Yesterday I was going through my old mails and came across a hilarious account of a man giving additional information to an insurance company for an accident that he was in. it brought a smile to my face and I'm sure that you too could do with a smile as you start out this day that could get very busy and tense. So here goes!
Dear Sir. I'm writing in response to your request for additional information. In Block #3 of the Accident Reporting Form, I put "Trying to do the job alone" as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I trust that the following details will be sufficient.
I am a brick-layer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six storey building. When I completed my work, I discovered that I had about 500 lbs. of bricks left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which, fortunately, was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tight to ensure a slow descent of the 500 lbs. of bricks.
You will note in Block #11 of the Accident Reporting Form that I weigh 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains the fractured skull and broken collar bone. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley.
Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly onto the rope in spite of my pain. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom broke out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel now weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight in the Accident Reporting Form Block #11. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounted for the two fractured ankles and the lacerations on my legs and lower body. The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks, and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks, in pain, unable to stand and watching the empty barrel six storeys above me, I again lost my presence of mind and let go of the rope…
I smiled and smiled all the way through this. I thought that I must share this with you.
Well, that's the humor part of today's missive. Is there a serious part? Yes, there is. Five Why's! I don't know if you've heard the name Taiichi Ohno, working with Toyota in the late 1970s. He was credited with what is called 'The Five Whys', which was a problem-solving technique that he developed at Toyota plants. It was a scientific approach wherein the principle was that if you repeated the question 'Why' five times, then both the nature of the problem as well as its solution would become apparent. The whole idea was to get to the root cause and these five iterations of asking 'why' would generally get you there.
Sometimes if you've worked with children, they can irritatingly keep on asking you 'But why?' until you finally tell them, in an effort to make them keep quiet – "Just do it. It's because I say so." But there is some logic in why they are asking it. Joel Spolsky fleshes this out for us in his article 'When and How to Micromanage'. He says, "You can keep asking 'why' over and over again, and you can get an answer. But the key is that, at one point, you are able to say – if we fix that, then all the rest gets fixed as well.
Taiichi Ohno says that the fifth why explains it. Spolsky helps us understand that when he says that he and a friend Ryan Carson were called to do a technical conference for software developers. Part of this was to go to a new place they'd never been to before. They had to conduct a conference in a hall they had never heard of. When he got there, he immediately knew that there was going to be trouble. The conference hall was tucked away and they hadn't got anything ready. He says, "I got into the car, toured the town and got everything that we needed; picked up the gear, set it up." But he says that as they were giving the talk, he was clearly worried that the video wasn't good, the audio was making funny sounds, the stage monitors were buzzing, there was a fan noise.
When they finished the program and got back, he decided that instead of getting upset, he would sit down with everybody and try to find out what happened. How could they avoid this in future? So, they decided to use the problem-solving technique of the five whys. They began to ask the questions:
Our problem was that we couldn't switch video fast enough. Why? Because we were using a cheap switch purchased at an office superstore. Why? Because we assumed the venue operator would provide a high-quality switch, which they didn't. Why? Because the venue didn't have our list of AV requirements. Why? Because we didn't get it there in time. Why? Because Carson felt that the people who should have got it didn't have a standard checklist of procedures for each conference: what to do one month before, one week before, one day before, etc. They stopped there and asked what the solution could be. And obviously the solution was better checklists. So, they implemented standard checklists of all their requirements that would go out one month, two weeks and one week before any program. And he says that it's been working like a charm ever since.
Maybe today you're faced with a situation or a problem that's been troubling you for a couple of days or even a long time. Maybe today's the time to apply an 'out-of-the mouth-of babes' solution. Maybe today is the time to not take yourself too seriously, because today's capsule is about a dash of humor, and a clutch of whys to help bring clarity to a situation or lighten a heavy load.
Our Holy Scriptures tell us in Micah 6:8 "Don't take yourself too seriously. Take God seriously."
Maybe that's a good word for you and me. Let's not take ourselves too seriously. Let's just ask God for input into our lives and let's take Him seriously. As somebody said, "Let go; Let God." I pray that that would be a good way for us to start this day and finish out this week.
May I pray with you? Almighty God, give to each one of us on the wisdom to find solutions. Help us not to take ourselves too seriously. Help us to smile a bit through this day, to see humor in situations and to apply problem-solving exercises when we need them. Help us to rely on You to help us through this day with Your Heavenly wisdom. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen.
References:
· Taiichi Ohno, "Toyota Global Site." http://www.toyotaglobal.com/company/toyota_traditions/quality/mar_apr_2006.html
· Joel Spolsky, "When and how to Micromanage." http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091201/when-and-how-to-micromanage.html
· Science Daily (Nov, 13, 2009) "When Preschoolers Ask Questions, They Want Explanations."
· Bible reference: Micah 6:8 (MESSAGE)
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