Great comic sent to me by one of my co-workers:
This morning I’m pondering the power of inefficiency. Do we always need to be the most efficient? Or sometimes does it really not matter?
I started thinking about this after my recent FedEx shipment:
Map of recent FedEx Shipment
This is a map of a recent FedEx package I shipped. This document was shipped from my office in Santa Barbara, California to the nearby suburb of Goleta, California. It was shipped overnight and was delivered on time at 9:41am the next day. From a perspective of shear performance, FedEx did quite well. However, the irony is that in night time hours my package took a journey around the state of California.
My package went as follows:
- From my office in Santa Barbara to the Goleta sorting center via truck [10 miles]
- From the Goleta sorting center to Oakland, California via truck [325 miles]
- From Oakland to Ontario, California via plane [425 miles]
- From Ontario to the Goleta sorting center via truck [150 miles]
- From the Goleta sorting center to my bank in Goleta via truck [5 miles]
The package traveled a total of 915 miles. The odd thing is the place I was sending the shipment was only 10 miles away! Weirder still, the package traveled through the Goleta sorting center twice. This was clearly inefficient.
However, when I get off my logistical high horse I realize the most important fact: my package was delivered early. Although it’s funny to watch, actually I don’t at the end of the day care how it was done, just that at 9:41am my package was at it’s destination, my bank. That’s all I care about, the fact that my package visited the whole state of California in the waking hours ultimately doesn’t bother me that much.
In life and in business I think we put too much effort on doing things in the most efficient manner. However, this week FedEx reminded me that sometimes efficiency isn’t the most important thing. Sometimes I need to do what I know works and work hard at it. I may not be the most efficient, but I will get the job done relatively efficiently and ahead of schedule.
Food for thought.
I enjoy this clip of Rod Blagojevich on The Celebrity Apprentice:
On the one hand I can understand how Rob has had administrative assistants who have handled technology for him, I still think this does reflect badly on him. In stark contrast is Barack Obama who refused to give up his BlackBerry when he was made President of the United States. Rob’s computer blunders illustrate a greater problem: there are important skills that our jobs specifically don’t require us to do.
For example, to be a software engineer is to live, breath, and sleep code. Anything that’s not code is auxiliary. Therefore we need not to know the business or political side of the organization. However we live in the organization. The success of our code is a commerical equation consisting of marketing, sales, accounting, and executive decisions. If we just keep to our job description we’ll find ourselves affected by these forces.
Anyway, I think I’m going to go off and review my company’s financials….
My blog has been dormant for the past six months, as I have embarked on a series of new management adventures. However as things are thawing out, I’m back to reflect on the technical management world that is my work life.