The full title of this book by Uwe Techt is
“Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints: The Quantum Leap in Management“.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave this book a FIVE Stars rating. This means I think it is excellent.
Here is my book review.
A very helpful summary
Goldratt’s business novels like “The Goal“, “It’s Not Luck“, “Critical Chain” etc are an excellent way to get a general appreciation of the Theory Of Constraints. Their weakness comes apparent when you want to go back and remind yourself of the critical concepts because they are too buried into the story.
The author, Uwe Techt has written an excellent summary of the fundamental ideas within the Theory Of Constraints which serves as both a refresher and a reference for when you’re trying to implement the concepts. As an initial introduction, I still recommend starting with “The Goal“.
I think TOC has an intuitive intellectual appeal. You read the ideas and whilst they may clash with what you’ve been told before, they make sense. Applying the ideas is much harder because of the need to take other people along with you. It’s hard to explain the ideas because you have to move from student to teacher and that requires a deeper level of understanding. At school, you get that by doing exercises, getting feedback through marks and then revise hard for exams. While this doesn’t have many exercises, it does a fine job of acting as a revision guide.
I read actively by highlighting/underlining and I surprised myself by how much of this book I have highlighted to read again when I need to update my understanding. I also liked the way the book sneaks in the diagrams from the TOC thinking processes early into the text as a way of visually explaining the points made. This means that when you reach the thinking processes, you’re not scared away by the complexity of the diagrams.
If you read this and understand the concepts, I think you’re ready for the definitive guide to TOC, Theory of Constraints Handbook. This massive book (1,216 pages according to Amazon) is too daunting to read early in your TOC adventures.
It is available to buy from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
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