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Thinking in Bottlenecks

The Engineering Mindset for Solving Anything Faster

What if your biggest obstacle isn't effort, but flow?

Thinking in Bottlenecks reveals how the hidden constraints around you—and inside you—are the true culprits behind slow results, wasted effort, and stalled progress. Inspired by the legendary Theory of Constraints, this book blends systems engineering, Lean thinking, and real-world experience into a practical mindset for solving anything faster

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About the Book

Thinking in Bottlenecks: The Engineering Mindset for Solving Anything Faster – A Systems Engineering Approach to Speed, Flow, and Breakthrough Solutions in Work and Life is your essential guide to unlocking performance through smarter systems thinking.

What if your biggest obstacle isn't effort, but flow?

In Thinking in Bottlenecks, engineer and productivity strategist Mohammed Hamed Ahmed Soliman reveals how the hidden constraints around you—and inside you—are the true culprits behind slow results, wasted effort, and stalled progress.

Inspired by the legendary Theory of Constraints, this book blends systems engineering, Lean thinking, and real-world experience into a practical mindset for solving anything faster.

You'll discover:

✅ How to identify the bottleneck that limits your output—whether it's physical, digital, mental, or emotional
✅ Why working harder often backfires, and how to work smarter through flow
✅ A powerful 5-step method to break bottlenecks anywhere: in teams, startups, hospitals, careers—even personal life
✅ The science behind queueing theory, throughput accounting, and constraint-based thinking
✅ Tools to overcome hidden blocks: bureaucracy, cognitive overload, cultural resistance, and more
✅ Why flow—not productivity—is the real goal

From engineers to educators, startup founders to overwhelmed parents, Thinking in Bottlenecks offers a fresh way to see your world: not as a pile of problems, but as a system waiting to be unblocked.

🔧 For readers of The GoalAtomic Habits, and Deep Work who want a more engineering-driven path to progress.

"Clear, sharp, and systemically brilliant... this is not just a productivity book. It's an engineering lens for living smarter."

💡 Ready to stop pushing harder and start flowing faster?

Unlock your bottlenecks—and breakthrough.

Author

About the Author

Mohammed Hamed Ahmed Soliman

Internationally Recognized Lean Expert Dr. MHA Soliman is a Lecturer in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems at the American University in Cairo, an Executive Advisor and a member of the Advisory Committee of the IEOM International Society. He brings decades of academic and consulting experience and is recognized as a leading expert in organizational performance, institutional transformation for total quality systems, and the quality of public services.

He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and works as an executive consultant, author, and researcher specializing in management, continuous improvement, and service development.

Founder of Personal Lean Publications (personal-lean.org) and author of multiple engineering and operations management books published since 2013.

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