The Goal Just 9" (20cm) https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0...

The Goal 2 https://www.amazon.sg/Goal-2-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/818598410...

People name "The Goal 3" https://www.amazon.com/Necessary-But-Sufficient-Eliyahu-Gold...

"The Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization (TOCICO) is an independent not-for-profit incorporated society that sets exams to ensure a consistent standard of competence"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints#Certific...

Also exist lot of business organizations (official), who provide support on implementing TOC best practices, and sure, non-formal fan-clubs and lists of books and lists of other support files (learning software, accounting software).

This is a great companion to "The Goal" and "The Phoenix Project," both of which use fictional narratives to illustrate best engineering practices in the context of saving a (fictional) business.

https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0...

https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-Busine...

This is widely believed but I think in most cases not true. Goldratt’s ‘The Goal’ https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement-eboo... illustrates how this works in a factory setting, but you can apply the principles to most work processes.

https://www.amazon.com/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0...

Learn by watching and reading materials released by great system thinkers.

Ludwig von Bertalanffy

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?text=Ludw...

John Seddon

https://youtu.be/hbNsQFd8DQw

https://youtu.be/kjKG011gsJ4

https://youtu.be/FbmuqYRi8z4

Theory of Constraints

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LHRM2O The Goal / Eli Goldratt

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KYW1L66 Necessary but Not Sufficient / Eli Goldratt

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0884271137 It's Not Luck / Eli Goldratt

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408ALES Isn't it Obvious? / Eli Goldratt

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LHRM2E Critical Chain / Eli Goldratt

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004THZ9VK Be Fast or Be Gone / Andreas Scherer

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1499660901 Hanging Fire / Jeff Cox

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439158932 Velocity / Dee Jacob

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XKX1FEO Epiphanized / Bob Sproull & Bruce Nelson

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0185JFYEO Focus and Leverage / Bob Sproull & Bruce Nelson

A full list of books on ToC here http://www.tocico.org/?page=toc_books

Russell L. Ackoff

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?search-alia...

Gerald M. Weinberg

https://www.amazon.com/Gerald-M.-Weinberg/e/B00459FFAC/

Philip B. Crosby

https://www.amazon.com/Philip-B.-Crosby/e/B001HD360A

Peter M. Senge

https://www.amazon.com/Peter-M.-Senge/e/B000AQ8R86/

And many more, most of which are mentioned by the above in their work.

>As for SOA, one thing Factorio taught me was the value of back pressure. Why spend resources producing materials which aren't being consumed? Conveyer belts and movers show the value of backpressure nicely - when the belt is full, movers stop placing items on the belt. The factories stop producing, and thus stop consuming intermediate materials... all the way back to your miners. But the moment that belt starts to clear up, the entire mechanism swings back into work, with enough queued materials to ensure that you are not suddenly starved.

This bit of your comment reminded me of The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement[1] by Eliyahu Goldratt. It's a great fictional story/book that does an excellent job of teaching about bottlenecks and the Theory of Constraints. Specifically how to identify them and eliminate them.

[1] http://amzn.to/2miLjsH

This isn't really a new idea.

For anyone interested in 'systems thinking' and associated optimisations, check out the 'Implementing Lean' book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Implementing-Lean-Software-Developme...

Or The Goal for something slightly different:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement...

I have to say, there's way more wisdom in the more mature 'lean' world than there is in the trendier 'agile'.