posted 26 July 2001 11:30 AM               

It got me thinking about problem solving and the world of thought process.

There was another one, and I can't remember the name, but the moral of the story was to get rid of bottle-necks which were called Herbies.

Can anyone refresh my memory as to the authors and titles!

The last name Fox still sticks in my mind as the author of one of the two.

posted 26 July 2001 12:28 PM            

James

posted 26 July 2001 01:20 PM               

"The Goal" was written by Eli Goldratt. I don't recall a "Herbie" in that either, just a Jonas.

In my opinion, the Goal was written to introduce folks to some limited systems thinking (just a relationship by my definition) and the simplification of how things should be viewed (throughput, inventory, operating expenses). Goldratt's view is that Profit is the Goal. In his limited view, he is right. However, the view is much larger. Components in a System are after Value. For and organization, one of them is Profit. But the Customer does not value profit. He values quality, availability, reliability, features, safety and price amongst a long list. Goldratt does not address this. Some of what he eludes to in this book is also somewhat less than moral.

The book had some nice points and I appreciated the ‘story’ format he presented his ideas in. In particular, his simplification into the three measures above is interesting and somewhat helpful. His views on efficiency as being over-rated are also valuable. I haven’t read the Theory of Constraints although he does explore this in the Goal. It is worth reading, but I wouldn’t place it high on my list of books read.