Today, a discussion that I had reminded me of the toothpaste factory story. Once, there was this factory that occasionally had empty toothpaste boxes shipped out. A lot of money was spent and a consultant called in. They looked at the production process and finally came out with a solution. Every time the machine detects an empty box, it will beep then someone will go to the box, pick it up and remove it from the production line.
Within months, the number of complaints dropped to zero and customers were happy. When the CEO of the company went down to the ground to find out how is the solution working, wanting to appreciate the solution that has solved his business problem, turn out it was such a hassle that the machine has been turned off a long time ago. The people who had to walk to remove the boxes decided to put a fan there which blows off empty boxes before it reaches the machine that checks the weight.
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Sometimes, a simple solution while not being ideal or elegant can be an interim measure. It serves as a half step before an actual implementation.
One thing I have realised is that sometimes, people spend too much time conceptualising, planning and discussing instead of just doing thing. Instead of wasting time arguing over which solution is the best, we should just go ahead and do it, then improvising as we go along. By the time we reach consensus, someone had already implemented, came back with actual feedback and results and on the way for the next iteration of improvement. This, I believe, is the fundamental concept of agile development and methodology.
I remember during when I was recruited as an outdoor education, there was an exercise where there are mass casualties to be rescued. I remember being in the group where people were discussing extensively how to rescue one particular injured party; which route to take and all the details. I listened for a bit and eventually decided that it is taking too long for a decision to be made. By the time we come to consensus, maybe the person has bled to death. I took charge of the incident and gave directions. I was eventually recruited so I think at least in the eyes of the assessors, I didn’t do too badly.
On the other side of the coin, it is also a balance. When the stakes are high, there is a need for discussion and careful planning. For instance, if the injured party has a spinal injury then it calls for better planning. Or if the solution requires heavy investment of time, effort or money, then it agains requires more planning. However, the point is to launch something as a testbed then seeing how things work out. If the cost of doing something isn’t too high, and there is potential upside to it, I would think that we should not crack our heads imagining how it would turn out but just do it.
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