Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail [Paperback]

John gall (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket (May 1, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671819100
• ISBN-13: 978-0671819101
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Things Are Not Working Out, March 30, 2000

By 

R. H. Hardin "rhhardin" (OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail (Hardcover)

There is no better book, with more startlingly accurate insights into one's current predicament.

It has the slight failing that it can't quite decide if it ought to be another _Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown_ or not, so there's a few paragraphs to skip here and there.

The rest is great.

I can quote from memory my favorite system axioms:

``Systems grow, and as they grow they encroach.''

``Systems attract systems-people.''

``Intra-system goals come first.''

``Reality is whatever is reported to the system.''

``Fail-safe systems fail by failing to fail safe.''

My favorite chapter is ``Administrative Encirclement,'' where each researcher is asked to write out his objectives.

The deepest insight, very subtle indeed, is Orwell's Inversion: the confusion of input and output:

``Example: A giant program is to Conquer Cancer is begun. At the end of five years, cancer has not been conquered, but one thousand research papers have been published. In addition, one million copies of a pamphlet entitled ``You and the War Against Cancer'' have been distributed. Those publications will absolutely be regarded as Output rather than Input.''

Nobody who knows the book will be surprised that the biggest killers of dogs today are humane societies.

People who follow the book will understand why the small early version _General Systemantics_ (1975), privately published, is an absolute gem; this version is pretty good, almost the same; and today's version (_...the underground text..._) is expanded beyond belief. The author has made it a system.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too good to make a splash, November 7, 2000

By 

Jon Richfield (South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail (Hardcover)

This is one of those books that should have become required reading, but possibly because it is too thought provoking, never became prominent. A great pity. It is as entertaining as Parkinson's works on his famous laws, and to me personally it has proven a good deal more valuable in practice. (Parkinson himself reviewed it and liked it!) It is a pity it is out of print. I hope that its follow-up (which I have not yet read) is as good.

Though jocularly written, this is really valuable, stimulating material. Its aphorisms may read like jokes, but they are all the more valuable for being quotable and easy to remember in context. Thinking back on all the godawful systems that I have seen, political, management, engineering and computer, there is not one that could not have been mitigated by intelligent anticipatory digestion of this book.

Unfortunately mentalities prominent among power-seekers, control freaks and grandiose designers, not to mention outright dishonesty among managers with conflicts of interest, cause considerable resistance to the ideas and attitudes that Gall promotes. If you are one such, I have nothing to say to you. If on the other hand you enjoy a bit of thoughtful and edifying entertainment, do your best to read this book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lighthearted look at systems, August 26, 2003

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail (Paperback)

This is a lighthearted look at how systems fail and are destined to fail. These laws of human behavior, though tongue-in-cheek, offer more than a grain of truth. Perhaps some of the laws could be updated, for example "Systems tend to expand to fill the known universe", could be rewritten as: "The Internet (or amazon.com?) tends to expand to fill the known universe." I'm afraid that the Internet is a classic example of "The real world is what is reported to the system", as we look to our search engines to find the truth. As an employee of state government, I understand Le Chatelier's Principle that "Systems tend to oppose their own proper functions". A quick read, and enjoyable book.