“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
-Lao Tzu
We lose a lot of time every day.
When we fly from one place to another, we would spend time at the airport that would often last as long as the actual flight. Flight time from Manila to Hong Kong, for example, is one hour and thirty minutes. But one could spend an hour checking in, lining up at immigration and security, waiting at the gate, and sitting inside the airplane while it waits in turn to take off at the runway. Arriving at Hong Kong, one could spend another hour while waiting for the plane to taxi and dock on the jetway, walking from the arrival gate to the terminal, and waiting in line at immigration. The bright side about Hong Kong is luggage is often waiting when one reaches the baggage claim.
The same can be said for banks. Many people wait longer in line than what it would take to transact a deposit or withdrawal.
And we already spend so much time in traffic. Manila traffic being the worst when it comes to sitting for hours as one’s vehicle crawls almost as fast as a pedestrian.
We usually complain about how much time we don’t have. The question is: how efficient have been in using our time?
Many management executives focus a great deal on goals. When meeting with subordinates, the bosses would ask for or dictate deadlines for tasks. Subordinates are then expected to meet the deadlines. Some careers have risen and fallen based on how employees perform versus deadlines.
Many of us don’t really think much about how long a task would take. We tend to promise to finish something without so much study as to the amount of time needed. In many cases, we overestimate or underestimate the time needed to do a job.
On one hand, it would be trivial. If the task is straightforward such as following up a payment or ordering a spare part, we may not put too much thought on how long it would take. But when it comes to important and more complicated projects, we would need to take greater care about the time needed as we consider the needed resources and the risks involved.
And in many cases, we aren’t careful. Many projects have failed or has cost more because we made promises we didn’t plan for and ended up couldn’t keep.
There’s a machine shop near my office that fabricates customized parts for equipment. Whenever a customer wants an item made, a clerk at the shop pulls out a piece of paper and writes down what needs to be done. The clerk would list every step of the fabrication process and verify with the shop’s machine operators for what and how much material would be needed. The clerk then would estimate the cost of the item and when the item could be made available based on the calculated length of time of the process and the waiting time if there are other customers ahead of this particular order.
Every task we do entails steps and resources. In order to find out how long a task would take depends on how we plan those tasks and resources. The simplest method is to lay out the process and list down what would be needed. Even for complicated projects, making the steps visible for the tasks to be done can be a great help in determining reasonable deadlines.
Not only do process flow layouts make deadlines easier to set. They can also help find quicker ways to get things done without sacrificing cost and quality.
We lose a lot of time every day. We set deadlines that we end up not meeting because we don’t really put much thought on the tasks and resources. Laying out the steps of a task would make visible what needs to be done and what resources are required. A visible flow of a process more often than not helps find quicker ways to get things done.
We waste a lot less time with just this one step.
Originally written July 09, 2019
Ellery's Essays 