A timeless lesson on how consultants can make a difference for an
organization....
Last week we 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
alittle strange, but I ignored it. However, when the busboy brought out
water and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket.
Then Ilooked around the room and saw that all the staff had spoons in
theirpockets. 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 statistical
analysis,they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped
utensil. This represents a drop frequency of approximately three spoons
per tableper hour. If our personnel is prepared to deal with that
contingency, 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 spoon. "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 rather
impressed.
I also noticed that there was a very thin string hanging out of the
waiter'sfly. Looking around, I saw that all the waiters had the same
string hanging from their flies. My curiosity got the better of me, and
before he walked off, I asked the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me
why you have that string right there?"
"Oh, certainly!" he answered, lowering his voice. "Not everyone is as
observant as you. That consulting firm I mentioned also found that we can
save time in the restroom."
"How so?" "See," he continued," by tying this string to the tip of your
you know what, we can pull it out over the urinal without touching it and
that way eliminate the need to wash our hands,
shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent."
"After you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, lowering his voice even further, "I don't know about
the others, but I use the spoon."
organization....
Last week we 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
alittle strange, but I ignored it. However, when the busboy brought out
water and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket.
Then Ilooked around the room and saw that all the staff had spoons in
theirpockets. 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 statistical
analysis,they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped
utensil. This represents a drop frequency of approximately three spoons
per tableper hour. If our personnel is prepared to deal with that
contingency, 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 spoon. "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 rather
impressed.
I also noticed that there was a very thin string hanging out of the
waiter'sfly. Looking around, I saw that all the waiters had the same
string hanging from their flies. My curiosity got the better of me, and
before he walked off, I asked the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me
why you have that string right there?"
"Oh, certainly!" he answered, lowering his voice. "Not everyone is as
observant as you. That consulting firm I mentioned also found that we can
save time in the restroom."
"How so?" "See," he continued," by tying this string to the tip of your
you know what, we can pull it out over the urinal without touching it and
that way eliminate the need to wash our hands,
shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent."
"After you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, lowering his voice even further, "I don't know about
the others, but I use the spoon."
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