People are focused on global (system-wide) improvements rather than local ones.

The system in this case is the organization. The truly important improvements must affect the entire organization. We shall attack Figure 5-2 from the bottom, by focusing globally rather than locally. It seems like a real miracle — both that it can work, and that people will buy into it.
This is a good time to think about how organizations work together.
Sometimes we view people as carrying out individual tasks in isolation or in small groups, with management assigned the job of scheduling, supervising, and mediating to make sure global objectives are achieved. In reality, organizations are chains of dependent tasks and resources. Nothing exists in isolation. One task must be completed before another can be started; Joe must finish before Paul can start.
Because organizations are chains, they have weakest links. A problem in one area can affect many other areas. One late task can make other tasks, even other projects, late. By the same token, organizations also have nonweakest links. These are links for which an improvement does not help the organization. For example, in a project the Critical Path (or the more refined “Critical Chain” discussed in Part II) can be considered a kind of weakest link. Since it is the longest path through a project network (in terms of time), an improvement on the Critical Path implies earlier completion of the project. Globally speaking, we can also say an improvement off the Critical Path is irrelevant to completing the project earlier. In Part III we’ll see ideas for addressing miracle 2, including the meaning of focusing globally and more dangers of focusing locally.
So far we’ve dealt somewhat abstractly with changes in people’s behavior.
We have asserted that workers don’t have to stay busy, that the cutting of task estimates during the bidding process can be eliminated, in short that people will accept our impossible new ideas. Is this realistic?
Most people spend years fighting the same fires with the same hoses and axes. Accusing them of arson will not cheer them on. It’s very well for Cassius to talk about the fault being in ourselves; he didn’t believe it for a minute.
14 We need another miracle: