Book Review Systems Thinking in the Public Sector: ... a Better Way by John Seddon

Systems Thinking in the Public Sector: The Failure of the Reform Regime.... and a Manifesto for a Better Way

by John Seddon

John Seddon argues powerfully for the government to forget sticking plasters like CRM and citizen empowerment and says don’t tweak the system. Ditch it.

Systems Thinking in the Public Sector gives example after example of exactly how the system fails from housing benefits and care for the elderly to call centres like Consumer Direct. Drawing on John Seddon’s extensive experience working as a consultant with UK public sector managers, this is a fiercely uncompromising, yet rigorous manifesto for change.

John Seddon's approach has been used very effectively across a large number of councils. See for example Phil Badley's presentation from the UK Lean Conerence 2009 of how Stockport Council used the Systems Thinking approach to transform their business.