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John Gall
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Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail Hardcover – January 1, 1978

by John Gall (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
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Hardcover published by Quadragle/The New York Times Book Co., third printing, August 1977, copyright 1975.
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  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Wildwood House Ltd
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1978
  5. ISBN-10
    070450331X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0704503311
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wildwood House Ltd; First Edition (January 1, 1978)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 070450331X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0704503311
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.5 ounces
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 35 ratings

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John Gall

John Gall

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
35 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Joseph Reddy
5.0 out of 5 stars So short, so easy, so no excuse not to read and THINK
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2009
Verified Purchase
Systemantics was probably my favorite technical read of the year for my software development career. Like The Design of Everyday Things, this book is not about software development, at least not directly. This book addresses all the things that are arguably true about systems. The book refers to large systems like government and public school systems, and medium systems like city garbage collection, and even smaller systems like families, or a system for managing a small group of employees. These systems are all set up to solve or at least manage a problem the same way we develop software systems to do the same.

The author refers back and forth to these common systems as it explains over 20 truisms of systems, especially large ones. Some of my favorites include:
- First rule of systems design: do without out one if possible
- New systems mean new problems
- A large system produced by expanding a smaller system will not behave like the smaller system
- Things are as they appear to be, not what they are

The book is written in a very lighthearted yet serious way which makes it easy to read, even funny. Everywhere, things are not working well and those outside of the systems that are failing are sure they could fix them if only their ideas were universally adopted. However, this book admittedly offers no solution. There is no single method to follow and all axioms are too fundamental for direct application. Rather the axioms provide clues and guidance to awareness of what makes a particular system faulty. The Systematics student, understanding the risk of failure, even catastrophic failure, knows that the undertaking should only be begun where the present evil is very clear and the consequences of utter failure are no more unbearable than the original unsatisfactory situation.
23 people found this helpful
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Hafizullah Chishti
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2020
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Excellent book on the behavior of systems, especially how systems function (or don't) in "failure mode." Everyone running an organization or designing any kind of system needs to read this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Seller's description of book accurate.
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2019
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I liked the fact that the book was received as advertised.
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Ignacio
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Re
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2018
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Lovely and fun book a good reminder for any system deployment
5 people found this helpful
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alan c heuer
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Everybody in Mgt must read and study
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2014
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The Ultimate Comprehensive Rules of every organization of every kind ever assembled. I've given copies to friends for decades...

Don't take it all in one dose...
5 people found this helpful
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Sanjay
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2016
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This is an easy read about Systems... funny at times, but a lot of common sense.
3 people found this helpful
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Lectorianus
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing book on failure of systems
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2017
The book starts with great claims: It pretends to be a follow-up to Parkinson's law, it pretends to offer new insights and new laws. But it does not. This book is full of examples of how systems fail accompagnied by rough, tough and practical jokes and poor analysis and even poorer proposals.

The "laws" offered have the level of county lores and layman psychology. If you have drunken two beers you might enjoy it. If you are really interested in how systems work and fail, you only can look away disgustedly. The proposal basically is to avoid systems at all.

The pretentious style of the book was clear for the reader, when after the preface, the introduction and even the second chapter only claims are offered what this book will bring about a great achievement. It never does.
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Arthur Brock
2.0 out of 5 stars This dude doesn't actually understand systems.
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2015
While an amusing critique of systems not working the way we want or expect, fundamentally, I don't think he actually understands systems. His criticisms seem to me a lot like saying "Systems don't work because fish can't ride bicycles."

In other words, he gives a lot examples of projects that didn't turn out "as advertised." However, there are a lot of reasons for that. Sometimes people are just outright lying about what a system is for, and it did exactly what the creators wanted, but was sold to the community under false pretenses. That doesn't mean systems don't work, it means we have to be more savvy about what their actual effects will be and not believe the sales pitch about them.

He just fundamentally misses the way systems actually work, because systems only work how they actually work, not how you WANTED them to, or how people HOPED they would, or CONVINCED people they would. They're a lot like programming a computer. A program only does EXACTLY what it does. Exactly what was encoded into its operation. Not your hopes or dreams for the program, just the code written. If the system isn't doing what you want, then you have to change it. That's why you need to plan for iterative evolutions in the system design from the outset and not promise miracles on your first try.

His assertions that systems don't work seem like claiming software doesn't work. It often doesn't work as hoped or intended at first, and yet we all use software exactly because it mostly works for most things most of the time. Given the subtitle claims to be about how systems work, not only how they fail, I think he misses that boat completely. Do not expect this book to improve your systems designs, whether that it what the other intended or not, it doesn't yield that result. Maybe he's just trying to prove his own point in that way too. :)
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Would recommend
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 21, 2018
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Item delivered fast and as expected; an interesting book to read
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JBSlumlord
5.0 out of 5 stars I had e hardcover of this book years ago which ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 9, 2016
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I had e hardcover of this book years ago which someone borrowed and never returned. I missed it so much, I just had to have another copy. For those who find systems infinitely frustrating, a read of this will help anyone understand why systems act up. Worth every penny
One person found this helpful
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janis
5.0 out of 5 stars Great illustrations
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2013
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Great illustrations by R O Blechman which is the main reason I bought the book. The text is also interestingl.
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kieran
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2014
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Probably the most important book ever written.
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