The sun was starting to heat up one of the tables so I was asked by my cousin A. to set up a spare 10' x 6' tent. I elicited the help of my cousin M. and my other cousin's boyfriend E. to help.
I told M. to connect poles 1 and 2 and connect the other poles in the following configuration 3 - 4 - 3. I even showed him a picture of what it would look like. M. started to connect the poles and E. began to help.
After 4 minutes we had a pile of connected poles and three poles that weren't connected. All three extra poles said "#2" on them. I immediately realized....."I've got a new Blog post!!"
Why were the poles connected wrong?
- M. didn't hear 100% of what I said and started assembling
- E. wasn't there when I gave the instructions and started assembling
- I didn't make sure they knew exactly what to do
In retrospect it's easy to see how the confusion occurred and that everyone had the best of intentions. These same types of verbal instructions are given to people everyday causing a loss of time and an increase in defects. In a company this can add up to big money. For us it didn't have as much of an impact.
The cost of wasting 5 minutes due to improper instructions? Minimal. Cost to spend some quality time with my cousins and have something to laugh about? Priceless