Bad Design

In a previous blog I mentioned how in the past we had 10 people to do 10 people's jobs and this was gradually changed through downsizing where today we would have 4 people to do 10 people's jobs. There are other ways to get to that situation, one of them is to keep 10 people working 10 people's jobs but then increase the service or workload without hiring new people. If this is done gradually we get 10 people eventually in a situation of working the equivalent of 27 people.

These hypothetical examples do not consider technology but the equation ends up being the same. You work more than humanly possible and are expected to maintain this overwork for long periods of time. Even if technology helps out by taking the place of 3 humans, we still downsize and get rid of 7.... so we are in the same situation. Also notice that the owner or a high level boss would never tolerate such conditions in their own work environment they expect the lower managers and the employees to submit to this. If you are a rook, a queen or a king, you are never mistreated.... if you are a knight, a bishop or a pawn, then you better work harder than ever or else you will be sacrificed on the board.

Now that we have the recap out of the way from my previous blogs, here is another possible hiccup we can have overwork: the bad design of the workstation. The example I offer is Tim Hortons, before all you could get from Tim Hortons was coffee and donuts.... all that was needed was 1 cash register and away we go, rushes can still be managed and lineups are not too long. If they get too long, we open up another store. This is sensible. McDonalds, on the other hand, has 20 cash registers and they offer entire meals that need to be cooked and when there are lineups, they open up more cash registers (not all 20 are in use but they anticipate potential use of up to 20 in this illustration). So in essence, if the lineup gets too big, a new cash register is opened up and away we go the total wait time for the customer does not increase even during rushes. So far, the design works.

But Tim Hortons has decided to offer new products so that they can compete a bit more with the McDonalds clientele. Why? Why not? The problem is that Tim Hortons has not changed their internal design, or if they have, they have not changed it properly.... lets assume that they added 2 new cash registers to deal with the extra time. That becomes 3 cash registers to deal with customers who now want more than just coffee and donuts. The total wait time for everyone increases. I have seen many who walk in, look around and tell their friends, lets go to the competing coffee place next door, then they leave.... the lineup is that long and it don't move very quickly.... and for whatever reason, the customer in front of me always seems to want the most complicated meal of the establishment so that I have to wait those extra 3 minutes before I get my turn..... and all I want is my coffee (I go elsewhere if I want a meal.... why? why not?)

Now the workers at Tim Hortons are in a similar position as the 4 who work for 10 or the 10 who work for 27.... but this time it is not based on hiring less than needed or firing and having the remaining few keep up the same production.... this time it is based on bad design. The customers are growing angry and frustrated and the workers are trying to move quicker than what is healthy. Perhaps many customers are willing to tolerate this extra time because they enjoy the Tim Hortons experience.... but that is not the wisest thing to do if you rely on a customer's tolerance level to keep a bad design..... Its easy, how would a rich person handle this? A rich person who makes about 1 million dollars a year, would walk in and if he doesn't get served yesterday, he walks out.... no argument, no fuss (he might even hire someone to stand in line for him so that when he arrives, he gets what he wants yesterday and not a moment later)..... now if the rich person expects this treatment and usually gets it (but not at Tim Hortons or McDonalds.... he gets this treatment at 5 star restaurants that charge 50$ for the coffee)..... The customer at Tim Hortons would definitely appreciate being treated like the rich person..... so it would be wise for the design of this coffee place to undergo some serious change to make the customer feel rich before the competition picks up on this flaw and serves the customer in less time than Tim Hortons.

Imagine the wait time at McDonalds if they only had 3 working cash registers during rush hour.... (I never saw less than 7 and they were overwhelmed with only 7). Of course places with low populations don't suffer from this compared to big cities.... but still, it should be looked into..... and fixed.