The Goal
The Goal by Eliyahu Goldrattby Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox and Ensemble cast and Dwight Jon Zimmerman
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 24 business books by recommenders
Recommended as a clear introduction to process and systems thinking, applying to manufacturing and software alike. One critic found it hard to get interested in.
Recommended as a clear introduction to process and systems thinking, applying to manufacturing and software alike. One critic found it hard to get interested in.
24 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Essential business book on just-in-time
“it's also the most useful business book you'll ever read”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “If you thought the code writing speed was your problem; you have bigger problems” “is a key business book for a reason”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “AI coding agents generate more code, but not more software” “classic business book on just-in-time”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Memory prices climb 500% in 12 months, up to 10x the lowest ever tracked prices” Useful beyond manufacturing, applies to software
“It discusses how to optimize large distributed systems in the context of manufacturing but I think it widely applies to any complex production system including software.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: Are most corporate SWE jobs performative?” “I highly recommend that book to anyone, even if you've read its IT equivalent”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “The Gorman Paradox: Where Are All the AI-Generated Apps?” Best intro to process and systems thinking
“I think The Goal remains the best intro to process and systems thinking.”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What's a book that fundamentally altered your mental models” “One of the clearest thinkers I had the privilege of knowing was Dr. Eli Goldratt”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: How do I re-train myself to think clearly?” Changes how people view management goals
“two books that made it almost impossible for me to deal with management "goals" at large corporations anymore”
Comment from 26 Jul 2026 in “The AI Productivity Illusion” “the goal of every firm is to make money, and everything is intermediate to that”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “If you thought the code writing speed was your problem; you have bigger problems”
Other business books people recommend
The four most recommended other business books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Gervais Principleby Venkatesh Rao | 32 | 6 | 84% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The Lean Startupby Eric Ries | 32 | 6 | 84% | 5 | 10 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Incorruptibleby Eric RIES | 23 | 11 | 68% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Goalby Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox and Ensemble cast and Dwight Jon ZimmermanThis page | 21 | 3 | 88% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Never Split the Differenceby Chris Voss and Tahl Raz | 13 | 2 | 87% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
All 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“By not limiting WIP they are actually making their employees less efficient.”
“is a key business book for a reason”
“classic business book on just-in-time”
“I've always struggled to get interested in this very popular book.”
“The about page has a very low signal-to-noise ratio. All you get is five first names.”
“The project looks very impressive!”
“two books that made it almost impossible for me to deal with management "goals" at large corporations anymore”
“old PS games were shipped in a proprietary dialect (GOAL) and had very good performance.”
“/goal is a gimmick where you run a "parent" agent on top of the agent”
“It's useful for things where it just needs to get through to completion.”
“each time /goal had a small or insignificant impact”
“/goal has replaced plan mode for me.”
“Not enough people read The Goal.”
“It discusses how to optimize large distributed systems in the context of manufacturing but I think it widely applies to any complex production system including software.”
“I admit I was much more impressed by GOAL though”
“the goal of every firm is to make money, and everything is intermediate to that”
“it's also the most useful business book you'll ever read”
“To understand why, I recommend the book The Goal”
“Goldratt wrote an entire book largely on this topic”
“The Goal was such a fun read”
“I think The Goal remains the best intro to process and systems thinking.”
“One of the clearest thinkers I had the privilege of knowing was Dr. Eli Goldratt”
“if you don't have the patience for the full book, watch the movie, it's not too long”
“I highly recommend that book to anyone, even if you've read its IT equivalent”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.