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If Russ Ackoff had given a TED Talk...

Steven Brant · talk · Watch on YouTube

Management, leadership & organizationsTech pioneers & interviews

What it is

A 1994 talk by systems thinker Russ Ackoff, who knew W. Edwards Deming, on continuous versus discontinuous improvement. It ends with an unexpected lesson.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN favors it as a compact, quotable management and systems-thinking talk, often cited for doing the right thing versus doing the wrong thing right.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “this is one of my favourite management talks by Russell Ackoff”

    Ackoff management talk mentioning Deming.

    Litost, 2022-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Deming's Red Bead Experiment (2002)”

  2. “Russ Ackoff in a great talk about systems thinking[2]”

    Ackoff on systems thinking applied to environmental problems.

    Barrin92, 2020-06 · Recommendation · in “Scientists’ warning on affluence”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: russ ackoff, deming, systems thinking, continuous improvement, management

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