RIP Eliyahu M. Goldratt

I found the portions of the book dealing with the relationship between the husband and wife to be a little trite, but I can see how it might appeal to some to break up the monotony of teaching theory of constraints (TOC), even if the TOC parts are still presented using a fictional narrative.

The book is a quick, interesting, and informative enough read to make it a must-read for anything interested in business books. For most people, I'm sure they'd rather read this than dig into more research and academic-based papers on TOC.

I haven't read any of his other books but will likely look into them in the near future.

He was a great man that has had a profound impact on many, and most certainly on my life. I only regret now that I never reached out to him to express my gratitude.

I too am unusually affected by the news.

As a grad student, he developed software to manage the production of certain key components needed for his research. He then ended up starting a successful software company selling those tools into manufacturing companies.

He wrote "The Goal" as a sales tool to help his customers adopt the software and practices.

The heartbreaking part is that he found the companies that purchased his book were more successful than companies that purchased his software or companies that purchased both.

Once realizing that, he immediately ceased to be an effective salesman for his company and was pushed out as CEO.

Also, the cover just reeks of business-book BS (http://www.amazon.com/*/dp/0884270610)

When I finished the book, my boss asked me what I thought. I told him I didn't like it, and he laughed and told me it was awful. I shut my mouth instead of asking me why he recommended the book in the first place.

That was my first introduction to management BS.

For OR, and manufacturing in general, and when the book was written in the early 1990s when these ideas were newer and we didn't have the Internet for disseminating information, The Goal and TOC were probably more valuable to the contemporary audience.

I ask as I've seen The Goal and some other books of his on a colleague's desk. Have to admit that on the surface it does look like exactly the kind of "management self-help" book that I'd naturally be a bit skeptical of, but it sounds like this guy is somewhat respected amongst the technology crowd so I'd be interested to find out a bit more. Without necessarily going as far as reading a novel about operational management of a factory :)

I'm not involved in manufacturing, but I enjoyed The Goal considerably and thought that some of the ideas (at least in a very general sense) contained in it could be applicable in many fields... perhaps even software development. I'll be looking forward to reading some of his other titles.

Anyway, R.I.P. Mr. Goldratt.

A moment I should notice: I'd underestimated the value of Goldratt (or B-school's professor hadn't hammered it home) and now he's gone. Fortunately, his books are still available.

I believe Goldratt's goal with his first book “The Goal” was to introduce the Theory of Constraints in an engaging way through a fictional novel (much easier to read than a textbook). The intent of the novel is to prove that management is a science, not an art. A systematic, logical approach to identifying root causes (a.k.a bottlenecks) that impact the system's throughput (a.k.a. the goal) is introduced and explained in multiple scenarios. He shows that it is used in a variety of ways, including the production line, accounting, and sales and marketing. Profound results are proven step by step, but many make the mistake of thinking this is a book of recipes, when it is more a book of proofs.

Goldratt received much criticism for “The Goal”, most of which argued that the TOC was not generally applicable. Many people saw the first book as a set of recipes or plans, and discarded his theory because they could not take the situations from “The Goal” and overlay them or apply the solutions directly to their problem domain. That was never Goldratt’s intent. I believe that is when he wrote “It’s Not Luck” as a response.

In “It’s Not Luck”, he exercises the TOC in many more disciplines as well as introduces more tools to apply TOC. “It’s Not Luck” is a great companion because you get a bit more practice, though anyone anxious to apply the TOC and using the related tools will likely want to buy some of the textbooks to get quick guidance about using the tools i.e. building Current Reality Trees.

Some interesting memorable phrases/concepts/tools/what have you: - Correlation is not Causation - Common Practice does not mean Common Sense - Cost accounting has profoundly negative consequences on any system (through induced behaviors, measures, rules and policies) - Introduction of Throughput Accounting (perhaps the easiest way to explain/exercise TOC in an organization without TOC experts) - Disproving supply and demand as we know it (“It’s Not Luck”) - Current Reality Tree (tool to identify root cause) - Lose-Lose situation is impossible (evaporating clouds).

“every situation, no matter how complex it initially looks, is exceedingly simple”

I have found this to be true every time I have examined a problem domain. I have never found more than one root cause in any current reality tree. Those who don’t take the time to understand the Theory of Constraints or the tools surrounding would never believe such a statement. Goldratt never asks for you to accept any concept or theory at face value, he proves it.

Goldratt has given us the process and tools to achieve profound results. For that, we are grateful.

(I'm sorry for the formatting)