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The Logical Thinking Process: A Systems Approach to Complex Problem Solving
A major rewrite of Dettmer's classic Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, this new edition presents a whole new approach to building and applying logic trees. The logical thinking process referred to in the title is nothing less than a broadly applicable, systems-level approach to policy analysis. Dettmer has streamlined the process of constructing the logic trees while simultaneously ensuring that the results are more logically sound and closer representations of reality than ever before. He explains an easier, more logically sound way to integrate Current Reality Trees with Evaporating Clouds. His new version of the thinking process "retires" the Transition Tree in favor of the marriage of a more detailed Prerequisite Tree and critical chain project management. This book contains new examples of logic trees from a variety of real-world applications. Most of the diagrams and illustrations are new and improved. Explanations and procedures for constructing the logic trees are considerably simplified. Completely new to this edition is a unique graphical software application - Transformation Logic Trees, designed primarily to create thinking process logic trees and only secondarily for other flowcharting uses. Provided on the accompanying CD-ROM is a full-function, unrestricted copy of version 1.0 for new and experienced users of the thinking process alike to use in building their logic trees. Appendix J in the book provides more information on how to install and use the software.
444 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 28, 2010
Disclaimer: this book is effectively a training manual, and therefore its value is in giving you skills to practise. On that basis I can only review it (currently) having just finished reading it.
I'd put off reading this for a long time because of its apparently intimidating size and demanding. I was wrong on both counts: this book is not at all intimidating (extensive use of diagrams mean the text is much shorter than it looks), and the content is made extremely accessible.
TLTP teaches you to use logical reasoning and a system of "tree" diagrams, first shown in the business novel It's Not Luck. They are presented in the order they are intended to be used:
* Intermediate Objectives Map - to determine your goal and what you need to fulfil it
* Current Reality Tree - a watertight, logical breakdown of why you are deviating from your goal (gap analysis)
* Evaporating Cloud - one way of creating new ideas to resolve conflicts preventing you from achieving your goal
* Future Reality Tree - a rigorous way of determining if your new ideas will further your goals, and finding ways to make them positively reinforcing
* Prerequisite Tree - a planning activity that identifies tasks to implement your new ideas, and work around potential obstacles
What makes this book so accessible is that Dettmer gives a detailed description, with many examples, of how and why to apply logical thought processes. He has a great sense of written humour and uses this to break up some of the more difficult or dry points.
It is also entirely pragmatic. Dettmer seems almost pre-occupied with the idea that logical solutions to problems must include all parts of the solution - and if part of the problem is not boring your boss to death with logical reasoning, then that too must form part of the Logical Thinking Process. While I haven't tried, I have great confidence that all of the supporting ideas could be (or have been) worked through logically as problems in themselves.
The culmination of this is the priceless chapter Changing the Satus Quo. TLTP is littered with great quotes (which also serve to make the pace more manageable), but this starts with one of (IMHO) the most significant:
This is where the various theories of leadership and motivation are tied together. It's intended only as a primer, and has an extensive list of references. Despite that, it really completed the book for me. It's apparent by combining personal experience plus examples from this book, that the most common and significant problems in achieving organisational success are about the policies people either put in place or default to. Therefore, success hinges on understanding the combination of the logic, emotion, needs and wants of the people in the organisation.
I'd put off reading this for a long time because of its apparently intimidating size and demanding. I was wrong on both counts: this book is not at all intimidating (extensive use of diagrams mean the text is much shorter than it looks), and the content is made extremely accessible.
TLTP teaches you to use logical reasoning and a system of "tree" diagrams, first shown in the business novel It's Not Luck. They are presented in the order they are intended to be used:
* Intermediate Objectives Map - to determine your goal and what you need to fulfil it
* Current Reality Tree - a watertight, logical breakdown of why you are deviating from your goal (gap analysis)
* Evaporating Cloud - one way of creating new ideas to resolve conflicts preventing you from achieving your goal
* Future Reality Tree - a rigorous way of determining if your new ideas will further your goals, and finding ways to make them positively reinforcing
* Prerequisite Tree - a planning activity that identifies tasks to implement your new ideas, and work around potential obstacles
What makes this book so accessible is that Dettmer gives a detailed description, with many examples, of how and why to apply logical thought processes. He has a great sense of written humour and uses this to break up some of the more difficult or dry points.
It is also entirely pragmatic. Dettmer seems almost pre-occupied with the idea that logical solutions to problems must include all parts of the solution - and if part of the problem is not boring your boss to death with logical reasoning, then that too must form part of the Logical Thinking Process. While I haven't tried, I have great confidence that all of the supporting ideas could be (or have been) worked through logically as problems in themselves.
The culmination of this is the priceless chapter Changing the Satus Quo. TLTP is littered with great quotes (which also serve to make the pace more manageable), but this starts with one of (IMHO) the most significant:
There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things - Niccoló Machiavelli
This is where the various theories of leadership and motivation are tied together. It's intended only as a primer, and has an extensive list of references. Despite that, it really completed the book for me. It's apparent by combining personal experience plus examples from this book, that the most common and significant problems in achieving organisational success are about the policies people either put in place or default to. Therefore, success hinges on understanding the combination of the logic, emotion, needs and wants of the people in the organisation.
May 6, 2011
Some fat non-fiction books (especially those written by Americans) say the same thing over and over again, on thick paper, and that's what makes the book fat. I get the impression that they do that because they can charge more for a fat book than for a thin book.
This book is not like that. It is fat because it contains a lot of infomation. There is so much concentrated information, knowledge and insight in here, and I get new insights and approaches even by skipping ahead and paging through it sometimes, even though it is not supposed to be read like that, because one chapter builds on another (and I am only somewhere in the first chapters right now, in terms of reading it properly).
Because of this concentrated richness and value, I decided to commit sections of this book to memory as a bedtime activity.
This book is not like that. It is fat because it contains a lot of infomation. There is so much concentrated information, knowledge and insight in here, and I get new insights and approaches even by skipping ahead and paging through it sometimes, even though it is not supposed to be read like that, because one chapter builds on another (and I am only somewhere in the first chapters right now, in terms of reading it properly).
Because of this concentrated richness and value, I decided to commit sections of this book to memory as a bedtime activity.
February 14, 2010
I am too close to this book to be considered an unbiased reviewer... but I own everything Dettmer has written on this subject. Completed my "Jonah" training with the master Jonah's Jonah... and consider it a privilege to call Bill "friend".
If you can only afford one Dettmer book, this is it.
Set aside some time, as he has commented several times, his books are not fast reds by any stretch of imagination!
But they are thorough and worth every minute you spend...
If you can only afford one Dettmer book, this is it.
Set aside some time, as he has commented several times, his books are not fast reds by any stretch of imagination!
But they are thorough and worth every minute you spend...
March 9, 2022
This is an excellent book on the practical application of Theory of Constraints, with some updates and modifications brought about by years of practice.
If you’re in a traditional command and control company, everything here will be valuable. If you’re in a company that is moving beyond Command and control, the practices will still work, but some of the assumptions will feel off.
I have a few problems with an otherwise excellent book:
First, the unspoken assumption that extrinsic motivation is what makes people work, and that creating change in a company requires the use of performance management and behaviourism. Thankfully, that part of the book is both very short, and prefaced with a disclaimer that the psychological aspect of creating change is out of scope for this book.
Second, it also seems clear that Dettmer has not applied his work in industries that are predominately creative in nature. His presentation of the material assumes that your plan for change will work and have the desired impact, even going so far as to suggest you can turn the completed PRTs into a project plan. In my experience, that degree of certainty in future outcomes is impossible to achieve - plans for the future are probabilistic, not deterministic. The reason learning loops exist (PDCA, OODA, etc) is because our knowledge of the system will always be imperfect.
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy”
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
The plan may work. Aspects of it may work. But the entirety of it certainly won’t work as originally envisaged. There needs to be room for experimentation, learning, and adaptation in our plans for the future, and I don’t think he conveys that, at all.
Overall, a brilliant book on the application of the logical thinking tools from Theory of Constraints, with a few minor issues.
If you’re in a traditional command and control company, everything here will be valuable. If you’re in a company that is moving beyond Command and control, the practices will still work, but some of the assumptions will feel off.
I have a few problems with an otherwise excellent book:
First, the unspoken assumption that extrinsic motivation is what makes people work, and that creating change in a company requires the use of performance management and behaviourism. Thankfully, that part of the book is both very short, and prefaced with a disclaimer that the psychological aspect of creating change is out of scope for this book.
Second, it also seems clear that Dettmer has not applied his work in industries that are predominately creative in nature. His presentation of the material assumes that your plan for change will work and have the desired impact, even going so far as to suggest you can turn the completed PRTs into a project plan. In my experience, that degree of certainty in future outcomes is impossible to achieve - plans for the future are probabilistic, not deterministic. The reason learning loops exist (PDCA, OODA, etc) is because our knowledge of the system will always be imperfect.
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy”
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
The plan may work. Aspects of it may work. But the entirety of it certainly won’t work as originally envisaged. There needs to be room for experimentation, learning, and adaptation in our plans for the future, and I don’t think he conveys that, at all.
Overall, a brilliant book on the application of the logical thinking tools from Theory of Constraints, with a few minor issues.
February 19, 2022
Often dry to read irrespective of authors best effort to avoid it.
The author had 2 options
-either provide detailed ( but dry reading) step by step of Goldratt thinking process
-or simplify to make it a easy read.
Using evaporating cloud he may have resolved it into this book with best of both world. But unless you have read Goldratt's novel, it difficult to read through this gem of book though.
The best "clear and detailed theory" book if you are interested in Goldratt's thinking process. The summary at end of each chapter is so time saving for revision.
The author had 2 options
-either provide detailed ( but dry reading) step by step of Goldratt thinking process
-or simplify to make it a easy read.
Using evaporating cloud he may have resolved it into this book with best of both world. But unless you have read Goldratt's novel, it difficult to read through this gem of book though.
The best "clear and detailed theory" book if you are interested in Goldratt's thinking process. The summary at end of each chapter is so time saving for revision.
February 7, 2021
A wonderful collection of tools to know what to change, why to change, how to change, and hie to facilitate change within a system.
September 15, 2018
Nice but focus on niche application
Would have loved more engineering examples where feedback loops are more visible . But nonetheless very visual presentation so was easy to understand
Would have loved more engineering examples where feedback loops are more visible . But nonetheless very visual presentation so was easy to understand
July 2, 2010
Not really 'true' sentential logic but similar concepts for a systems approach to process improvement. A must read for anyone who needs 'rules for clear thinking' and doesn't want to read Descartes.
Read
October 12, 2015xvxvx
September 17, 2024
Life changing book. I understand ToC more deeply by the help of this book.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews