It's Not Luck: Author of The Goal,   ISBN:9780884271154

Customer Rating: 

I have seen several of the reviews that slammed Its Not Luck, and I am surprised. I've read most of Dr. Goldratt's books and I cant believe that someone would find the book to have little value. But this book will not spoon feed you. You have to actually think. You will need to follow the steps to create a breakthrough in sales. And it is an unconventional breakthrough to build an operational capability that actually solves a customer's need, especially if the customer does not recognize that someone can actually solve that need.

To get sales, if you are saying the same things as your competition (functions, features, service, etc.) then you should expect to compete on price. If you really try to use your brain, this book will help you find a way to differentiate yourself like no competition. But you have to do the work.

This book is not a pipe dream, I have seen this book applied in multiple cases. It does work.

Customer Rating: 

Loved reading Alex Rogo's adventures.This book outlines the context in which the ToC Thinking Processes are used. It does not go into any details on the "how-to", but that is not the purpose of the book. The book aims to show that most of what we consider problems may really be the limitation of our own (in)ability to think.Fantastic work again by Dr Eli.

Customer Rating: 

This book is nowhere near it's predecessor 'The Goal', but it's still a very good book. If you've read the previous book this will add to the experience and will give you insight in some new sectors the theory of constraints can be applied to.

It is not hard to read any of the books by Goldratt, as they read like a business novel. However, it will make you think about certain processes like it's the one million dollar one. That's what makes this series good; motivational writing and plain problem solving. Hey, who didn't like puzzles when they were kids?

Liked the first one? Then get this one, as it is the second best of the series.

Customer Rating: 

This book truly is a sequal to the goal. In the goal we were introduced the important topic of throughput, inventory and operational expenses. On throuput we learnt how "work" flows through a process, how to manage buffers and when to introduce work into the system. We see how inventory is just held-up cash and why we should try to minimize it within the limits of our constraints. Finally, on operational expenses, we see how cost accounting can really distort the reality and that having excess capacity can actually be a good thing.

In this book the author doesn't just repeat the process at a higher level. Instead we are introduced to new material: the Thinking Process. This is a toolkit for problem solving tools, which make us question our assumptions. These tools are named "Current & Future Reality Trees", "Pre-requisite Tree", "Transition-Tree" and "Negative Branch Reservations". As the story unfolds, our hero is busy applying the Thinking Process in sales in order to generate a leap in profits.

At times, I found the book to be a bit "verbose" in the sense that reading a series of almost repeating if-then statements can be somewhat tedious. But there are some small diagrams that help you follow. All in all, I liked the book but it's an introduction not a manual. Neither this book nor the previous is much more than an introduction to the topic.

For a more in-depth look at the Theory of Constraints and to gain sufficient knowledge to apply it to a business, you would definitely need another book.

Customer Rating: 

Goldratt takes us through he paces again, but this time not quite as ground breaking and informative as the Goal. Of course the Goal remains standard reading for all young managers in any sort of manufacturing environment, and the TOC is a baseline concept that they should wrap their mind around. This book is good and adds a little refinement on top of the previous books, but should definitely be down in the pile. Start with the Goal, and keep this book on the low priority / rainy day list.