The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox
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Book Reviews of The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Book Review: A must read
Summary: 5 Stars
On the advice of a consultant that is assessing my management team and helping us to identify factors that inhibit our progression and areas to exploit, I read The Goal and gave copies to each of my managers. I purchased the audio for me and it was an easy listen to and from work. Although my company is known for its efficient and profitable operations, I have learned a tremendous amount of possibilities for improvement including the chief "bottleneck" for the past several years. Although I had identified there was a problem, I had laid the blame on the manager. I now think differently and am putting ideas in place to eliminate this bottleneck to improve our quality, both internally and externally,to be even more efficient and have a higher morale in the department experiencing the bottleneck.
I recommend this to business owners, CEO's, operation managers or anyone involved in manufacturing or plant processing. I look forward to continuing the discussion of the Goal with my management team and working through the factors that are preventing us from being the best we can be.
Book Review: Beware!! It can catch you like cold
Summary: 5 Stars
I dont see a need to repeat what this book is about. They are already available in most of the reviews here. Instead, let me warn about what could happen to you after reading this book.
Its no wonder that this business novel from Eli Goldtratt is so popular among today's managers/MBAs. The secret of its popularity is that every reader can immediately empathize/relate with Alex Rogo (the protagonist), his situation at the outset of the novel and his success at the end. It sets you thinking and drawing parallels from your own organization/team; what are its constraints and how you could go about applying the five step process of TOC to solve your problems.
The optimism of this book is so contagious that it can catch you like cold, make you restless and make you want to solve all the problems in your organization/team overnight, as if the magic key that opens the door to utopia has been handed over to you.
Whether the door opens onto utopia OR to a (looping) passage that brings you back to where you were, is for you to discover!!
Book Review: 3rd edition - keeps getting better
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been a devotee of The Goal for many years. Having read that "photocopies of his manuscript became an underground classic among CEOs" really drew me to the first reading. The book reads like a detective novel - can't put it down. Having recommended it highly for many years, I was surprised when my son, a university senior, mentioned that the Theory of Constraints was being discussed in his Business Operations class and he was one of only two students who were familiar with Golldratt and The Goal. He said all those years of listening to me rant paid off! This was a copy for him as a Christmas present. He read it over the break and loved it. I had an opportunity to read some of the case studies in the back of this new edition. I'll be soon ordering more copies, for myself and also for 2 or 3 business owners/executives I know who are in industries discussed in those case studies.
In my opinion, should be required reading in high school or, certainly, university. Any business owner can find great value in this book.
Book Review: Classic story of Lean, Love and Happiness
Summary: 5 Stars
An old boss of mine at Amazon.com gave me a signed copy of this book to read about lean processing. Obviously, this book is a classic. What people fail to mention in their journey with the main character on lean manufacturing in desperate times, is the love story that unfolds in between the pressure of capitalism in a small town. While not a book to actually get specific action items, it does lay out a rather nice overview on concepts to look into for improvements at one's workplace. The story is nicely laid out in a narrative format in which our main character is "learned" through a zen like mentor, who dribbles out nuggets of information for him to sort through and implement at his factory. While this spreads the information out, with no real concentration of ideas for quick reference, it does build for suspenseful reading. If that is enough, you will also find out soon enough if the main character can save his factory, while keeping his marriage intact? The stress can be overwhelming at points, but a good enough read.Book Review: A manufacturing based novel that changed my view of software!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm always searching for ideas that discuss how people solve common problems. This book, while perhaps targeting manufacturing spaces, has application in life - software inclusive.
Written in the form of a novel .. I couldn't put the book down. There were examples within examples .. parallel concurrent story lines .. golden key points that were first implied, then stated, then listed with supported logic.
I'll have to read it multiple more times for a) a refresher, and b) to pick up and apply things I overlooked the previous time(s).
Flow, constraints, waste, cost structures, team utilization, work prioritization, etc. I easily find parallels between this material and Agile software development ideology. Cross-pollenization between industries and ideas. Software heads should have to read this book and translate the fundamentals across to the software solution delivery streams. While they don't match up 1:1 .. they share commonalities brought to light by this book.