Roman Itskovich

I’ve just finished reading “The Goal” by Eliyahu Goldratt. This book is a standard in most business schools nowadays for courses on systems managements. It talks about principles of creating a solid strategy for the management of complex systems by pursuing system optimum rather than local optimums.

The book tells the story of factory managers who is in a total mess. His factory can’t produce anything on time and it’s loosing money. The company then sets this manager a deadline of three months to make a complete turnover, to save the factory and to make it profitable.

Another interesting thing in the book is the use of the “Socratic Method” of guidance by the author. The Manager, is guided by a mysterious professor Jonah who helps him get out of his production mess. Jonah utilizes the “Socratic Method” as a way of asking questions and making the manager arrive at the right answers themselves. By using this method, Jonah makes the manager and his team part of the solution, thus making them commit to his methods. This is a method widely used by consultants today to induce change and get commitment out of firm’s top managements.

Along the story, this poor but ingenious manager manages to cope with this improbable hardship with only the confusing questions of Jonah at his aid. This fiction piece is a very light and enjoyable read, although it presents some pretty important business principles.

A good read.

Roman

I’ve just figured I have public profile on LinkedIN that can be seen on Roman’s Profile.

Just thought it’s a good idea to let you know.

Roman

A friend pointed me to a really nice flick about stuff.

The flick is talking about our ecosystem, and how our current worldview is destroying it. I know it sounds like the usual tree-huggers propaganda, but this flick is actually very entertaining.

Enjoy!

Roman