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Blackrocksrock

Time and motion study

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A timeless lesson on how consultants can make a difference to an

organization.

 

 

Last week, I took some friends out to a new restaurant and

noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon

in his shirt pocket.

It seemed a little strange.

 

 

When another waiter brought our water, I noticed he also

had a spoon in his shirt pocket.

Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons

in their pockets.

 

 

When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked,

'Why the spoon?'

 

'Well', he explained, 'the restaurant's owners hired Andersen Consulting

to revamp all our processes.

After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon

was the most frequently dropped utensil.

It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour.

If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips

back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.

 

 

As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace

it with his spare.

'I'll get another spoon next time! I go to the kitchen,

instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.

 

 

I was impressed.

I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's fly.

 

 

Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string

hanging from their flies.

So before he walked off, I asked the waiter,

 

'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?'

 

'Oh, certainly!' Then he lowered his voice.

 

'Not everyone is so observant.

That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time

in the rest-room.

By tying this string to the tip of you know what, we can pull it out

without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands,

shortening the time spent in the rest-room by 76.39 percent.

 

I asked 'After you get it out, how do you put it back?'

 

'Well,' he whispered, 'I don't know about the others,

but I use the spoon.'

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