Business Systems Books

I just finished this book and was simply amazed at how much I learned from such an interesting and easy to read book. Ms. Barrett was able to take complex issues and make them actually "fun" to read by the way she brought in real life stories as examples. This is a book that men and women should read because it raises one's awareness as to steps that each of us need to take to protect ourselves. I just bought a batch of the books so that i could give my family and friends a copy as I think everyone should read it! It is a gift that you can, and should, give to those you care about.

I was concerned that this book might be outdated - it's not. This book is about women taking care of themselves and consciously, smartly dealing with legal situations (business, relationship). As long as we're involved in life - we might as well know what we're getting into up front rather than at the end...when women often discover that we have blindly trusted the wrong things... (I had that experience and really wish I'd known then what I know now...) It's not the ideal, but it's reality - and it's better to learn up front than to spend months or years cleaning up the mess of 'Just signing here'. This a great book for any woman who wants to be taken care of in her life. This will help ensure that you are. (Please, please don't sign anything without reading AND consulting an attorney AND understanding what you're reading.)

This book is a must read for any woman one who is in a relationship, married, single, owns a home, a business, or works. Marilyn Barrett explains how we can prevent making bad and often times disasterous decisions based on the glow of a relationship. This is "real world" information that can protect us from losing everything while providing tips on how to keep our financial futures secure.

As a single, twenty-something female, I have found this book very useful. Marilyn Barrett tells us the things that our parents and teachers don't, but are necessary to protect ourselves out in the "big, bad world." I've found this book particularly helpful right now because I am looking to buy my first condo and Marilyn Barrett's advice about home ownership is invaluable.

I am in the middle of a divorce and a friend recommended I read this book. I found it indispensable in helping me deal with the divorce realistically and strong. This is a "call to arms" for women to take charge of their lives and take care of themselves and their children. I am recommending it to every woman I know.

This is one of those rare books that makes it points clearly and then guides your through exercises that reinforce its key messages.

I found the book incredibly helpful in preparing realistic plans that set you up for success. I have used it extensively to help me design major projects and I am well on my way toward measurable success on those goals.

Make Success Measurable tells you how to set business goals that matter for shareholders, customers, and employees. That is good advice, and it is backed up by "workbook" exercises that help you focus on what is really important. The "mindbook-workbook" format makes room for exercises that you can work on with your colleagues at the office. I found that the "mindbook" portion held my interest as an individual reader. I started getting REALLY interested about halfway through the book when Smith introduced the concept of "working arenas" - the different groupings of people (sometimes in multiple companies) that are necessary to achieve these goals. Smith explains that you need to shape your goals and methods to fit the appropriate working arena, rather than a pre-set corporate structure. If you work in a complex organization, you should read this book and apply its lessons.

I would compare Make Success Measurable very favorably to the Kaplan and Norton book on The Balanced Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard tends to be vague and anecdotal on the subject of how to set measurable goals, and it is hard to finish. In contrast, Smith packs his book with original analysis and specific recommendations on topics like "Vertical versus Horizontal Management Disciplines" and "Injecting Creative and Personal Tension into Goals". The Balanced Scorecard presents a four way cause and effect chain from employees through process improvements, customers, and shareholders. Make Success Measurable presents a three way performance cycle as including employees who provide value to customers who provide rewards to shareholders...who provide rewards to employees and so on. The "process" piece doesn't appear in Smith's analysis, because focusing on process measures doesn't necessarily help anyone. In fact, it is a trap that can lead to meaningless work. Smith encourages us to focus on "outcomes" - measures that matter directly to employees, customers, and shareholders. This brings us quickly to reality and hopefully to consensus with our colleagues. Get real. Get this book.

You can rarely pick up a job description in the public or private sector that does not include a statement seeking "demonstrated experience and success working with the principles of quality management and a commitment to customer service." One of the cornerstones to quality management is the ability to focus on outcomes instead of activities.

Make Success Measurable is filled with practical techniques. Even more, it is a workbook, providing opportunities to apply new concepts to real work. Whether you want to be able to create more focus within your own work unit, be able to demonstrate tangible results to your manager, prioritize your own work by aligning your day to day activities with the most important initiatives, or coach customers who are seeking your expertise in developing performance measures, this book can help.

As a result of reading this book and trying the exercises, you should be able to:

1) Convert new visions, strategies, and directions into achievable outcome-based goals that can better yourself and others in your organization.

2) Set goals that are specific, measurable, aggressive, achievable, relevant, and time bound. (SMART Goals)

3) Set goals that matter to those expecting a return on their funding dollars.

4) Set goals that matter to you personally in terms of opportunities, rewards, and skills.

5) Choose from a variety of management disciplines to achieve your goals.

6) Set goals that matter to customers who want speed, quality, and prompt service.

"I believe you will benefit from this book because the challenge of setting and achieving performance goals has become very confusing". Douglas K. Smith writes, "It has been more than 30 years since Peter Drucker wrote about the importance of managing for results. His work led to the widespread practice of management by objective. But an awful lot has happened in the past 30 years. The world of business and organizations has changed dramatically, turning many of Drucker's specifics (though not his wisdom) upside down. In the aftermath of total quality, customer service, time-based competition, strategic alliances, globalization, reengineering, core competencies, continuous improvement, innovation, teams, horizontal organization, benchmarking, best place to work, information technology, diversity, environmentalism, deregulation and reregulation, eCommerce, and privatization, those of us left standing in today's organizations are unsure about what performance goals and outcomes make the most difference and why. We know that setting performance goals is key to managing ourselves and others, but we no longer know how".

Douglas K. Smith organizes his book in four parts. In the first part (Chapters 1-4), he provides the background, concepts, tools, techniques, and frameworks you need to set specific outcome-based goals that matter to successfully navigate today's most pressing performance challenges. In the second part (Chapters 5-7), he focuses on helping you align and coordinate goals throughout your organization. In the third part (Chapters 8-10), he describes the management disciplines you need to achieve your goals and how to make choices among them. In the fourth part (Chapter 11), he concludes the book with a step-by-step design for building an outcomes management system in your organization.

In this context, in Chapter 10, he reviews the management disciplines you must understand in order to succeed in the face of change, and introduces the critical distinction between decision-diven change and behavior-driven change, and describes how to manage each successfully. Hence, he argues that most change efforts fall far short of their potential. Usually that's because leaders fail to address the deep behavioral changes they are seeking. And thus, he lists the following ten management principles as the heart of any successful change effort:

1. Keep performance results the primary objective of behavior and skill change.

2. Continually increase the number of individuals taking responsibility for their own change.

3. Make sure that each person always knows why his or her performance and change matters to the purpose and results of the whole organization.

4. Put people in a position to learn by doing and provide them with the information and support they need just in time to perform.

5. Embrace improvisation as the best path to both performance and change.

6. Use team performance to drive change whenever demanded.

7. Concentrate organizational designs on the work that people do, not on the decision-making authority they have.

8. Create and focus energy and meaningful language because these are the scarcest resources during periods of change.

9. Stimulate and sustain behavior-driven change by harmonizing initiatives throughout the organization.

10. Practice leadership based on the courage to live the change you wish to bring about.

Finally, he argues that if you expect others to change their behavior, you have to change yours. It's as simple and as hard as that.

I strongly recommend.

Make Success Measurable! is definitely becoming the Bible at work. Very well written, and Smith's ideas are well-supported. We've received positive feedback from clients, and we've expanded our client base because of this good word-of-mouth. I strongly recommend Make Success Measurable! It's as good as Guerilla PR: Wired, which focuses on techniques to getting solid public relations coverage, especially nowadays.

Mr. Kasanoff's book is a great way to open eyes. Whether its within your own corporation or your clients, this book is a great place to get literate about the intersection of privacy issues, 1-to-1/relationship marketing and customer experience. In addition to sketching out scenarios that bring the issues to life, Kasanoff shares helpful frameworks, both tactical and strategic, to help make the connections to your own business issues. I highly recommend reading it and I also recommend using it as a corporate educational tool.

An enjoyable and provocative read, but very importantly, Bruce adjusts the dial and focuses a great deal on stakeholders and employees, who are, after all, critical elements in the achievement of customer satisfaction,loyalty, and profitability.

Bruce provides lots of examples personalization and privacy (and the lack thereof) that make one gasp, think, and question some of the longer term ramifications. He also offers some reasonable solutions and guidelines to help companies prevent a privacy faux pas.

Your next visit to the grocery store, weekend getaway, or web site will never be the same after you read this book!

Enjoy and beware!

I started jotting down some one-word descriptions of
Making It Personal while I was reading it-

Insightful
Readable
Practical
Creative
Compelling
Important
Entertaining

But then I forgot about taking notes. I guess I'll just
have to add Absorbing to my list.

Bruce does a wonderful job of presenting personalization
and privacy issues in an amazingly accessible way. It's
not pedantic. It's not ominous. It's not dry. Besides
being extremely topical, it's a darned good read.

Here's an idea: Forget about the web personalization that makes Amazon such a wonderful site, or that has writers from Wired still breathing heavily, and instead imagine a world where personal memory is "everywhere" -- where your every conversation, trip, purchase, phone call, or jog with the dog is recorded, turned into a data file, and shared with parties beyond your control. Kasanoff explores this world, and notes that it's coming the day after tomorrow. This book is one-third business strategy guide, two-thirds global forecast, and the tale is plausible enough that executives who read it may want to pull the CEO aside at the holiday party.

Consider:

- Data trails are proliferating, and most companies have no plans in place to manage the privacy, legal, ethical, moral, managerial or competitive impacts of this information boom.

- A plan requires anticipating new privacy laws -- and there are ways to do this by examining history and the fundamental constructs of personal protection legislation.

- Acting on information can provide the economic benefits outlined in every 1to1 book or CRM software manual, but success requires self-critique. There are proven models to gauge your firm's ability to succeed with new products and services.

- Personalization means moving beyond technology to carefully migrate to a diverse business system, where complexity is constrained to keep costs to a minimum and modular capabilities change everything from product design to employee behavior.

These ideas are powerful. Along the way, Kasanoff shares stories about data pitfalls and exercises that inspire a team meeting at the nearest coffee shop. Consultants can always explain which way the wind is headed, but for a look at the weather beyond the next quarter, I recommend this book.

There are very few books on the personalization issue so far. This is one of them. And it's very good.

The central DILEMMA of Kasanoff's book is this:
No one can enjoy the benefits of personalization if he is not willing to share the personal information necessary to make those benefits possible. And yet, by sharing that information, the person is risking his privacy in the bargain.

And the issue is much more complicated than most publications suggest: "Just as different customers have different needs from your business, different people have different levels of sensitivity with respect to protecting their own privacy".

Kasanoff refers to a story that we have all already heard, but this time it has a different ending: "We would all like to get back to the old-fashioned service where you return to your local merchant and he remembers that you buy large white eggs and that you like a special kind of fabric. But we wouldn't think so wistfully about this type of relationship if the merchant had run off and shared intimate details of your life with the blacksmith, the saloon owner, and the dressmaker".

Here are the four primary INDIVIDUAL BENEFITS OF PERSONALIZATION:
1. SAVE TIME: Eliminate repetitive tasks; remember transactional details; and recognize habits.
2. SAVE MONEY: Prevent redundant work; eliminate service components unnecessary to the person; identify lower cost solutions that meet all other specifications.
3. BETTER INFORMATION: Provide training; filter out information not relevant to a person; provide more specific information that is increasingly relevant to a person's interests; increase the reliability of information; replace "average" information with information specific to that person's environment.
4. ADDRESS ONGOING NEEDS, CHALLENGES, OR OPPORTUNITIES: Provide one-stop services; allow flexibility in work hours, job responsibilities, and benefits; accommodate unique personal preferences; recognize and reward achievement with special treatment.

Here are 11 WAYS TO MAKE IT PERSONAL, i.e. this is how a firm can deliver the benefits of personalization:
1. COMBINE: Merge information a person already has with that of others, to provide additional insights.
2. COMPARE: Show how prices, quality, or specifications of one option match up to others.
3. CONNECT: In most large firms, data exist in "silos" or departments. Firms can connect this data, providing a more accurate picture of the firm's interactions with that person. The flip side of this is that connecting previous disparate data removes a level of privacy.
4. EXPLAIN: Clarify how, when, or why to use a product or service, or to perform a task, precisely when a person needs such help.
5. FIND: Locate a person, product, or service based on supplied specifications.
6. MONITOR: Track the status of events, news, or actions of others.
7. RECOMMEND: Suggest a course of action based on historical data, the current environment, or predictive models.
8. REMEMBER: Most people are still more frustrated about what firms forget about them than what they remember. Mantra: "Never make a customer tell us the same thing twice".
9. REVEAL: Highlight a pattern or conclusion that was not previously evident.
10. SORT: Change the order or grouping of information, making it easier for people to see patterns.
11. TRIGGER: Prompt an action when certain criteria are met, such as the purchase of an item when its price falls below $150.

Finally, Kasanoff suggests that by making two changes in the ways employees are compensated; any company can simultaneously become more profitable and achieve the right balance between privacy and personalization.

Change #1: COMPENSATE EMPLOYEES TO SATISFY MORE NEEDS OF EXISTING CUSTOMERS.
In Kasanoff's experience - and I agree -, most privacy abuses stem from efforts by firms to use personal information to acquire new customers, not to better serve existing customers.

Change #2: DEVELOP MODULAR CAPABILITIES
To make the first change, companies need to accommodate the differences between individuals. Mass customization or Modular capabilities make it profitable for a firm to support personalized relationships. Customization becomes routine and cost-efficient, and in many cases costs will go down, not up. Much of the savings comes from the elimination of waste and the reduction of inventory levels.

Kasanoff was one of the original partners of the Peppers & Rogers Group that coined the term "one-to-one".

Having May 2004 finalised my Graduate Diploma in E-business with a thesis on Online Personalization, I must say that this book was one of my key sources, especially on the complex issue of balancing Personalization, Privacy and Profit.

If you're really interested in personalization, you may want to read my online review of: "The Power of One: Gaining Business Value from Personalization Technologies" by Nirmal Pal, Arvind Rangaswamy (2003).

A final quote from the foreword by Peppers & Rogers:
"Big brother is almost here. His sister is the telemarketing operator who called you during dinner last night. His nephew runs a sweepstakes and magazine-subscription service just outside of London. The same rapid advances in information technology that are pushing businesses into a new paradigm of competition - the one-to-one marketing paradigm - are simultaneously generating more and more opportunities for the abuse of consumer privacy by mass marketers. Making databases of sensitive, individual consumer information available to marketers interested only in next quarter's sales is like providing chain saws to a tribe of slash-and-burn farmers."

Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business

The husband and wife team has made another excellent book. I specially liked the way the authors moved the most important (from my viewpoint) topics first. I and probably hundreds of students here in Manila use their book and it's an outstanding source of information.

Used this book with a group of 18 managers on a management course. All acclaimed it as a very easy to understand book, very well written and comprehsive.

For business students this bok may give you an excellent updated view of Information Systems.

okokok

How Information Use The Information System

The rapid development of technologies that enable superior program and project management has been accompanied by quality research on the impact of both the technologies and project management itself. Russ Archibald has successfully integrated the results of this research into a coherent platform for progress. The third edition is loaded with fresh new insights that reflect both the progress that has already been made and the crystal clear thinking we have come to expect from Russ Archibald. It Is the most definitive formula available for success in high technology.

This is a great resource for all those interested in improving their project management skills. The author will guide you through entire process from organizing the project to closing it out. This book is a must for anyone involved in managing high-tech projects.

As a project manager, I am always looking for helpful resources to stay ahead of the game. This book focuses on dealing with the high-tech end of project management---a focus I've been having some problems grappling. This book is great go-to guide & provides a clear vision on how to manage more complex projects. I'm glad a colleague recommended it.

This is a stellar resource for all project managers as well as for executives who need to understand how to configure the project management office within their organization. Russ Archibald is a leading light in the field, and this third edition is stronger than ever.

Archibald has done it again. This is not your normal "Xth Ed.". It is a significant rewrite of the prior edition and more importantly contains much new material delivered in Archbald's clear, concise, insightful style. This not a book with academic content or one written by a "consultant". It is writtten by a project manager whose been in the trenches with the work (read project) for over 40 years AND still is. The work contains much "true fact" and in addition several adds in areas that previously have not been addressed in ANY publication to my knowledge; an example is the addition of the material on "What an executive/manager can and should expect of his project managers. There are special notes on this subject throughtout the book. NET CONCLUSION: Grizzled or experienced, managing it or doing it or did it - you can't afford to be without it. What Archibald writes of will assuredly happen to you sooner or later; forewarned is forearmed - - - and he provides both!!

Using the Profit Maximization Techniques developed by Walt Thrun will allow any production facility to calculate their maximum profit obtainable. Now there is no need to guess what your optimum product mix should be for your plant, what Capital Projects to implement, what your budget and forecast should be. This has the potential to revolutionize productivity as we measure it today. Let's quit getting better at doing the wrong things and start doing the right things.

As an engineer in a manufacturing environment I loved the book because it quantitatively expresses the contribution that engineers make to the bottom line. This book will definitely be popular with SME and AIIE. I have been fighting the standard cost battle for years, knowing that it didn't work, but not knowing exactly why or be able to offer an alternative. This book nails both of these issues down in succinct fashion. This book is a real winner!

Imagine having a tool that could make quantum leaps in company profitability with no added capital investment, cost reduction, or product price increases. It's about working smarter, not harder. It's about using existing manufacturing resources to make the most of the one resource every manufacturing operation shares: time. Within this text lies that tool, evidenced not only in my reading of the book, but in my application of its concepts. Like any tool, it will only be effective when the reader moves past reading the directions to putting the tool into action.

This easy-to-read book offers a refreshing new look at non-traditional methods to measure manufacturing performance in terms all decision makers can understand...profit! Armed with readily available computer tools, Walt Thrun confidently and logically assaults conventional thinking and methods in performance measurement and leads the reader to obvious conclusions about the relationship between constraints and profitability. Such measures as "overhead absorbtion, cost allocation and plant utilization" are replaced with "profit optimization, contribution maximation and return on investment". He demonstrates, in detail, how to quantitatively measure the impact of strategic decisions and manufacturing improvements on the bottom line. The concept that local optimization results in global optimization is effectively debunked. The concepts of this book are consistant with the body of knowledge described by the American Society for Quality for Quality Engineer and Quality Manager certification. This book is a "must read" for ASQ members and other quality professionals interested in quantifiable measurement of process improvements.

Walt's book brings together some important elements of Engineering Economy, Operations Research, and more recent works that stem from the The Goal and Theory of Constraints. However, Walt concentrates primarily on the strategic planning facet and leaves detailed scheduling and capacity analysis to other works. He uses "total contribution" and "total system ROI" as the criteria and introduces "integrative reasoning" as a philosophy to optimize product mix and evaluate a variety of tactical and strategic options. This philosophy is presented in a single, continuous case that extends through the entire book, becoming stronger as it flows from example to example and chapter to chapter. The progressive case study is a chain of tightly related examples which evaluate and rank strategies for product mix, productivity improvements, outsourcing, contract manufacturing, capital planning, budgeting, acquisitions, and multi-plant synergy.

After reading lots of of other current works and spending time on the job, one still may not learn the key lessons carried in this one book.

The late writer-director Edward Bernds has become a familiar name to movie comedy fans, through his association with The Three Stooges, The Bowery Boys, the Blondie series, and a host of other comedy stars. But Mr. Bernds made his reputation as a recording engineer during the early-talkie years, and was the number-one sound man at Columbia Pictures until he took on more creative duties.

This book chronicles Bernds's early years, from his first radio jobs through his successful association with director Frank Capra. Bernds was a stickler for accuracy, and drew upon his old diaries to confirm his excellent memory for facts and faces. He was just as careful to spell things out for the reader, explaining a technical process or a business practice to amplify the point he was making. Bernds's attention to detail makes for good, solid reading.

This writer was disappointed that the book stops when the author stopped working as a soundman. But it's understandable because Bernds, in his thoroughness, would have written a mammoth volume if his entire career were to be discussed. Joseph McBride recognizes the "missing" material by appending a more general interview with Bernds, conducted by McBride and Leonard Maltin.

Film buffs and historians will enjoy "Mr. Bernds." For those who want Bernds's observations and recollections of his Three Stooges years, read "The Columbia Comedy Shorts" by Ted Okuda and Edward Watz.

Edward Bernd's autobiography is a wonderful insight into the life and career of a Hollywood talent whose career lay behind the camera.

The book only covers the first half of his life, from his childhood in Chicago to his career as a top sound engineer at Columbia Studios. Bernds' engineering career encompassed the films of Frank Capra (Capra always requested Ed for his team), the many classics of Moe, Larry and Curly, and many major Columbia feature productions through 1945.

The reader is left wanting more, particularly the details of Bernds' new post-1945 career of writer and director for the Three Stooges, the Blondie series, the Bowery Boys and Elvis Presley. But, that's another book. Right, Ed?

Have you ever dreamed you could make it big in Hollywood? Countless dreams have been shattered in this town, but one young man made it, and this is his story. Rarely will one encounter a more modest telling of a life's story. Yet Ed's tale rings so true and so right that you can't help but be drawn in. From making a crystal radio set as a teen, to snaring the top sound position with Frank Capra, Mr. Bernds entertains, informs, and delights us in the telling.

One of the reasons why this book is so fresh is that its author works not just from memory, but from detailed diaries. The tale of his trip west to Hollywood in a broken down jalopy fairly crackles. Genuinely good story telling accents this lively account of the early talkie era. Recommended to anyone who would enjoy a stroll through the inside of Hollywood, spoken by a real movie sound pioneer.

Have you ever dreamed you could make it big in Hollywood? Countless dreams have been shattered in this town, but one young man made it, and this is his story. Rarely will one encounter a more modest telling of a life's story. Yet Ed's tale rings so true and so right that you can't help but be drawn in. From making a crystal radio set as a teen, to snaring the top sound position with Frank Capra, Mr. Bernds entertains, informs, and delights us in the telling.

One of the reasons why this book is so fresh is that its author works not just from memory, but from detailed diaries. The tale of his trip west to Hollywood in a broken down jalopy fairly crackles. Genuinely good story telling accents this lively account of the early talkie era. Recommended to anyone who would enjoy a stroll through the inside of Hollywood, spoken by a real movie sound pioneer.

When Hollywood first started to shine golden, Ed Bernds was there. He knew and worked with the stars, the directors and the writers, and contributed no little himself to Hollywood's Golden Age. In "Mr. Bernds Goes To Hollywood," Ed tells -- with near total recall -- of his journey to the movie capital in the earliest days of sound (which was his speciality) and of his career at Columbia Studios, the King of "Poverty Row," with the likes of Frank Capra, Clark Gable and the feared studio head Harry Cohn. In telling his story, Bernds invokes a bygone era of Hollywood glamor with an inside knowledge that few today possess. Necessary books on Hollywood are few and far between, but "Mr. Bernds Goes To Hollywood" fills the bill.

This book discusses most aspects of network design to an impressive level of detail. No fast answers are given as is appropriate for a design book. The author's approach is such that he immediately commands the readers respect and from what I have seen is only matched by Cormac Long's design book. The only gripe I might have is that I found the style a tad long-winded at times, since I personally prefer books to be as concise as possible.

this book has cleared up a lot of clouds in my mind about Internetworking concept as well as router/switch issues. Thanks, Howard.

I really like this book. Despite a slight tendancy to ramble, Berkowitz style is very enjoyable, humourous at times, and he explains everything in detail. This is a book geared towrds understanding the concepts of routing and switching, rather than analyzing everything from the manufacturers viewpoint. As a result, you get a firm understanding of the fundamentals. Where appropriate, he does discuss manufacturer specific design/philosphy (e.g. cisco, nortel, etc.), but for the most part it's completely independent of that. Hence, this is useful regardless of what gear you're using. This is a must for every network engineer's library.

Delightful might seem like a strange word to describe a technical book, but it's exactly what I mean to say. I find myself being delighted with Howard's unique way of presenting the essence of a network technology. I hear myself say "ah hah, that's what all that incomprehensible text in those other books meant!" Howard uses analogies and real-life examples to ensure that the reader really understands the basics and the details. Great book for learning routing and switching architecture design.

This book is incredible. Howard speaks with a voice of absolute authority. He presents all sides of the issues and leaves the reader to come to his/her own conclusions. He is obviously a master of his craft, and reading this book is sheer pleasure. It would be a fantastic book if it was comprised of dry text and facts, but that's far from the case: this book was written by a man who understands the writer's prerogative to keep his audience awake and entertained. To my knowledge a better book on network design does not exist. Highest recommendation.

The New Lean Pocket Guide XL is a great addition to our training materials. This larger size, new topics on Lean Office and Six Sigma, and most importantly, the numerous digital photos makes this book a benchmark in the industry. We distribute these in all our training sessions. We even discuss the photos and have found ideas for improvements just by looking at them. It's nice to have a book that is this concise, does not clutter information up with case studies (as everyone has one), and has those photo examples upon which to "see" and then "do". A book that does distinguishes itself from the others!

I have purchased nearly every Lean book that has been published over the past 10 years, including The Lean Pocket Guide (MCS Media, Inc.) and found this book to be the best value on the market from current materials available. I like the larger print (in the 5" by 7" format), the new topics that were included, but most significantly, the actual photos of Lean manufacturing practices. The photos that were included have assisted our continuous improvement teams already. Seeing the picture of the Heijunka board for planning on page 26 allowed us to modify our entire shop floor scheduling visual system to emulate something similar to what this displayed. Many other photos that were included also are giving us great ideas for future kaizen events. Great addition to the world of Lean books! Lean Lean Trainer, Sycor Manufacturing, Inc.

I had purchased The Lean Pocket Guide over a year ago and recently purchased The New Lean Pocket Guide XL. Both are superb Lean references. What I do like about the XL version, including the new chapers on Lean Office, Six Sigma, is the Glossary of Lean Terms and the Waste Audit. But most of all what I found most beneficial were the actual photos placed throughout demonstrating many of the Lean tools. Many books just offer illustrations, The New Lean Pocket Guide XL shows Lean in action in various manufacturing operations. The book does it for me. I will be purchasing these for all my managers and supervisors (the associates already have The Lean Pocket Guide). An excellent enhancement of an already great book!
Continuous Improvement Coordinator, BA Systems, Inc.

This book is a handy collection of all the lean tools you can think of. Each tool is described clearly and simply in a couple of pages with a step by step guide for implementation. You probably need to have a background understanding of lean and its principles to use book but it is a handy reference of all the tools. It lacks overview material on the history and philosophy of lean, and it would be useful to have a clearer description of how to fit the tools together (perhaps some flow charts of what to use when etc). In summary then, great description of lean tools; lacks the background on lean and how to deploy it as a philosophy.

I like the format of this handbook and it is definitely easy to use, it gives simple explanations on the concepts and tools of Lean. I would definitely purchase copies for my process improvement team. I would also use it to teach lean concepts in my company.

Dr. Wright's presentation of the nation's first national debt is both engrossing and informative. Perhaps it is his background as an historian, but regardless, his presentation of economics is straightforward and makes for a good read from the layperson's point of view.

Wright shows Alexander Hamilton as the genius that he truly was. While critics of Hamilton tend to focus on his behind-the-scenes machinations during the 1800 election, Wright allows Hamilton's financial wizardry (which should be this founder's true legacy) to shine. Indeed, Hamilton grasped that a national debt and the eventual assumption of states' debts was necessary not only for the new nation to survive practically, but to maintain its international public credit.

I would recommend reading this book in concert with John Miller's biography on Alexander Hamilton, Portrait in Paradox. Both authors show that Hamilton was well ahead of his time.

The chapters read easily, with an early focus on the Dutch and English international finance models of the early and late 18th century. The chapter entitled "Life," which concentrates on a few individual Virgina debt holders, is also engrossing. Wright spotlights the stories of a few individual patriots to show that these debtholders were just as vital to the nation, with their willingness to take a chance on the early United States, as was both France and Holland in their initial financing of the War of Independence.

All in all, a great read.

Dr. Dennis Edwards
Associate Professor of Economics

Anyone intersted in US history will enjoy this book, it was an easy read on what I thought would be a complicated subject.

The author keeps the subject interesting by mixing the "big picture" of international finance with political skullduggery at home and shines more light on the much maligned Alexander Hamilton's role in safeguarding America's first years.

This book provides rare insight into the financial foundations of the US economy. Supporting data, trends, and documentation add additional color to this thoughtful commentary on early american economic history. This obviously knowledgeable author writes in a very readeable style. The book was fantastically insightful.

Why do governments go into debt ? How do they pay for it ? Is that debt a good thing or a bad thing; that is to say, is a national debt a blessing or a curse ? Just what was the breakdown and nature of America's first national debt ? These are just some of the questions answered in Robert Wright's latest work.
It would not be bad bet to wager that few of us in the United States know how and why we incurred our first national debt. Maybe more importantly, even fewer of us probably realize just how much there is to contrast between now and then. Just after the adoption of our Constitution, our debt became, under the care and genius of a young Alexander Hamilton, a relatively temporary and useful tool for putting the credit of the United States on solid footing with Europe; while simultaneously serving as a a positive example to our merchants and businessmen, on whom so much of our finances were dependent. Today, our debt would appear to be nothing more than something for career politicans to continually run up for the sake of votes. Indeed, in today's modern American Nanny State, our so-called care takers seem to have no thought to paying the debt down, nevermind off. A far cry from some 200 years ago ! In Robert Wright's new book, such unfortunate differencees between now and then become all too clear.
There is even something for the more socially minded Historian in Wright's breakdown of those who were our nation's very first creditors. He sheds light on just who these first true patriots were.
In sum, this is a well written book on a very important subject matter.

Bob Wright's tenth book proves once again his keen ability to link our economic history to present trends. In these times of economic instability, one owes it to oneself to become educated. This does not mean education in regard to the current and near future "guesses" of what may come financially, but more importantly on how we have arrived here.
A must read. Regards... Michael W. Vasta