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sequence itself) are all clear. The TRT is useful for planning an important activity, but equally important for monitoring reality during the execution of the plan, so that that we take actions that are needed when they are needed (when the action-appropriate conditions are present), we don’t take actions that aren’t needed, and we know and are able to pinpoint exactly what and why to modify if reality unfolds differently than the way we had planned. If this seems to be similar to the approach a scientist would take when designing and then executing an experiment, then you have caught on quite nicely!

FIGURE 25-32 Bank PRT expanded for injection, “a competitive pay package for workers is in place.”

Never mistake motion for action.

—Ernest Hemingway

The basic structure of a TRT is illustrated in Fig. 25-33.19 The entities in the tree and the structure of the tree are based on the following concepts:

1. There is a need to take an action.

2. The fact that an objective20 is not yet achieved and will not be reached without additional action means that an action is necessary. In other words, action must be taken because there is some obstacle still blocking the way, and human intervention is required to remove it. By articulating the need for each action, we have an opportunity to check before taking action to see that the need still exists. (If the need for the action goes away, there is no need to take the action!)

FIGURE 25-33 Basic structure of a TRT.

3. The conditions are appropriate for taking the action. In his July 2001 article, “Transition Tree—A Review,” Rami Goldratt articulates what makes conditions appropriate for taking the next action.

a. I have the ability to take the next action, and

b. The next action will not lead to serious negative effects.

The sequence of actions is due to the need for the earlier action(s) to cause the appropriate conditions for latter action(s) to be taken.

Let us take a simple example. You are standing at a busy intersection, and the nice restaurant where you are meeting your friend for lunch is across the street. The fact that you are standing on the opposite side of the street from the restaurant means that there is a need for you to take an action, as you must get to the other side of the street. Your first action is to look at the traffic light. The green “OK to cross” signal is illuminated, and traffic has stopped in order to allow pedestrians to cross. The condition is appropriate for you to take your “walk across the street” action, so you confidently do so. On the other hand, if the red “Don’t Cross” signal were flashing, you would know that if you started to walk into the intersection, a car might hit you. In other words, the conditions would have not yet been appropriate, and you would wait a few moments until the light changed in your favor.

The steps to construct a TRT are:

1. Identify the objective and verbalize it as an entity. The objective of a TRT can be an intermediate objective or an injection from a PRT or another objective.

2. Write all of the actions you think should be taken, in the order you expect the actions should be executed, and construct the “spine” of the TRT—the standard protocol is that the first action to take is at the bottom of the tree, and the last is at the top. The final action should be pointing to the objective. (See actions 1, 2, and 3, and the objective in Fig. 25-33.) If you cannot think of any actions, it means that the obstacles are still too big for your intuition to guide you to the actions to take. Go back to the PRT and identify the obstacles and IOs to a lower level—to the point where you have identified an IO that your intuition tells you, “We can do this, and I’ve already got some actions in mind.”

3. For each action, verbalize its associated entity cluster.

a. Verbalize the appropriate conditions for taking the next action. These are the effects of the action (and are thus the entity to which the action is pointing).

i. What negative effects will be caused by the next action, unless