Flip the Coins
Five people flip every coin once. Pass ten nickels on as a batch, then one at a time, then release fifty coins worth very different amounts. Busy people, late projects, and the release decision that changes everything.
What you’ll learn
- Local efficiency is not system efficiency. Everyone can be nearly 100% busy while every project is late.
- Transfer batches set the lead time. Pass work on as soon as it is ready and every project finishes sooner, with the same people.
- Release order is a management decision. When projects differ in value, what you release first matters more than how fast anyone works.
Based on the Nickel Game and Dollar Game of James R. Holt (Washington State University), used with credit.
Learn the ideas behind it
These free lessons use this game. Read the idea, then come back and play.
- Expensive constraints and batching machines · TOC in Operations – Advanced, lesson 11
- The economics of time · TOC in Project Management – Advanced, lesson 1
- The conflict behind the measurement · Operations, as Taught by Eli Goldratt, lesson 3
- Only actions change reality · Operations, as Taught by Eli Goldratt, lesson 8