Learning from Dogs

What do you know? And when did you know it?

Eli Goldratt

Many of the situations that we face are well understood … or, at least, we think they are! Then someone comes along with a different approach and breaks through into a new regime.

This can be unsettling, but then the new approach becomes the norm. What was previously obvious is now ridiculous; and what was previously ridiculous is now obvious! No wonder these things do not happen often, because, if they did, they would not be so unusual!

Eli Godratt has had an enormous impact on many businesses through his approach to understanding business processes. Some of his most effective works are novels! How many business consultants write novels to help people to learn? “The Goal” was his first and captured the main elements of his approach which he termed the Theory of Constraints. He has gone on to describe new approaches to project management, which he calls Critical Chain.

These kinds of paradigm shift seem to be an essential element in the process of moving forward. They come about through new insights which turn old viewpoints on their head. Their effect can be so substantial that it would be easy to argue that they are only way that we move forward. But that would be to overlook the equally essential element of gradual change involving exploration, measurement and incremental improvement. In reality, the two go hand-in-hand.

Watch a typical video of Eli Goldratt explanations:

By John Lewis