Rolling Rocks Downhill

It’s almost a year since I posted a glowing review of “The Phoenix Project” – a business novel, following in the footsteps of Goldratt’s “The Goal”, about continuous delivery. If you haven’t yet read it, then I’m going to recommend that you hold fire, and read “Rolling Rocks Downhill” by Clarke Ching instead.

I should point out that Clarke is a personal friend of mine and a fellow resident of Edinburgh, so I may be a little biased. But I don’t think that this is why I feel this way – it’s just that Clarke’s book feels more real. Both “Rolling rocks….” and “Phoenix…” have a common ancestor – “The Goal”; both apply the Theory of Constraints to an IT environment; and both lead eventually to triumph for the team and the lead protagonist.

There’s something decidedly european about Clarke’s book, which makes me feel more comfortable. The reactions of the characters were less cheesy and I really felt like people I know would behave in the manner described. (Maybe that’s because these characters really are based upon people I know ;)) There really are cultural differences between Europe and North America, and this book throws them into sharp relief. The inclusion of the familiar problems caused by repeated acquisitions and a distributed organisation only added to the feeling that this story actually described the real world, rather than an imaginary universe powered by wishful thinking. The only time that my patience wore thin was around the interventions of the “flowmaster”, Rob Lally, who is ironically a real person.

A truly useful addition in Clarke’s novel is the description of the Evaporating Cloud diagram, which (I now know) is one of the 6 thinking processes from the theory of constraints. For those of you, like me, unfamiliar with this, I hope it will serve as a launchpad into a new way of looking at the problems that you may be experiencing. I know it gave me a fresh tool with which to examine my current situation and consider how I might resolve seemingly irreconcilable conflicts.

In summary, a short, well written book  – cheap either in paperback or on the Kindle – consumed
 in a day, but resonating for weeks and months to come. Don’t wait – read it now!