provides the framework that guides the process of defining future-state MUSAO. With both current- and future-state MUSAO defined, the development of an implementation plan becomes a straightforward process. It begins with a mapping of the dependencies between the types of Actions that need to be taken to achieve the desired Outcomes. This Action Map, with its corresponding MUS added, defines the necessary changes in Operational Understanding, Performance Measures, Decision Support, and Actions to enable and sustain the changes in performance Outcomes – the transformation.

Topics Include:

  • Working from Business Strategy, through Operational Strategy and its related Operational Understanding, to define Performance Measures, Decision Support, and the Types of Business Function Actions that produce both desired and undesired Performance Outcomes

  • Utilizing the logical thinking processes of causality and necessity and MUSAO framework to juxtapose current practices with TOC Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR), TOC Critical Chain Portfolio Management (CCPM), and TOC Inventory Replenishment practices in the context of achieving business Goal(s)

  • Identifying the changes in Performance Measures, Operational Understanding, and Decision Support that are required to align and enable the necessary Actions to ensure predictable delivery of the desired Outcomes as defined by the Business Strategy and the Organization’s Goal

  • Creating implementation plans to effectively identify and map the required implementation actions to transition part or all of an organization from current-state MUSOA to future-state MUSAO

  • More effectively communicating why and how specific types of Actions, based on a well-defined Operational Understanding, are causally connected to the Outcomes they are intended to deliver – thus making a vision real

  • Better defining Decision Support (IS) requirements that enable and support specific types of Actions, based on a defined Operational Understanding, causally connected to intended Performance Outcomes (Throughput [T], Investment/Inventory [I}, Operating Expense [OE] )

  • Participants begin mapping out the current-state MUSAO and future-state MUSAO for their Area of Responsibility Workflow Performance Problems or Objectives

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Who Should Attend
The Jonah Program® is designed for individuals, leadership teams or organizations who want to develop and apply ideas that improve the way things are done or what can be achieved, with the aim of improving efficiency, effectiveness, or competitive advantage.

  • Senior-level leaders who want to have an efficient, effective, and competitively positioned workflow management system, whether project-based, production-based or supply chain-based workflows

  • Senior-level leaders who are inspired to innovate

  • Senior-level leaders at growth companies who are challenged to scale

  • Seasoned and influential executives who will use this opportunity to make an even greater difference in their careers and their organizations’ future

Format
The class is presented online in a live, virtual Zoom classroom, with supplemental prerecorded modules. To accommodate our global customers, programs are available in three time zones: EST/EDT (North America), CET/CEST (Europe), and SGT (Asia Pacific).

Required Reading
Hanging Fire: Achieving Predictable Results in an Uncertain World by Jeff Cox, Dale Houle, & Hugh Cole
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt & Jeff Cox
It is also recommended that you read Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Additional Requirements
Attendees must have a computer on which they have admin rights and can download and install AGI’s Java-based simulator apps (Mac & Windows compatible), PDF program material, and Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (free - for viewing and marking up material). Bandwidth which meets or exceeds minimum Zoom recommendations for audio and high-quality video (600kbps down) or HD video (1.2Mbps down) is optimal.

Price
US$4,000 per seat - live online (Zoom)
US$5,000 per seat - in-person (Hosted)

Schedule - Live Online (Zoom)
November 6-10 & 13-17

Program Structure — 10 days/50 hours (plus prerequisites program work and required reading), as follows:

Part 1 — via a live, virtual Zoom classroom
Monday through Friday – 10am to 4:30pm EDT/EST / 0900 to 1530 CET/CEST & SGT

Part 2 — via a live, virtual Zoom classroom
Monday through Friday – 10am to 4:30pm EDT/EST / 0900 to 1530 CET/CEST & SGT
Short breaks and lunch are built in to each day.

Contact us at agi@goldratt.com for more information.

 

Cancellation & Rescheduling Policy

AGI understands that occasionally circumstances require a change in schedule that results in a registrant not being able to attend a program as planned.

If you wish to CANCEL your registration and receive a full refund, you must submit your request via email to agi@goldratt.com at least 30 days prior to the program start date. If you submit your request 15 to 29 days before the program start date, you will receive a refund equal to 50% of the full program fee. If you submit your request within 14 days of the program start date, you are not eligible to receive a refund.

If you wish to RESCHEDULE your registration to a LATER date at no charge, you must submit your request via email to agi@goldratt.com at least 30 days prior to the program start date. If you submit your request 15 to 29 days before the start of the program, you will be charged a change fee of 10% of the full program fee. If you submit your request within 14 days of the program start date, you will be charged a change fee of 25% of the full program fee.

For those who have rescheduled to a later date, and then wish to cancel, no refund will be given.

You may RESCHEDULE your registration to an EARLIER date at any time if space is available. There is no fee for this change.

You may REPLACE yourself with another attendee at any time at no charge.