The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel

This graphic novel started as a pre-course assignment. I started reading it and couldn’t put it down until I finished it. It illustrated real life constraints and solutions. Great book.

It is a great supplement or actual book for you to understand the novel. The novel is a rough, and long read that was really dated in the talk, but this graphic novel helps to clarify and make sense of the actual book. I read the book and then I got this as a supplement and it brought all of it together

This book uses a comic book framework to explain the theory of constraints. It’s based on a manufacturing plant but it applies to any business. You have to do the translation yourself though, and that’s my only nitpick. Working in marketing for a software company, we aren’t using machines to produce physical goods. But the core ideas still apply — you have to identifty the goal that represents success, pinpoint bottlenecks, and optimize them above all else. None of the ideas were revolutionary, but it was well worth spending 90 minutes to remind and refocus myself on these foundational ideas.

Yikes. File this under “Really, Pearson? You’ve never read this top business book? And you call yourself a book reviewer?”This past spring here in the bunker, a colleague emailed me and asked if I had ever reviewed “The Goal” by Eli Goldratt. Reviewed it? I’d never even heard about it. (Yikes). He recommended this bestselling business book—and I immediately ordered it. He said it “reads somewhat like a Lencioni novel and is relevant for every organization and leader.”But…full confession. I cheated and ordered the business graphic novel of “The Goal.” Big print and pictures. Just 130 pages. This “Introduction to the Theory of Constraints” will be immediately applicable to anyone with too many moving parts, too many spinning plates, too much or not enough inventory, and keeping the whole team moving in the right direction—at the right pace.How did I miss this important book? Apparently, others have missed it also. Read the front page story in the Aug. 21, 2020, edition of The Wall Street Journal: “Why Are There Still Not Enough Paper Towels?” (The answer: blame lean manufacturing.) Maybe P&G didn’t make “The Goal” required reading. (Jeff Bezos does.)Verne Harnish, author of my 2018 book-of-the year, “Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t (Mastering the Rockefeller Habits 2.0),” gushes: “The Goal is the #1 business book of all time and the graphic adaptation makes this timeless classic and its powerful ideas even more accessible. If you only read one business book, it should be this one.”The author, Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1947-2011) is known as the father of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), “a process of ongoing improvement that continuously identifies and leverages a system's constraints in order to achieve its goals.” A bestseller since 1984, the book has sold more than seven million copies worldwide.“The Goal” is one of Time Magazine's “25 Most Influential Business Management Books.” (I’m only half-way through that list. Yikes, again.)The author’s business novel approach is brilliant. The interesting (and often humorous) story makes TOC understandable.Watch for:• 3 measurements• Bottlenecks and non-bottlenecks• Wrong assumptions: “workers must produce 100 percent of the time…”• Maximum stupidity (the difference between utilizing a resource versus activating a resource): “So running a non-bottleneck machine to its maximum is an act of maximum stupidity.”• POOGI (Process of OnGoing Improvement): “There is always room for better results.”• The 5 Focusing Steps of the Theory of ConstraintsTechnical? Yes. You may not manage an industrial plant, but you might lead a Scout or family hike one day with a dozen campers who hike at different speeds. Insightful? Yes—the real life hiking example turns complexity into a manageable process and cleverly explains The Theory of Constraints.Did I mention this? “Jeff Bezos has made “The Goal” required reading for his top executives at Amazon, where it has been called ‘a bible’ for the team behind the company’s fulfillment network.” And “Fortune Magazine” compared “The Goal’s” leading character to “Obi-Wan Kenobi instructing Luke Skywalker on the use of the force.”Hopefully this is enough to inspire you to read the book—or delegate the reading of the book to someone on your team.

Comical approach kept me engaged. I would have gotten bored otherwise. I am not a fan of long text only books. This was amazing but to be honest, I got an introduction to this in the book "The Phoenix project"

I really like the original version of The Goal, but this is a much quicker way to present the material. I don't think the pictures add anything to the education but it does keep it interesting and it might otherwise become too dense.There isn't as much repetition as the original, so if you need to have multiple examples before something clicks then you may still want the old version. I have also had people say they can't relate the specific example in this book to their own situation, which is another reason to use the long version. If you just want to get a quick overview for the Theory of Constraints then this will help start the conversation.

I applaud the author for what they were trying to do here. Business books can often feel very inaccessible for a reader who is short on time or unaccustomed to long-format learning.However there's probably a reason this hasn't been done before. The content leaves you wondering, "who was the target audience for this?" If you're interested in the topic you're likely a business student, at which point this won't go into enough depth to help you.If you're not a business student, there's not enough content to hold your attention.

This graphic novel is a quick read and easy to understand. I learned some good tips from it. It has some very applicable lessons.

"La meta" es una historia de administración escrita por Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1947-2011), quien fue un consultor de negocios cuya teoría de las limitaciones (restricciones) ha servido como modelo para la administración de sistemas y negocios.

The book is well paced read in a few hours to recap the story of the goal with Alex rego and Johanna’sThe cost of the book is a bit steep though.

Not just for manufacturing. Relevant to services as well! As you read it you can swap machines for people / processes / externalities to make it relatable. If not, just follow the story through and all becomes clear by the end

Excellent : les bases de la TOC rapide à lire. Nickel

This slimmed down version of the original business novel is, in some ways, an improvement. The core message is more clearly revealed by stripping away some of the wordiness of the original and focusing on ... the goal.Recommended.