Think Simple to Solve Complex Problems.
1. When NASA began launching astronauts into space, they found out that the astronauts' pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink wouldn't flow down to the writing surface). It took them one decade and $12 million to solve this problem. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on practically any surface including crystal, and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the Russians do? The Russians used a pencil.
2. One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management
techniques was the case of the empty soap box, which occurred in one
of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty.
Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the
engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution
monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed
through the line, to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount of time and money to do
so.
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into the complications of X-rays, etc. but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.
3. A 50 feet long trailer having 48" wheels got stuck while entering a midtown tunnel in New York because it was approximately 2.5 feet taller than the height of the tunnel. The fire department and the state department of transportation spent the whole day searching for a solution, to no avail.
Then a child, aged about 9 years, asked his father, "Why can't they take out the air from the tyre tubes? The height will automatically come down."
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
Moral: Always look for simple solutions. And learn to focus on
solutions, not on problems.
If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything.
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything.
From India, Coimbatore
1. When NASA began launching astronauts into space, they found out that the astronauts' pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink wouldn't flow down to the writing surface). It took them one decade and $12 million to solve this problem. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on practically any surface including crystal, and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the Russians do? The Russians used a pencil.
2. One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management
techniques was the case of the empty soap box, which occurred in one
of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty.
Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the
engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution
monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed
through the line, to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount of time and money to do
so.
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into the complications of X-rays, etc. but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.
3. A 50 feet long trailer having 48" wheels got stuck while entering a midtown tunnel in New York because it was approximately 2.5 feet taller than the height of the tunnel. The fire department and the state department of transportation spent the whole day searching for a solution, to no avail.
Then a child, aged about 9 years, asked his father, "Why can't they take out the air from the tyre tubes? The height will automatically come down."
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
Moral: Always look for simple solutions. And learn to focus on
solutions, not on problems.
If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything.
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything.
From India, Coimbatore
thts very true
in our process of complex think we have forgot the obvious soluions
we have a habbit of thinkig even a simple thing in a cmplx ways.
this is bcoz we always try to find some unseen logic in any situation which hampers our lateral thinking?
regards
namrata
From India, Ahmadabad
in our process of complex think we have forgot the obvious soluions
we have a habbit of thinkig even a simple thing in a cmplx ways.
this is bcoz we always try to find some unseen logic in any situation which hampers our lateral thinking?
regards
namrata
From India, Ahmadabad
Excellent examples Peer. As the name denotes, you are our Peer too in all these motivating ways.
From United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi
From United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi
really true buddies.
just two weeks back a colleague of mine came to me and asked for the logo of our company. she wanted a printout of that as it was needed for making rangoli and she said she wants to confirm the colours in it. when i told her that it will be printed on a monochrome laser printer and will be black, then she said she will colour it then.
when i asked her to use the letterhead of our company where the logo is printed in colour, she was surprised.
happens with all of us.
From India, Delhi
just two weeks back a colleague of mine came to me and asked for the logo of our company. she wanted a printout of that as it was needed for making rangoli and she said she wants to confirm the colours in it. when i told her that it will be printed on a monochrome laser printer and will be black, then she said she will colour it then.
when i asked her to use the letterhead of our company where the logo is printed in colour, she was surprised.
happens with all of us.
From India, Delhi
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