Books like The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

01

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

Gino Wickman · Business

Traction introduces the Entrepreneurial Operating System, a practical framework for running a small to mid-sized business with more clarity, accountability, and traction.

Shares operations and strategy with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

02

The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford · Business

The Phoenix Project is a business novel — structured like The Goal, which it explicitly acknowledges — that applies the Theory of Constraints and lean manufacturing principles to IT operations and software delivery.

Shares operations and systems thinking with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

03

The Lean Startup

Eric Ries · Business

The Lean Startup is Eric Ries's argument that the biggest cause of startup failure is not building the wrong product — it's spending months or years building something before finding out whether anyone wants it.

A kindred business read.

04

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt · Business

Good Strategy Bad Strategy is Richard Rumelt's indictment of the strategic planning process as it is practiced in most organizations, and his articulation of what genuine strategy actually requires.

Both dig into strategy.

05

Rework

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson · Business

Rework is Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson's deliberately provocative argument against most conventional wisdom about building a business.

Shares operations and strategy with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

06

The Lean Manager

Michael Ballé and Freddy Ballé · Business

The Lean Manager is a business novel that follows Andy Ward, a plant manager struggling to turn around a failing automotive components facility.

Shares operations and manufacturing with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

07

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer · Business

No Rules Rules is Reed Hastings's account of the management philosophy that has governed Netflix since the company pivoted from DVDs to streaming and built one of the most watched entertainment platforms in the world.

Shares operations and strategy with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

08

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

Verne Harnish · Business

Scaling Up is Verne Harnish's update to his earlier Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, substantially revised and expanded to cover the full range of challenges a company faces as it grows from a small entrepreneurial team to a scaled organization.

Shares operations and strategy with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

09

The E-Myth Revisited

Michael E. Gerber · Business

The E-Myth Revisited is Michael Gerber's diagnosis of why most small businesses fail — not because their owners lack technical skill, but because they confuse being good at a craft with knowing how to run a business.

Shares operations and systems thinking with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

10

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Brad Stone · Business

The Everything Store is Brad Stone's account of Amazon's founding and growth from a book retailer to one of the most powerful companies in the world.

Shares operations and strategy with The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.

11

Accelerate

Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim · Business

Accelerate is the research-backed account of what actually makes software delivery teams fast without sacrificing stability.

Both dig into continuous improvement.

12

An Elegant Puzzle

Will Larson · Business

An Elegant Puzzle is Will Larson's guide to the craft of engineering management, written from his experience leading engineering teams at Digg, Uber, and Stripe.

Both dig into systems thinking.