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From the article: Batching An acquiantance planned to start a business making kites. He planned to use an idustrial glue and designs which required gluing on b
by xirium 19y ago
From the article: Batching
An acquiantance planned to start a business making kites. He planned to use an idustrial glue and designs which required gluing on both sides. He devised a technique where he could batch 10 kites in the time it would take to make two kites sequentially.
Likewise, on a train, I overheard two jewellers discussing one of their mutual acquaintances. Apparently, the fellow discovered a lucrative sector of the market (US$900 white gold bracelets). He was making them in batches of 50. He would warm his soldering iron and repeat the same step 50 times. Then he'd repeat the next step 50 times. He didn't care the first few bracelets were bad or if he'd make a mistake because he'd still have 45 or so perfect examples when he finished. Its boring but its very productive.
- dood 19y agoI once worked a job moving and scanning data from an old paper archive to some custom built software. I developed a batch system which allowed me to spend around half the day browsing the web. When I left, I recommended a fairly smart friend as my replacement, but it turned out he didn't get batching and was fired two weeks later for being overwhelmed with the work.
- Tichy 19y agoCouldn't you have told him how to do it?
- mleonhard 19y agoWhen you develop a good process, WRITE IT DOWN! Processes are valuable!
- dood 19y agoIndeed, I learnt that lesson from that episode!
- dood 19y agoOf course I would have gladly helped him, but I didn't know there was a problem until it was too late! I had recently moved at the time, and neither of us had a mobile, so we were just out of contact for a while. I thought I was giving him a comfortable gig, so I was shocked to find out he got fired.