| name | constraint-drilling |
| description | Identify constraints, classify them by type and severity, assess removability, and design removal paths for removable constraints. |
| execution | tactic |
| dependencies | {"sops":["constraint-classification","constraint-identification-sop","removability-assessment","removal-path"]} |
Constraint Drilling
Systematically discover all constraints blocking a candidate, classify them into actionable categories, assess which can be removed, and design concrete removal paths for those that can.
Stages
-
Constraint Identification — Use TOC current-reality-tree, TRIZ contradiction analysis, and Pre-mortem to surface all constraints. Deploy constraint-identification-sop SOP.
-
Constraint Classification — Sort identified constraints into hard constraints (immovable), soft constraints (workable), and assumptions (unvalidated). Deploy constraint-classification SOP.
-
Removability Assessment — For each non-trivial constraint, score how removable it is given available resources and context. Deploy removability-assessment SOP for each constraint (parallelizable).
-
Removal Path Design — For constraints with removability > 0.3, design concrete steps to remove or mitigate them. Deploy removal-path SOP for each removable constraint.
Available SOPs
| SOP | Stage | Purpose |
|---|
| constraint-identification-sop | 1 | Discover constraints using structured methods |
| constraint-classification | 2 | Categorize constraints by type |
| removability-assessment | 3 | Score removability of each constraint |
| removal-path | 4 | Design removal steps and timeline |
Execution Guidance
- Stage 1 should apply all three methods (TOC, TRIZ, Pre-mortem) for completeness
- Stage 2 requires Stage 1 output
- Stage 3 can run assessments in parallel for each constraint
- Stage 4 only runs for constraints with removability score > 0.3
- If a hard constraint is a true showstopper, flag immediately — do not wait for full tactic completion
Minimum Yield
- Classified constraint list with >= 3 constraints identified
- Removability assessment for each non-trivial constraint
- Removal paths for all constraints scoring removability > 0.3
Available SOPs
Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.
| SOP | When to use |
|---|
| constraint-classification | Classify constraints into hard constraints, soft constraints, and assumptions. |
| constraint-identification-sop | Identify constraints for a candidate using TOC, TRIZ, and Pre-mortem methods. |
| removability-assessment | Assess how removable a constraint is with effort estimate and dependency analysis. |
| removal-path | Design concrete removal steps for a constraint with timeline and resource needs. |