Resource Constraints

Origin. Theory of constraints; the 'creativity loves constraint' literature (Stokes).

Mechanism. Artificially removes a resource that the current design depends on. Removing an abundant resource makes visible how much of the design exists only to consume it.

Procedure. Solve at one-tenth the budget, one-tenth the time, one-tenth the staff, or with a critical component prohibited. Do not solve for the constrained case as a compromise; solve for it as a specification.

Applies to. Fat-trimming; identifying which parts of a design are load carriers and which are consequences of slack.

Limitations. Some constraints are real and cannot be removed by ingenuity. A constraint exercise applied to a hard physical bound produces demoralization rather than design.