The Car Wash Lesson

 

I sat in a meeting the other day, watching a project manager and his business lead get a verbal lashing from the project sponsor for a task being late. As the consultant providing some oversight for the project, I sat quietly and observed until I just couldn't sit still anymore. I chimed in and politely asked what was wrong with a task being late?

Some of you are probably thinking, "Whoa! Isn't a project manager responsible for finishing things on time and within budget?" Before you hang me by my thumbs, let's consider the following scenario.

You are in charge of a group of people who are washing and detailing cars to earn some money for a fundraiser. You're all set up, and on the day of the event you put out your sign holders and start taking cars in for $5 to wash, and $5 to clean the interior.

A customer drives up and asks how long for a car wash. You politely answer 15 minutes and the customer hops out, gives you $5 and goes to grab a cup of coffee while he waits. Your team moves into action as they all have their designated responsibilities. Joe hoses the car down, Julie washes, Ed scrubs the tires and Hailey wipes and dries.

Halfway through the washing, you notice Ed falling behind. He should have been finished already but he had to slow down to clean some gunk on the hubcaps that was pretty hard to get off. Ed was falling behind and his task was late. …

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