Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Quality and Alternatives

Quality and Alternatives

Yesterday I blogged about relaxing constraints. There is a down side to doing that and that is that the quality of the effort suffers. (Three “that’s” in five words…)

When I was growing up my Dad used to say, “If you’re not going to do something right than don’t do it at all….that it’s easier to do it right the first time than having to do it over again…he had a long list of sayings that revolved around doing tasks to a very high standard.

As I got into my profession however, and tried to apply his wisdom I got a wake up call. I discovered that with most tasks I faced I could get to ninety-percent fairly quickly, but in getting to ninety five percent required again as much energy and every point thereafter required another doubling of time and resources.

I had a plate full of requirements and could simply not afford the expense of going beyond ninety-percent, quality. A philosophy began to evolve in my mind that all things worth doing were not worth doing well…that I could do everything to ninety percent or let a couple fall through the cracks. The falling through the crack outcome was lethal from a career standpoint and so I was left with having to spread the grease over a wide area instead of becoming fixed on any one thing.

As more and more got heaped on my plate the ninety-percent began to slip as I began to delegate more and more to subordinates…I will blog on my management philosophy after I finish with problem solving, and no doubt you will be shocked at how I adjusted to the conditions of my employment and not only managed to survive but excel.

In Finnley’s poem I pointed out that the Gentleman, had selection criteria that were very restrictive. His ideal woman was really on a pedestal and he spent all his energy and resources searching for her but to no avail. Too bad, so sad…now allow me to shift to the Maid. Another sad story…but I didn’t write the poem…Finnley did. I am merely commenting on what is going on inside it….It isn’t my fault…In Wisconsin shirking responsibility has been developed into a fine art. Anyway..

The maid was not the devious type and just stood around for thirty years, unthinking, waiting for something positive to develop on its own accord.

Doing nothing is always an option…and if you do nothing, something is going to happen…am I repeating myself.? And that something is not generally what you’re hoping for. Nature will always provide an answer but probably not the answer you are looking for.

For thousands of years philosophers have been trying to define “Good.” Well I’m happy to report that I have defined it…I have defined good in terms of doing nothing. If you do nothing, something is going to happen which is neither good or bad…it is natures answer. If you improve on that what you have is good and if you take an action that turns out worse than doing nothing, that is bad. How about that for defining “Good.” I think it deserves a Pulitzer Prize…Can you submit yourself?…is their a cash reward?”

In most cases the outcome that nature is getting ready to serve up is not hard to predict. For example if you are out on a walk and see a storm coming you might define your problem as…”I need to determine the best way to avoid the effects of the storm.” A scientist might take this idea and make it more measurable and define it thus. “I need to determine the best way to minimize the number of raindrops that strike me and the intensity of the wind as measured in miles per hour.

If the do nothing option is chosen assume for purposes of discussion that you will be plummeted by 100K raindrops. That is the do nothing outcome.
Suppose you consider three options; standing under a tree, standing against a cliff and going inside a cave. All three are “Good” in that all three are an improvement over doing nothing at all. Assume that in standing beneath a tree you avoid one half of the raindrops and the trunk the reduces the effects of the wind by the same. Assume that the cliff does the same but reduces the rain and wind effects by seventy- rive percent. Finally there is the cave option which reduces both to zero.

Hold that thought…my wife is screaming at me….”What Sweetheart, you want?….such language, I really have to go…more tomorrow.”