OPS.17:4.2 - Recover candidate operations from their sources
Read each candidate at the level that could actually be reused. Recover its input, sequence or conditional rules, first useful result, required capability and support, evidence for the claimed effect, and conditions for stopping or changing its use. Retain the source and its relevant version or date when that changes the meaning.
For example, an explicit limit on started work requires a start/end definition and a policy for reaching the limit. A rule protecting a scarce resource requires evidence of the resource’s limiting role for the named demand and horizon. A case method requires conditions under which a practitioner may choose or change the next action. These are different claims even when one tool presents them together.
The following repertoire supplies starting comparisons. Select only the row needed by the operating question.
| Operating question | Candidate move | Evidence and limit that change its use |
|---|---|---|
| Too much work starts while eligible work waits | Define readiness, control work in progress and pull new work when the stated capacity is available, using the Kanban line. | Recover item boundaries, actual waiting and the start policy. A limit must protect the receiving service; its value is not inferred from the number of board cards. |
| A particular resource or dependency limits the result | Protect its useful time and feed it appropriately, using bounded moves from the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and TameFlow. | Establish the current limiting mechanism. Historical average utilization alone can miss starvation or short peak overloads. |
| New information changes an admitted case | Choose or revise the next action under case conditions, using CMMN case planning or declarative condition/response rules. | Recover prerequisites, pending obligations and practitioner discretion. A recurring subprocedure can remain fixed inside the case. |
| A customer-relevant service objective is missed | Relate eligible service events, observed loss and an authorized response through a service-level objective (SLO) and an error-budget policy that connects permitted loss to action. | Check event coverage and response timing. An aggregate can hide a severe short incident or an affected customer group. |
| Repeated production results change or a lot needs disposition | Use statistical monitoring for variation, or an acceptance plan for the particular lot. | The population, sampling basis and decision differ. A monitoring signal does not supply a lot-disposition decision. |
| More output appears financially worthwhile | Compare contribution per scarce resource under a suitable model, and compare actual incremental payments and receipts over the decision horizon. | Recover demand, variable costs, displacement, acceptance and timing. Coupled constraints and indivisible jobs can defeat a simple ranking. |
| Extra service consumes human recovery or attention | Remove avoidable demand, redesign the work pattern or provide qualified coverage before relying on individual coping. | Recover affected groups and supplied protection conditions. Use OPS.12 to choose the intervention. |
A source’s example is evidence for what it demonstrates. Treat a proposed combination as a candidate whose compatibility and fit still need examination. A tool’s changed version is a reason to inspect its effect on the method, rather than sufficient evidence of a new Method variant.