I feel like I've become a bottleneck, so I might as well be a good one.

So what do we know about bottlenecks?

Well, we know that every system has them, and that they don't disappear, they just move somewhere else. In other words, bottlenecks simply exist. They'll emerge whether you acknowledge them or not.

Luckly, bottlenecks aren't something new. There's literature we can use to understand and learn about it.

In "The Goal", Goldratt points out that in any system, the bottleneck doesn't just limit the throughput, it sets it. The bottleneck's behavior has leverage that nothing else in the system has. Being a good bottleneck is about learning how to use such leverage responsibly.

We can also learn by taking a look at other industries into roles that are also bottlenecks.

A chef doesn't chop every onion, a surgeon doesn't sterilize instruments, and a judge doesn't draft its own briefs. They all rely on systems that deliberately stripped their role down to the part only they can do, which is the judgement work.

Being a bottleneck is not the same as being a gatekeeper, though. A gatekeeper centralizes, while a good bottleneck shares its reasoning so that other people can grow into the same level of judgement. That's what keeps the system healthy over time.

It's less about doing, and more about choosing. And choosing well is its own skill requiring patience, practice, and intention.