4 ms·
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just install the bloody toilets in every train car? Than every car could be everywhere. After all it's just a toilet with a hole.
by digitalengineer 14y ago
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just install the bloody toilets in every train car? Than every car could be everywhere. After all it's just a toilet with a hole.
- thirdstation 14y agoNo, it would have cost the same. That was, to me, the point of the parable. The initial cost savings was absorbed by the cost of purchasing the additional cars necessary to implement the N/2 fix.
- mav3r1ck 14y agoSame problem as with airlines-- a toilet would probably remove 4-6 paying passenger seats, which means less money. Toilets don't generate revenue whereas seats keep paying for themselves many times over.
- greenyoda 14y agoBut a plane without toilets or with a half-hour wait for a toilet would generate zero revenue since nobody would want to fly on one.
- BCM43 14y agoI think there is more to train toilets than that. You need somewhere for the wast to go, and waste disposal, cleaning, maintenance, stocking all have to be done on a regular basis.
- redwood 14y agoTraditionally the waste went on the track
- run4yourlives 14y agoThat's the point. One penny pinching solution, improperly evaluated, pissed off customers, made the company less efficient (man hours working on a previously smooth process), and resulted in a direct capital expense. All in all, they probably took a loss.
- juan_juarez 14y agoIt's a parable, not a real world situation. It's meant to illustrate how an appropriate abstraction can remove complexity from a problem as requirement get piled on.
- digitalengineer 14y agoAs with web/sites, /apps especially if run by inexperienced Project Managers.