Isn’t it Obvious

Retailing and the Theory of Constraints

By: Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Ilan Eshkoli, Joe Brownleer

Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith

A breakthrough solution is exposed when some unexpected events force Caroline and Paul, a married couple working for their family's retail business, to make a few small changes in the way things are done. A solution that propels the family's regional chain of stores into a very profitable, rapidly growing, international enterprise.

If there is a hint of Jonah, from The Goal, reappearing in this novel, it is Henry, the soon-to-retire president and majority owner of the company who logically states that, "if you do not deal directly with the core problem, don't expect significant improvement."

Eli Goldratt's Theory of Constraints is woven throughout this book but answers are not handed to you. The listener, along with the characters in the book, work through the process together to discover solutions. The elegant but simple solutions give the listener that sensation that followers love about Goldratt: "Ah-ha! Now I get it!" And that's when Goldratt says: "Isn't It Obvious?"

©2009 Eliyahu M. Goldratt (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Start with The Goal

The Goal walks you through the concepts in a way that makes them easier to grasp. Beyond the goal updates and expands them. To some extent, everything else is reiteration, applying the concepts to different situations. They're all worth reading.

Retail Franchising 101

Loved this. Finished it in 3 outdoor walks. Breakthrough lesson in Retail .Just. sad Goldratt will not be writing any more.

great read!

This book is a must read for anybody in retail, a very different way of thinking about retail and supply chain.

Retail wonders of ToC

I like how this book grows the principles of ToC from scratch again, now starting at the other end of the supply chain.

Great book

It should be read after "The Goal". "It's not luck" and "critical chain" is not required to understand the principles in this book, but I'd still recommend reading them eventually.
This book applies the principles from the goal to retail and, by doing so, essentially shows how they can be used in any business.
Make work pull based and limit work in progress: Start with the bottleneck and then bubble it up the chain as the new bottleneck reveals itself.