The book is divided into seven sections, each labeled as ‘Iterations’. This chapter begins “First Iteration.” Crichton leads up to the theme park, to Jurassic Park by creating multiple stakes. Here the stakes that he’s establishing is that the dinosaurs will escape. Then we get to the park, the stakes are, “can our heroes survive?” Their stakes are preventing more dinosaurs from escaping to the mainland, and in these first two chapters we see the dangers of that not happening.
Best Writing, Quotes:
“Tina was looking idly at the tracks when she hard a chirping, followed by a rustling in the mangrove thicket.”
Jurassic Park, Page 14
Active Voice: Tina looks at the tracks and hears chirping, then a rustling in the mangrove thicket.
Page by Page Highlights:
“At the earliest drawings of the fractal curve, few clues to the underlying mathematical structure will be seen.” – Ian Malcolm, Page 9
“Of course they’d had a huge fight.” Page 11
Crichton is using the actions of the visitors to Costa Rica to pull the reader in, to have them see the world of Jurassic Park through their eyes. By doing so, this ups the stakes later on in the book when the tension gets real with the dinosaurs.
“Suddenly, a small black shape flashed across the road and Tina shrieked, “Look! Look!” Page 12
First siting of a dinosaur in the book by a child with parents on a vacation.
“What about snakes?” Ellen Bowman, Page 13
Crichton again brings up reptilian imagery to ramp up the disgust, tension and realism of the dinosaurs.
“Tina was looking idly at the tracks when she hard a chirping, followed by a rustling in the mangrove thicket.” Page 14
The author uses all five senses to make the dinosaurs real – and he does so in ways that were atypical for dinosaurs at the time. Crichton is going to sacrifice a child early in the book to show that the bad guys – InGen – have been negligent in their introduction of the bad guys they created – the dinosaurs.
“Then, from down the beach, carried by the wind, they heard their daughter’s voice. She was screaming.” Page 15
There are two introductory ‘chapters’ to Jurassic Park, with the first being the forementioned pseudo-epistle that brings the reader into the world with a salting of truth. Crichton wants the readers’ experience to be realistic, he doesn’t want a book of magical realism and fantasy. This is why in a time of dinosaur-mania, Jurassic Park became the dominant brand. The first introductory chapter was numbered with roman numerals, we are now reading modern hindu-arabic numbers.
How big is the Jurassic Park media franchise? In this chapter a physician has to look up the word ‘raptor’ – something which seems totally implausible 30 years later because this book series so popularized the term.
Best Quotes, Best Writing
“And the wound had a strange odor, a kind of rotten stench, a smell of death and decay. She had never smelled anything like it before.” Page 4
This is the most significant passage because smell becomes a big part of how Crichton makes his dinosaurs more real – something that was carried over into the film universe.
Page-by-Page, Chapter by Chapter
“The tropical rain fell in drenching sheets, hammering the corrugated roof of the clinic building, roaring down the metal gutters, splashing on the ground in a torrent.” Page 1
“Bobbie could imagine it – one of those huge American resorts with swimming pools and tennis courts, where guests could play and drink their daiquiris, without having any contact with the real life of the country.” Page 2
Dr. Roberta “Bobbie” Carter imagines the future efforts of InGen when their two year project is completed. She’s set the perfect ideal, the reader will spend the next 456 pages living a nightmare in this ‘resort’ brought on by science.
“Because it almost looks as if he was mauled,” Bobbie Carter said, probing the wound. Page 3
The word ‘Raptor’ is only used in the chapter title. There’s important information never mentioned in the text of the book. The word ‘Raptor’ has not yet appeared. Crichton gives a character that immediately can smell something is fishy. We see the corporate representative of InGen immediately appearing shifty, insisting it was a backhoe accident, when the reader knows this is not the case – not because of what the characters can observe, but because of the reader’s awareness of the chapter title. Crichton doesn’t have to give any back story, he doesn’t have to give Ed Regis any kind of self-awareness or self reflection because of the five words he’s used to name the chapter, “the bite of the raptor.”
“And the wound had a strange odor, a kind of rotten stench, a smell of death and decay. She had never smelled anything like it before.” Page 4
Dr. Carter is inspecting the wound, which presents as unusual. The smell is another layer of ‘unusual’ and is used by Crichton throughout to describe the dinosaurs. He puts them in scenarios where they are pooping and feeding. This was a common trope in the movie as well. Crichton is using the feeling to make the creatures real.
“It means hupia.” Page 5
The wounded worker whispers the word ‘Raptor’ – which is interpreted to a local creature of myth by Manuel.
“Bobbie was even grabbing for a stick to put in the boy’s clenched jaws, but even as she did it she knew it was hopeless, and with a final spastic jerk he relaxed and lay still.” Page 6
“But when she turned back to the table, she saw that her camera was gone.” Page 7
InGen has removed the body and evidence of the body. InGen is the super-antagonist in the book, who produces the antagonist that goes on the killing spree. Is InGen a bad actor or simply incompetent? Crichton begins with an example of Hanlon’s razor.
“Raptor \ n [deriv. of L raptor plunderer, fr. raptus]: bird of prey.” Page 8
Throughout the book, Crichton compares the dinosaur movements to that of a bird, here he does it with a formal definition as Dr. Carter looks to a dictionary to understand what a raptor is. How big is Jurassic Park? In this chapter a physician has to look up the word ‘raptor’ – something which seems totally implausible 30 years later because this book series so popularized the term.
This is page by page, chapter by chapter review of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, first published in 1990. This first chapter, a stub of an introduction reads like a technical history of the biochemistry industry and introduces the reader to InGen via a pseudo-epistle. The chapter references legal settlements, the creation of multi-billion dollar businesses like Genentech, and the scientific history that led to the understanding of DNA and the possibilities of genetic engineering.
Crichton is giving his reader a primer to say, “this is all possible.” He uses the trope of ‘Famous, Famous, Fictional’ (TV Tropes Explanation) to insert Ingen into a world that the reader would have a cursory knowledge of. Born in 1976, I loved dinosaurs as a kid – they drew me into my undergraduate major of biology. There had been a lot of books around dinosaurs, there was no shortage of ‘fan fiction’ around the topic. Crichton’s brilliance is in creating a setting – the eponymous theme park that turns into a nightmare, and an authentic explanation that lets the leader focus on the story, rather than be distracted by elaborate contrivances. Crichton explains the reality of 1991 biochemistry with an ease that camouflages the gaps in the story – such as the eggshells, the amphibian DNA, and a host of other topics that are well covered in the sequel The Lost World.
Favorite Writing, Quote:
“After all, InGen’s research was conducted in secret, the actual incident occurred in the most remote region of Central America; and fewer than twenty people were there to witness it. Of those, only a handful survived.”
Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park – Page x
Page by Page Breakdown: (Pages 0 – vii – x)
Page 0: Two quotes start the book, one from Linnaeus, 1797 – the other from Erwin Chargaff in 1972. Chargaff is a noted biochemist and the creator of Chargaff’s Rules. The Linnaeus quote describes the grotesque nature of lizards – foreshadowing the dinosaur villains of the book.
“You cannot recall a new form of life.”
Erwin Chargaff, 1972
Page vii: Introduction, “The InGen Incident”
“This enterprise has proceeded so rapidly – with so little outside commentary – that its dimensions and implications are hardly understood at all.” Page vii
Crichton’s later writing in State of Fear makes a clear statement about oversight, ethics, and integrity in science. Re-reading Jurassic Park in 2023, this passage is the first of many that showed how 33 years earlier he was on the path to formalizing that worldview.
Crichton begins the book with an epistle where we meet InGen – the company that serves as the primary villain for the Jurassic park series. InGen stands for International Genetic Technologies, and throughout the book we will meet the employees of the firm, explore its corporate history, learn of its research methods and follow a ‘testing’ of its primary product – a ‘Jurassic Park’ where guests can see live dinosaurs.
“But most disturbing is the fact that no watchdogs are found among scientists themselves. It is remarkable that nearly every scientist in genetics research is also engaged in the commerce of biotechnology. There are no detached observers. Everybody has a stake.” Page vii
“That was the date of a now famous meeting [April 1976], in which Robert Swanson, a venture capitalist, approached Herbert Boyer, a biochemist at the University of California.” Page ix
Crichton’s epistle blends the scientific reality of the creation of Genentech, the work of Watson and Crick to discover DNA (to whom Erwin Chargaff explained his rules), and the origin of the fictional InGen. It is the author’s approach to the Star Trek TV show trope of, “Famous, Famous, Fictional“.
“After all, InGen’s research was conducted in secret, the actual incident occurred in the most remote region of Central America; and fewer than twenty people were there to witness it. Of those, only a handful survived.” Page x
Crichton gives us the ending before we’re even out of Roman numerals. He tells us the date of InGen’s bankruptcy – October 5, 1989, he tells us that the whole action of the novel takes place over two days in August of that same year. We learn that there are Japanese investors, and that there is legal and corporate intrigue – including NDAs that prohibit the survivors from telling their story.
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Lift sells a clever design of a board holder for $150. You can purchase designs for their design on Etsy. We’ve built two of this design with the purchase of a 2×8 and scrap wood from an Eagle Scout project which produced the six wooden triangles pictured. We use the boards often in fresh water and having these gives another easy storage option that is more convenient than saw horses.
1. Assemble Materials
Body 2×8 – 48”
Wooden Triangles – Six (6) needed
16 x 14 x 4.5”
Base – 2×8, min 18”
Screws
2.5” x 8
3” x 11
2. Secure Mast Support
Use wing and fuselage to locate where two triangles will be used as foil support.
Put end of tail at least 4 inches (10 cm) from the end of the 2×8.
Screw triangles to the base with overlap sticking over the edge.
3. Add Lateral Support
Could go either way, I’ve always put them forward.
4. Mount Tail Holder
Mount the end with three of the 3″ screws
Mount the angled triangle, first with one 3″ screw, then one in through the side. Then add another through the base.
Repeat for the other side.
5. Insert Board and Use
The propeller shroud for Lift just barely fits – pay attention to that the first time you use it.
At this point one of my boards has done a 10 day test with no issues. You could add a sandbag if needed.
Future Improvements
Add casters / wheels.
Any other ideas? Please share.
Keywords:
Lift foils, Efoil, Electric Foil, Surf foiling, Flightboards, liftfoils.com, fliteboard.com, foils, surf foiling, SUP foiling, Stand up paddleobard foil, wake surfing, water skiing, boating, jet ski, personal watercraft, DIY, do-it-yourself, efoiling, fresh water foiling,
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Goldratt’s Rules of Flow is the most recent book under the banner of legendary operations research, however the actual ‘Rules’ are only presented as a list after the final chapter, after the conclusion on page 171. In this list – noted below and via a photograph of what would be page 173 – the rules are presented out of order in the way that they are presented in the book.
Avoid bad multitasking, control your WIP.
If you don’t want to get stuck, verify full-kit before you get going.
Triage to ensure you are working on the right priorities.
Ensure synchronization between your tasks / people / resources.
If you keep going back to the same projects and you don’t get the desired results, look into the option to increase the dosage.
Avoid unnecessary rework by finding what causes it.
Standardization is recommended when improvising is costly.
Abolish local optimum, global optimum is what matters.
These are all good rules, and are all in line with classic lessons from Deming in the realm of quality, and Covey from the world of self-improvement. From a writing standpoint, they could have been more integrated with the rest of the book and even used to advance the story. The protagonist, Marc Wilson, could have been pulling them together in his effort to save his father’s business, and then sharpened them through talking with Professor Rick Silver. Wilson could have assembled them with his co-workers, including his love interest, Abby, in the same way that Alex Rogo pulls together his five thinking steps in Chapter 37 of The Goal.
Watch a review of the entire book in sixty seconds.
Isaac Wilson is the founder and CEO of Wilson Engineered Solutions – two of his children work for him. Sam, his daughter, runs a production site for them in the South and Marc runs their engineering team which designs products that are later produced using Sam’s plant. Sam has a family and fulfilling life, Marc does not – his loneliness and single minded focus on work is disheartening.
Isaac has a terminal disease and is thinking about selling the business; he doesn’t tell his kids about the illness until the last chapter. The company’s projects are all late. Customers are angry. In the first chapter a long time customer fires them because of the constant delays.
In response to the potential sale of the business Marc makes the curious decision to get an executive MBA, where he studies in Professor Rick Silver’s class. Kiara is a classmate who works in IT for a financial services business. They learn all about how to improve project implementation using theory of constraints, Marc applies these changes to his business and they work, and he kisses his work crush – an employee named Abby – late in the book, just before Isaac gives him the business because of all the improvements he has made.
The Settings
Offices of the engineering team at Wilson Engineered Solutions.
The book kicks off Chapter 1 here at the corporate offices with a conversation between Marc and Isaac, where Isaac divulges that he may sell the business – but does not tell his key employee AND SON that he has a terminal disease. About a third of the book is set here, and it is an important part of the lessons taught about the rules of flow. It is here that Kyle resigns at the end of Chapter 2 and where Marc’s attraction to Abby is first revealed. The office hosts Marc and Abby’s team as they serve as a foil to the classroom education provided by Professor Richard Silver and the executive MBA course he teaches.
The Executive MBA classroom.
We meet Professor Richard Silver in Chapter 4 who plays a similar role as did Jonah in the original version of The Goal. The classroom is used for 10 of the book’s 27 chapters. Here Marc banters with the Professor and his classmates, including:
Kiara, who runs IT at a financial services firm. She has several team members attending the Executive MBA class with her.
Charlie, who is with a construction firm. Charlie’s classroom examples often point out the opposite style of projects than what Marc or Kiara may do.
The Wilson family.
Isaac is a lousy dad and boss, based on his hiding a terminal illness, but the family dynamic portrayed by author Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag is both stereotypical and authentic. Marc visits his sister, Sam, in the South where he bikes with his nephew. He sees his family on Thanksgiving. The book closes with Isaac finally revealing his illness at a family dinner.
Questions?
If I’ve read the original Goldratt’s The Goal – should I read this book?
Yes. However, I also try to re-read the book on a regular basis, as well as use it in training materials with teams. Reading Rules of Flow is much faster, and more contemporary. Certainly if you’re not in a manufacturing environment, this book is much more mapped to project management – a modernized version of Hanging Fire.
If I’ve not read either, which one should I read first?
Start with Rules of Flow – and this is different than the opinion I held when I first started, but the author won me over. It helps to have a more contemporary version, and the original was really oriented towards conventional manufacturing, then the literature around Theory of Constraints was adopted for other approaches like project management and software development. The narrative around rules of flow is tighter and has a tighter resolution – whereas everyone when recalling The Goal forgets that after Alex Rogo’s promotion there are 9 more chapters – almost 10% of the book. Chapter 27 of Rules of Flow neatly ties up Isaac telling his kids about his condition and handing the business over to Marc.
Marc Wilson, age 32, runs the engineering team for his father, Isaac at the business he created Wilson Advanced Solutions. In the first chapter they loose their biggest customer, Doolen, because their projects are too late, which leads Isaac to say he’s thinking of selling the business. Marc enrolls in an executive MBA program, where his Professor Richard Silver teaches a class on rules of flow. Marc visits his older sister, Sam, who runs the production team at a location in the South and has a successful family – Marc is single and lonely. In class Marc learns about triage and the harmful effects of multitasking.
Chapters 9 – 12 kick off with Marc Wilson working with his work-crush Abbie to change their approach to project management; telling the team the plan, iterating once they have feedback, and dealing with customer response to the changing methods. Chapters 13 – 18 introduce the concept of “Full Kit” which is a checklist of the necessary ingredients for a successful completion of the next stage of the project. Chapters 13, 16, and 19 are set in the executive MBA classroom of Rick Silver, who serves as the ‘Jonah’ of Rules of Flow. In Chapter 19, the topic of ‘synchronization’ is introduced.
Marc’s team improves their throughput by making the suggested changes about ‘triage’ and controlling WIP that were made in Chapters 1-8. Marc’s sister running the production site becomes frustrated with a deluge of completed projects, indicating that in the last part of the book we should find some Goldratt perspectives on improving the performance of the entire entity, not just Mark’s realm. This is similar to how Alex Rogo is promoted in Chapter 31 of The Goal and with that gets greater perspective. We learn that Isaac, Marc’s father, has an incurable disease that he has not told his kids about, and that he plans to sell the business to a private equity firm.
Part 3: Pages 117 – 171, Chapters 20 – 27, Pages 117 – 171: The End (link)
Chapter 20 starts at the Thanksgiving dinner table with Mark learning about synchronization from his mother, Laura, in a scenario that will become as popular as Herbie’s scout hike from the original The Goal. This is followed by another likely iconic setting during a bike ride in Chapter 23, where Marc learns about maintaining his energy while cycling with his nephew during a visit with his sister. Between these chapters we’re again in Professor Richard Silver’s executive MBA classroom, where we learn more ways to increase and maintain project flow, as well as the benefits of having high throughput for projects. When he thinks he has accidentally learned of his father’s plan to sell the business, Marc determines that he’ll need to quit – and this gives him the mental permission he needs to finally kiss his crush and employee, Abbie, in Chapter 25. There’s a nice resolution to the classroom setting in Chapter 26 – nicer than the tedious and repetitive introduction and mental debates about the theory of constraints that occupy so many of the chapters in the original The Goal after Alex Rogo’s promotion.
The story resolves quite nicely in Chapter 27; Marc and his sister are summoned to their parent’s house where Isaac hands the business over to Marc, compliments him for the changes he has created using the Theory of Constraints he’s learned in Professor Silver’s course, and let’s both of them know about his terminal disease.
Isaac Wilson’s company has just lost its biggest customer because their projects are always behind schedule and late. He tells his son, Marc, an MBA who runs the engineering and project management team, and also mentions that he may find a buyer for the business.
Marc meets with his top two project leaders to talk about changes they can make – the whole activity feels repetitive to him. One of the engineers, Kyle, resigns at the end of the meeting.
Marc goes to a bar, he is single and never pursued the MBA he wanted to get. He turns to alcohol rather than dealing with the real problems in his life.
In Marc’s MBA class, Professor Rick helps the students understand the negative impact of multi-tasking, how it causes delays on projects, and ways to unfreeze their flow of execution.
Marc visits with Abbie about cutting the WIP – freezing projects – in order to increase their throughput. Abbie observes that if they want to cut execution time in half, they should probably cut the WIP in half too. These observations are very similar to ones made in Chapter 28 of The Goal.
After deciding to move forward in Chapter 9, Marc and Abbie take their idea to the engineering project team – where they meet with some expected resistance. Nonetheless, they persevere.
Chapter 11 – “The Misconception About Starting Early” (Link)
Isaac, Marc’s father, hears from a customer that the company’s approach to projects is changing. He meets with Isaac to learn more, and respects his son’s decision to make a bold change. Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag uses a similar writing technique as her father did with Alex Rogo in Chapter 7 of The Goal – the primary character’s ability to retreat is removed, forcing them to try approaches that would otherwise be seen as reckless. Just as Rogo follows Jonah in The Goal to make big changes that are contrary to popular opinion, Marc follows Professor Richard Silver’s guidance on changing their approach to projects because otherwise the business will fail.
Chapter 12 – “Dynamics of Theories and Trends” (Link)
On a Friday evening a few weeks later, Abbie tells Marc that some of the team is idle and unhappy about it. Marc goes on a blind date with Tina. In some ways, the writing about Marc is as unsatisfying as the description of Julie in The Goal.
Marc is back in Rick Silver’s executive MBA classroom. Professor Silver introduces the concept of “full-kit” or thorough preparation via a written checklist and how to use a stage-gate type process to ensure full-kit before beginning a project. After the class Marc calls Abbie in excitement to let her know he’s got a solution for their woes, and is disappointed to find she is going out on a date.
Marc and Abbie roll out the ‘full-kit’ concept to their team. Marc shows Abbie his ‘WIP Board’ and learns that when he caught Abbie on the Saturday evening, her blind date had gone poorly. Abbie and Marc seem lonely, and the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ tension in the writing feels like the constant tension between Alex and Julie Rogo. I wonder if there will be a “You bastard!” misunderstanding scene like there was in Chapter 24 of The Goal.
The author puts the protagonist into a social setting to put the concepts into a different light. Marc lifts with his friend Tim, there are similarities between lifting and focusing on projects. Marc is no longer dating Tina, but hints that he would not date Abbie because she is a co-worker. At just two pages, this short chapter is stylistically similar to Chapter 7 from The Goal; Goldratt used several short chapters to advance the story.
Marc is back in Professor Rick Silver’s executive MBA course. Professor Richard Silver brings in two guests to talk about the concept of ‘dosage’ for projects, which is really the ‘batch size’ or ‘amount of work done’ for a project. One guest worked in aircraft maintenance and the other in corrections – the concept of dosage helped improve the flow of both of their processes. The concept of dosage here is similar to that of batch size that Goldratt originally focused on in Chapter 28.
The Full-kit concept, first introduced in Chapter 13 continues to be refined – just as Eliyahu Goldratt used Rogo’s experience in the plant to refine key concepts in The Goal. By having clear checklists and only kicking off projects that have the necessary ingredients for success, Marc sees his department is getting more done and the people appear to be happier. His sister, Sam, running the company’s plant is unhappy and calls to tell him so – because Marc’s team increased throughput is releasing more to her team than she is prepared to handle. Similar to the original Goal, where the constraint is perceived to be the robot, the NCX-10, it turns out that there are more constraints once the process is fully mapped. Marc reflects on their situation with Abbie and they note that these ‘gates’ are effective and worth implementing in more positions in their project management process.
We follow our protagonist to a new setting, his parent’s home. Marc has dinner with his parents, Laura and Isaac. A reminder that Isaac is the owner of the business – they apparently haven’t spoken in a month, which is not a good indicator for Isaac’s leadership capabilities. Isaac likes the results of the ‘Rules of Flow’ so far, but shoots down the idea of implementing a “Gate Zero” because he, “understands the customers better.” After Marc leaves, Laura says that his ideas were good, but Isaac rebuffs her as well and we learn that he has some disease that has not been disclosed to his son and that he is under letter of intent (“LOI”) with a private equity firm to sell the business.
It’s easy to put on another hat and see Isaac as a terrible boss and father who doesn’t listen to his son / employee while withholding critical information – his untreatable terminal illness and pending sale of the company. Write this story with that angle and it becomes a warning tale about narcissism and other dark triad activity.
Marc is back in his executive MBA course with Professor Richard Silver. The class discusses many topics, Marc observes that local optimization is a trap – in the same way that Jonah pointed out this issue to Alex Rogo in Chapter 8 of The Goal. The fact that rework is a waste of resources and an indicator of other problems is discussed. Rick introduces the concept of synchronization which is the homework assignment.
Chapter 20’s focus on the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which focuses on the preparation of a Turkey, can go down as a more famous Goldratt-ian metaphor than Herbie and his famous scout hike from The Goal (Chapter 13, Chapter 15). Executive MBA professor Rick Silver has asked his class to study synchronization – which is simply aligning the goals of the organization to the primary constraint. For US Thanksgiving – this is the preparation of the turkey, which takes the longest and utilizes the primary tool for cooking, the oven.
This is a clever chapter title as it reflects at least three ‘one-on-ones’!
Marc has a ‘one-on-one’ meeting with Linda, his top software project lead.
Linda brings up that she wants to go ‘one-on-one’ and focus all her time on the company’s software needs and Marc as a savvy leader agrees with her idea.
Lastly, Marc and Abbie wind up each at the same restaurant – recommended by the clever Linda – where they have dinner together – ‘one-on-one’.
Does that make this chapter a ‘three-on-one-on-one’?
Marc is back in the Executive MBA classroom of Professor Rick Silver who is teaching the Rules of Flow class. In Chapter 22 of Rules of Flow, Dr. Efrat brings in many of those topics and does so after outlining a topic – dependent events and statistical fluctuations – that drives variability in project execution and planning. Her father extended the topic and its impact to give it depth; her master stroke here is instead to bring the topic together to show its impact and drive home the importance of short communication loops and psychological safety when working on projects.
If there was an extended Goldratt universe, along the lines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“MCU“) then Rules of Flow has now added two new athletic activities – weight training in RoF 15 “Enough Weight, Enough Repetitions” and now a long day out cycling with Marc and his nephew Jack. Marc focuses on time as the constraint to their capacity to go riding, while his nephew gently reminds him that their power – a function of their training, nourishment, and energy – is also a constraint. They must meter their food and water, otherwise they won’t be able to complete the circuit they’ve chosen.
Marc attends Professor Rick Silver’s Executive MBA course on Rules of Flow. The class discusses how to allocate times to buffers – usually 1/3 is a good rule of thumb. They discuss the ‘fever’ chart to track project timeliness. Marc realizes that a lot of the minutiae he tracks from his team has now become busywork as he has cut the number of projects and increased the flow of WIP.
Chapter 25: “Lead Time is Getting Shorter” (Link) Pages 155 – 159
Big moves in the plot! Marc gets a call for “Mr. Wilson” and accepts it, but it was really a call to his father and now Marc knows that the business sale is about to close. What an accident? Or was it? Marc shares this message with Abbie in a distraught state, she consoles him and they kiss. It is sad how focused they are on their careers and how it prevents the development of their relationship.
Chapter 26: “How to Get Started” (Link), Pages 161 – 168
Marc attends his final executive MBA course on “Rules of Flow” taught by Rick Silver. They discuss four common scenarios on how to deal with project constraints. Lastly, Silver identifies that the ultimate constraint in an organization is leadership time and their ability to focus attention on the highest value opportunities.
Chapter 27: “The Contingency Plan” – END – (Link), Pages 169 – 171
In the final chapter, we resolve the open issues – and the dreadful waiting game unleashed at the close of Chapter 25 by Isaac on Marc, his son and most valued employee, is brought to a close. Isaac discloses the terminal disease, shared first in Chapter 18, to Marc, and his sister, Sam, who has flown in for the dinner. Marc will be given the company to run, Sam will get a share of ownership – but had conveniently signed away interest in running the business already. Isaac has admired the ‘new ways’ that Marc has brought to the business and been giving him space to run – although to the reader it looked like abandonment.
If you liked this review, check out the highlights from the original, Goldratt’s The Goal.
In the final chapter, Marc and his sister are summoned to their parent’s house where Isaac hands the business over to Marc, compliments him for the changes he has created using the Theory of Constraints he’s learned in Professor Silver’s course, and let’s both of them know about his terminal disease.
Before we get there, there are two iconic chapters:
Chapter 20 starts at the Thanksgiving dinner table with Mark learning about synchronization from his mother, Laura.
Chapter 23, Marc learns about maintaining his energy while cycling with his nephew during a visit with his sister.
Amidst all these chapters we’re again in Professor Richard Silver’s executive MBA classroom, where we learn more ways to increase and maintain project flow, as well as the benefits of having high throughput for projects. Very importantly, Marc kisses his love interest, and employee, Abby in Chapter 25 when he thinks she will no longer be working for him.
Chapter 20 starts at the Thanksgiving dinner table with Mark learning about synchronization from his mother, Laura, in a scenario that will become as popular as Herbie’s scout hike from the original The Goal. This is followed by another likely iconic setting during a bike ride in Chapter 23, where Marc learns about maintaining his energy while cycling with his nephew during a visit with his sister. Between these chapters we’re again in Professor Richard Silver’s executive MBA classroom, where we learn more ways to increase and maintain project flow, as well as the benefits of having high throughput for projects. When he thinks he has accidentally learned of his father’s plan to sell the business, Marc determines that he’ll need to quit – and this gives him the mental permission he needs to finally kiss his crush and employee, Abbie, in Chapter 25. There’s a nice resolution to the classroom setting in Chapter 26 – nicer than the tedious and repetitive introduction and mental debates about the theory of constraints that occupy so many of the chapters in the original The Goal after Alex Rogo’s promotion.
The story resolves quite nicely in Chapter 27; Marc and his sister are summoned to their parent’s house where Isaac hands the business over to Marc, compliments him for the changes he has created using the Theory of Constraints he’s learned in Professor Silver’s course, and let’s both of them know about his terminal disease.
Marc Wilson, age 32, runs the engineering team for his father, Isaac at the business he created Wilson Advanced Solutions. In the first chapter they loose their biggest customer, Doolen, because their projects are too late, which leads Isaac to say he’s thinking of selling the business. Marc enrolls in an executive MBA program, where his Professor Richard Silver teaches a class on rules of flow. Marc visits his older sister, Sam, who runs the production team at a location in the South and has a successful family – Marc is single and lonely. In class Marc learns about triage and the harmful effects of multitasking.
Chapters 9 – 12 kick off with Marc Wilson working with his work-crush Abbie to change their approach to project management; telling the team the plan, iterating once they have feedback, and dealing with customer response to the changing methods. Chapters 13 – 18 introduce the concept of “Full Kit” which is a checklist of the necessary ingredients for a successful completion of the next stage of the project. Chapters 13, 16, and 19 are set in the executive MBA classroom of Rick Silver, who serves as the ‘Jonah’ of Rules of Flow. In Chapter 19, the topic of ‘synchronization’ is introduced.
Marc’s team improves their throughput by making the suggested changes about ‘triage’ and controlling WIP that were made in Chapters 1-8. Marc’s sister running the production site becomes frustrated with a deluge of completed projects, indicating that in the last part of the book we should find some Goldratt perspectives on improving the performance of the entire entity, not just Mark’s realm. This is similar to how Alex Rogo is promoted in Chapter 31 of The Goal and with that gets greater perspective. We learn that Isaac, Marc’s father, has an incurable disease that he has not told his kids about, and that he plans to sell the business to a private equity firm.
Chapter 20’s focus on the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which focuses on the preparation of a Turkey, can go down as a more famous Goldratt-ian metaphor than Herbie and his famous scout hike from The Goal (Chapter 13, Chapter 15). Executive MBA professor Rick Silver has asked his class to study synchronization – which is simply aligning the goals of the organization to the primary constraint. For US Thanksgiving – this is the preparation of the turkey, which takes the longest and utilizes the primary tool for cooking, the oven.
This is a clever chapter title as it reflects at least three ‘one-on-ones’!
Marc has a ‘one-on-one’ meeting with Linda, his top software project lead.
Linda brings up that she wants to go ‘one-on-one’ and focus all her time on the company’s software needs and Marc as a savvy leader agrees with her idea.
Lastly, Marc and Abbie wind up each at the same restaurant – recommended by the clever Linda – where they have dinner together – ‘one-on-one’.
Does that make this chapter a ‘three-on-one-on-one’?
Marc is back in the Executive MBA classroom of Professor Rick Silver who is teaching the Rules of Flow class. In Chapter 22 of Rules of Flow, Dr. Efrat brings in many of those topics and does so after outlining a topic – dependent events and statistical fluctuations – that drives variability in project execution and planning. Her father extended the topic and its impact to give it depth; her master stroke here is instead to bring the topic together to show its impact and drive home the importance of short communication loops and psychological safety when working on projects.
If there was an extended Goldratt universe, along the lines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“MCU“) then Rules of Flow has now added two new athletic activities – weight training in RoF 15 “Enough Weight, Enough Repetitions” and now a long day out cycling with Marc and his nephew Jack. Marc focuses on time as the constraint to their capacity to go riding, while his nephew gently reminds him that their power – a function of their training, nourishment, and energy – is also a constraint. They must meter their food and water, otherwise they won’t be able to complete the circuit they’ve chosen.
Marc attends Professor Rick Silver’s Executive MBA course on Rules of Flow. The class discusses how to allocate times to buffers – usually 1/3 is a good rule of thumb. They discuss the ‘fever’ chart to track project timeliness. Marc realizes that a lot of the minutiae he tracks from his team has now become busywork as he has cut the number of projects and increased the flow of WIP.
Chapter 25: “Lead Time is Getting Shorter” (Link) Pages 155 – 159
Big moves in the plot! Marc gets a call for “Mr. Wilson” and accepts it, but it was really a call to his father and now Marc knows that the business sale is about to close. What an accident? Or was it? Marc shares this message with Abbie in a distraught state, she consoles him and they kiss. It is sad how focused they are on their careers and how it prevents the development of their relationship.
Chapter 26: “How to Get Started” (Link), Pages 161 – 168
Marc attends his final executive MBA course on “Rules of Flow” taught by Rick Silver. They discuss four common scenarios on how to deal with project constraints. Lastly, Silver identifies that the ultimate constraint in an organization is leadership time and their ability to focus attention on the highest value opportunities.
Chapter 27: “The Contingency Plan” – END – (Link), Pages 169 – 171
In the final chapter, we resolve the open issues – and the dreadful waiting game unleashed at the close of Chapter 25 by Isaac on Marc, his son and most valued employee, is brought to a close. Isaac discloses the terminal disease, shared first in Chapter 18, to Marc, and his sister, Sam, who has flown in for the dinner. Marc will be given the company to run, Sam will get a share of ownership – but had conveniently signed away interest in running the business already. Isaac has admired the ‘new ways’ that Marc has brought to the business and been giving him space to run – although to the reader it looked like abandonment.
In the final chapter, we resolve the open issues – and the dreadful waiting game unleashed at the close of Chapter 25 by Isaac on Marc, his son and most valued employee, is brought to a close. Isaac discloses the terminal disease, shared first in Chapter 18, to Marc, and his sister, Sam, who has flown in for the dinner. Marc will be given the company to run, Sam will get a share of ownership – but had conveniently signed away interest in running the business already. Isaac has admired the ‘new ways’ that Marc has brought to the business and been giving him space to run – although to the reader it looked like abandonment.
Marc is so fired up to take the reins that he is now interested in talking with the private group not as a buyer of Wilson Advanced Solutions, but as a potential investor. We don’t get an easy resolution on his future with Abbie, but let’s just imagine that everything works out well. In the short, three page chapter, we don’t get much exposure to Marc’s reaction to his father’s pending death. The only real emotion is the outrage from Sam that her brother may have known before her. As a reader, I feel we’re provided a not-so-cryptic look into some historic events in the Goldratt family.
As an author, Dr. Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag has resolved one of the toughest parts of The Goal; that book really ends at Chapter 31, but then continues on for nine more chapters – nearly 80 more pages! By resolving the education message of the book coincident with the plot resolution – the passing of the business to Marc from Isaac, things are more neatly wrapped up.
Best Writing, Quotes (Pages 169 – 171)
“Did you know that Dad is sick?” Sam to Marc at their parent’s house, Page 169.
“And as you wished, you will receive your share, but will not be involved in any management decisions.” Marc to his daughter, Sam, Page 170.
“I wanted to give you space to try this new of running things.” Isaac says to Marc, Page 170
“It’s still early, but it is clear that you are on to a much better way of managing our projects.” Isaac to Marc, Page 170
“The company is yours now.” Isaac, Page 171
“I’m not looking for a buyer, I’m looking for an investor.” Page 171
Marc attends his final executive MBA course on “Rules of Flow” taught by Rick Silver. They discuss four common scenarios on how to deal with project constraints. Lastly, Silver identifies that the ultimate constraint in an organization is leadership time and their ability to focus attention on the highest value opportunities.
Best Quotes, Writing (Pages 161 – 168)
To help calm things down Rick says, “We all want the same thing. We want to go from a reality where we have frequent delays, things take forever and we are constantly multitasking to a reality where the lead times are much shorter and the chaos goes away. Let’s discuss how to facilitate this transformation.” The professor opens the final chapter in his classroom, Page 161.
“Remember, we don’t care about the productivity of a single worker, we ask what are the units that need to move faster in order to improve the flow of the whole system.” Rick speaks to student Ted, Page 162.
Strategy 1: “Freeze a large percent of the projects and keep the ones that are close to completion, or the ones with the highest priority, in the WIP.” Marc thinks of his flow strategy, Page 162.
“If they cannot assist in other projects, assign them to help with full-kitting.” Page 163
Strategy 2: Kill bad projects.
“We found that triage is not only about cancelling work packages with low value. We also came up with new high-value ideas that should have top priority.” Page 163
Strategy 3:
“In project environments where there is a massive amount of integration and people are constantly stuck because things are missing, it makes sense to start with full-kit.” Professor Silver highlights an aspect of construction projects, page 164
Strategy 4: “The fourth strategy that I’d like to mention is relevant to project environments that suffer from bad outcomes where people have to fix the same problems again and again. In these cases, dosage is likely the preferred strategy to control WIP.” Page 164
“The managers and experts are usually the most precious resource in the operation and are also the most scarce. Which means that they are the ones who are in most demand. They are the constraints, the resources with the least capacity in the system.” Rick to the class, Page 165.
“That may indicate there are too many projects in WIP.” Page 165 – what happens if leadership is overwhelmed?
“First, identify these few people are in fact your system’s constraint. Then figure how to exploit the constraint – how to make the best use of the time.” Rick shows how theory of constraints makes strategy a core answer to project management, Page 166.
“Your experts will be devoting a large percentage of their time to analyzing upcoming projects and full-kitting them. Get good people to help them. That will not only make your experts’ work more efficient, it’s the best way to grow your next experts from within.” Page 167
“For companies who are serious about it, who have the discipline to follow through and the confidence to endure this amazing cultural change, even the sky is not the limit.” Marc reflects, Page 167.
Fred Lybrand 
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