Game Theory in Management

“Well, I absolutely do not” Lindstrummer began. “Everybody just admitted that ‘Asset Management’ was out-performing both Project and Strategic Management, and Raspberry wants to sacrifice that in an attempt to fix what…” Lindstrummer paused, and looking at Jane and Randy, continued “…no offence, Jane and Randy, these others got wrong? I’m not buying it.”

A heavy silence filled the room. Daystrom sighed.

“We seem to have arrived at an inflection point, with two strongly divergent strategies. I’m not really seeing an in-between technical approach here.”

The room again fell silent. Perhaps the others were picking up on some indicators from Daystrom that it was time to stop talking, but I possessed no such insight.

“You’ll have to forgive me” I started, “but I’m given towards a bias for action.”

At the words “bias for action,” Daystrom’s attention was suddenly focused on me.

“If you’re looking for a single-axis litmus test for which approach is most likely to succeed, I would point to the book In Search of Excellence, particularly its highlight of the characteristic of ‘staying close to the customer.’”

“Yes, I remember that part of the book.” Daystrom acknowledged. Jane shot me a knowing glance, realizing in an instant why I had commented on Peters’ and Waterman’s classic being on her bookcase.

“I really liked that book, and actually bought copies for all of my senior management” he continued.

“Again, all due respect Lee, but that book was published in 1982.” Lindstrummer objected.

“True, but I maintain that many of its precepts are certainly valid today, and in our circumstances in particular.”

“Well, okay, I get that” Lindstrummer continued. “But, if that’s the binary we’re using for tech approach evaluation, and Jane and Randy represent the ‘close to the customer’ camp, that would put me in the ‘close to the shareholders’ corner.”

“That follows” Daystrom observed.

“Lee, customers can’t fire you. Shareholders can.”

“Mmmmmm…..” I weighed in. “Customers can’t fire a CEO as directly or dramatically as the Chairman of the Board can, but customers do, in fact, ultimately decide the fate of any commercial organization.” Jane, sensing the decision-tide was turning in favor of her beleaguered PMO, entered the discussion with more confidence than I had previously seen in her.

“I’d like to add that much of this discussion has been predicated on this notion that if Randy and I get our preferences chosen, that it would somehow be ultimately harmful to the Asset Management position, kind of a win/lose proposition, as much as I hate that cliché. But if we can convert two of our fab units over to using the new tech while keeping our existing customers happy, it will give Randy an advantage in attracting new ones. We would then be in a position, finally, to compete with Monolithic in per-unit costs once those fab units are back up and running. This could easily turn into a win-win-win situation.”

“She’s right, Lee” Randy added. “One more thing that should be pointed out: we could see more of these kinds of technical advances in the future, even though the one we’re discussing was rather unexpected. But this could also easily be a once-in-a-blue-moon advance, and, if we don’t take advantage of it, we would be committing a management blunder. As it is right now, Monolithic is positioned to win this industry’s market share long-term. This could be the very game-changing opportunity we’ve been looking for.”

Daystrom suddenly appeared both resolved and relieved.

“Alright, everybody, let’s do this. Joel, have the Ops Managers for Fabs One and Two prepare to convert to the machines they need to work with the new tech. Fabs Three and Four can go to double-shifts for both the employees’ coverage and to try and maintain the current project and product load. Jane, have your schedulers reset the Project work at Fabs One and Two over to Three and Four. Randy, prepare a new campaign, targeting the customers we’ve been losing to Monolithic based on our inability to compete with them on unit costs. Joel, let me know how much of this we can fund ourselves, and whether or not I need to release more commercial paper, or go to the bankers. Suzanne, I want you to work with Quinn to coordinate the issues and performance from Project, Strategic, and Asset Management, and have Raspberry show you how to maintain the Corner Cube model. And I …”

Daystrom paused, as if being suddenly reminded of an unpleasant task.

“…and I will prepare some slides for the next shareholder meeting. Any questions?”

“Yeah, lots!” Lindstrummer began.

“Not about the decision, Joel. I’ve made up my mind. I expect you, and everyone else in this room, to do your best to make this transition work. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir” was the unanimous response, albeit with more enthusiasm from some than others.

As the conference room cleared out, Lindstrummer walked up to me.

“If this goes sideways, Raspberry, I’m blaming you.”

“Fair enough. But, if it succeeds, I’m going to make sure people know that it was due to Jane’s ability to generate the information stream that clarified the decision to the point that Daystrom was confident making it.”

Lindstrummer’s eyes narrowed, and then he turned and strode from the room.

“I’ll bet he’s a blast at birthday parties” Randy quipped.

“It’s all good. He’s simply reflecting his education. Virtually all business schools teach that ‘maximize shareholder wealth’ stuff, and tend to reflexively reject any other approach.”

“To quote Star Trek’s Montgomery Scott, ‘the haggis is in the fire for sure.’” Oscar chimed in, which created a much-needed laugh from the people remaining in the room.

 “Sounds like everybody’s work is cut out for them.”

“Indeed” Jane replied. “We can take things from here, but I’d really appreciate it if you can come back in a few months’ time.”

“Sure. Just have Oscar call me when you’re ready.”

Next week: The conclusion of The Path To The Corner Cube - A Project Management Fable

As the last of the major projects’ managers wrapped up their presentations, Daystrom addressed me directly. “Mr. Raspberry, take a seat up here at the table. What have you got for us?” Lindstrummer chimed in.

“We have a meeting in ten minutes to review some make-or-buy determinations” he reminded Daystrom.

“That can wait. I want to hear what this man has to say, Joel.” Daystrom responded.

“Jane, could I presume on you to project my slide deck?”

“Sure.”

As the managers and executives in the room looked over the XYZ chart, with a bubble placed towards the lower right part of the cube, Lindstrummer blurted out “what’s this supposed to be telling us?”

“This is Acme’s Corner Cube Model, showing the relative performance of the three types of management, Asset, Strategic, and Project, charted along the X, Y, and Z axes, respectively.”

“I’ve never seen this kind of an analysis before” Daystrom began. “How did you derive the parameters?”

“Some came from Jane’s Project Management performance measurement systems. Randy passed along some high-level data in terms of his targeted goals for market share, and Joel did the same for Asset Management. Everything else I gleaned from Acme’s most recent prospectus.” I could see Joel Lindstrummer react adversely to both my referring to him by his first name, and in remembering the data points he had so casually conveyed during our brief conversation of the previous week.

“Jane, please tell me we have a signed NDA on file for Mr. Raspberry” Daystrom sighed.

“Absolutely.”

“I can see why your reputation as a PM ‘detective’ is what it is, Stanly. I’m glad you’re on our side, at least for the length of your contract. Please proceed.”

“I don’t know about this, Lee” Lindstrummer interjected. “For all we know, he’s simply a shill for Jane’s PM agenda!”

“Joel, the man literally just got done shutting down one of our major project’s PM on his poorly-developed EAC. That does not strike me as the action of a ‘shill.’ Proceed, Mr. Raspberry.”

“The size of the bubble indicates the relative dollar value of your proposal backlog. Its placement in the lower right-hand part of the model, sub-cube number four, indicates that, while you are doing fine with respect to Asset Management, you are falling behind in the Product/Project and Strategic Management arenas.”

“Okay, so what does that tell us?” Daystrom asked.

“It’s saying that Acme is in real trouble.”

“That’s not reflected in our stock prices!” Lindstrummer interjected.

“Not yet, but it will be soon, unless a significant adjustment is made to your business model, particularly in light of your recent discovery.”

“Elaborate.” Daystrom prodded.

“If your Product/Project Management performance dwindles, you are likely to see them go elsewhere. You have good customer loyalty, but it’s not enough to keep standing toe-to-toe with Monolithic long-term. Once the customer base recedes, your already overworked and under-supported Strategic Team won’t have a real chance at bringing them back, or replacing them. The danger here is that that combination of factors will initiate a tail-spin, forcing your executives into a highly reactionary mode, which, in turn, accelerates the downward spiral.”

Randy and Jane exchanged knowing glances, while Lindstrummer appeared frustrated, but hesitant to engage.

“Is there a canned strategy for getting us out of this?” Daystrom asked.

“Yes, but I’m wary of template-like solutions. In this case, the strategy indicated is to divert resources to Jane’s and Randy’s teams. Immediately re-tool Fabrication Units 1 and 2 to take advantage of the new tech you’ve developed, and leave Fabs 3 and 4 alone, for now.”

“Nobody’s been able to establish that the future margins will cover those costs!” Lindstrummer stormed.

“That’s because you can’t quantify something that doesn’t exist, and the future does not exist.”

All eyes turned on the speaker, in the back of the conference room. It was none other than Quinn.

“We’ve been using these ROI formulae for some time, young lady” Lindstrummer began, condescendingly. “They’ve worked fine so far.”

“Only in that they support your recommendations. I don’t believe they have ever been benchmarked against actual recognized revenue.”

“She’s right, Lee.” Randy enjoined.

“Yes, she is.” I agreed. “Based on my interviews, you should be able to make the switch-over within two months’ time. Starting towards the end of Month 2, have Randy start an ad campaign that emphasizes Acme’s new capacity for delivering better quality for lesser prices. Contact your long-order customers, and offer them, say, a 5% discount on their existing contracts.”

“We can’t afford that!” Lindstrummer was becoming more and more agitated.

“In the short term, your Asset performance will fall off. That should be expected, and it will impact share price as soon as the ratios get published. You’ll want to have the appropriate communications ready for the next shareholder meeting.”

“You make a compelling argument, Mr. Raspberry.” Daystrom began. “And, believe it or not, much of what you have presented I’ve been made aware of, just not in this type of structure. Let’s say, though, that I remain unconvinced, and only take advantage of our new tech for those few projects that can fully document a positive ROI, and don’t require a full re-tooling of any of our fabrication units. What do you believe will happen next?”

“Those few projects will do well” I replied. “But they won’t perform so well as to make a real change in your PM performance trajectory. You will save money in the near-, or even mid-, term, but sooner or later your occupying Corner 4 in the model will lead to the tailspin I just described.”

“Jane?” Daystrom asked.

“I agree with Raspberry.”

“Randy?”

“Me too.”

“Joel?”

“Well, I absolutely do not” Lindstrummer began. “Everybody just admitted that ‘Asset Management’ was out-performing both Project and Strategic Management, and Raspberry wants to sacrifice that in an attempt to fix what…” Lindstrummer paused, and looking at Jane and Randy, continued “…no offence, Jane and Randy, these others got wrong? I’m not buying it.”

A heavy silence filled the room. Daystrom sighed.

Next Week: A Decision Is Handed Down

“No way that’s happening with Lindstrummer” Oscar muttered.

“He’s right” Jane confirmed. “What do we do?”

Jane’s question hung in the air (from last week’s blog), but I had no immediate answer, and heaved a sigh.

“You’re not in an impossible position, Jane, but a very difficult one. The thing about working in a business model that’s heavily predicated on the ‘maximize shareholder wealth’ paradigm is that it’s next to impossible to introduce, let alone implement, a management strategy that isn’t justified on that basis. That’s the reason Lindstrummer has phrased the decision on the best approach to monetizing your recent discovery using only those terms.”

At this point in the discussion I just happened to be glancing over the books on Jane’s office shelf, and caught a glimpse of a familiar title, right next to Jane’s PMBOK Guide®.

“I see you have a copy of In Search of Excellence.”

“Yeah, we all do.”

“Who’s ‘all’?”

“Management level and above. Daystrom loves Peters and Waterman. Attended a couple of Peters’ talks, and had the company buy every manager In Search of Excellence.”

I couldn’t help but to smile broadly.

“Oscar, fire up PowerPoint. We have a presentation to prepare.” Then, looking over at Jane, I added “We might have a real shot at this.”

*   *   *   *   *

I arrived early to the next day’s Operations Review meeting so that I could get a very specific place in the conference room.

“Where does Daystrom typically sit?” I asked Jane as we walked into the conference room.

Jane pointed to a place at the U-shaped table on the right-hand side, three away from the top of the U, where the projection screen was located. I walked over to one of the chairs along the wall on the opposite side.

“Aren’t you going to sit at the table?” Jane asked.

“Might come across as presumptuous.”

Jane understood. She went to her usual chair, right in front of me, and in the direct line of site to Daystrom’s chair. One by one the other attendees came in, some giving me a quick “who’s this guy?” second glance, others not bothering to notice. The next time the conference room door opened, Randy Jacobs walked through, followed closely by Acme’s CEO Lee Daystrom and Joel Lindstrummer, all engaged in conversation. As soon as Lindstrummer saw me, he exclaimed “Raspberry! What are you doing here?”

“I invited him, Joel. He has some analysis results for us.” Jane stated flatly.

“Raspberry? As in Stanly Raspberry?” Daystrom asked. He walked over.

“I’m Lee Daystrom, CEO of Acme. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Lee was a lean six-footer, with a surprisingly soothing voice and intonation which made quickly reading his frame of mind difficult.

“Hopefully not all bad” I replied. Daystrom laughed.

“Actually, it is mostly bad, but I overhear it from Monolithic execs at the country club, so it reflects well on you.”

“I hired Stanly to perform an analysis on our Project Management strategies” Jane began. “He has a few slides, if we can shoe-horn some time in this meeting.”

“By all means!” Daystrom responded, much to the chagrin of Lindstrummer.

The meeting began with progress reports from Acme’s major projects’ managers. I pulled the reports that Oscar had prepared for me, comparing the “bottoms-up” Estimates at Completion with their calculated versions, and waited for the most egregious example of an overly-optimistic EAC. By the time that PM was nearing the end of his presentation, nobody appeared to notice the absurdity of his asserting a negligible Variance at Completion.

“One moment, sir. This project is showing a negative two percent VAC – is that right?” I queried.

“Yeah, that’s right” the PM replied. Daystrom had been distracted, but suddenly focused when he heard me speak up.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“What’s unusual about it, Stanly?” Daystrom asked.

“Well, he’s 85% complete, with a Cost Performance Index of 0.83. At that rate, you would have to suddenly increase project performance by almost double – a To Complete Performance Index of around 1.57 is indicated – in order to come in even close to your stated EAC.”

“What about that, Jack?” Daystrom challenged. The PM stared intently at the figures he had projected onto the screen.

“Put that way, I think he has a point. I need to revisit my EAC.”

“Do so, and shoot me an update” Daystrom prodded. “Nice catch, Stanly.”

Not wanting to implicate Oscar for pulling the data, I merely nodded my acknowledgement. As the last of the major projects’ managers wrapped up their presentations, Daystrom addressed me directly. “Mr. Raspberry, take a seat up here at the table. What have you got for us?” Lindstrummer chimed in.

“We have a meeting in ten minutes to review some make-or-buy determinations” he reminded Daystrom.

“That can wait. I want to hear what this man has to say, Joel.” Daystrom responded.

Next week: I lay out my case.

It was a Monday, the day before the next Operations Review Meeting, where I would get my only shot at meeting with Glenn Daystrom, the CEO of Acme Corporation. In last week’s blog I had given Oscar Pennington a list of data points I needed collected, and how to process them into the information needed for loading a Corner Cube model, and I was simply reading the stenciled script on my frosted glass office door, yrrebpsaR .T ylnastS, eyE etavirP, waiting for Oscar’s call. Finally, the phone rang.

“Mr. Raspberry? It’s me, Oscar. I have all the data ready, but I don’t think I should take it off-site. Can you come down to Acme?”

“Are you in an office, or a cubicle?”

“Cubicle.”

“I’ll need an office.”

“If it’s okay with you, we can invite Jane, and ask to use her office. How long will you need to generate your analysis?”

“If you have all of the data, then only about an hour.”

“Okay, let’s shoot for 2:00.”

“I’ll be there.”

* * * *

Oscar was waiting for me in the foyer as I badged in.

“Jane’s office is over in one of the transportable buildings on North Campus.”

I smiled to myself. Oscar noticed.

“Is that amusing?” he asked.

“Not per se, it’s just that you can tell an awful lot about a corporate culture based on the relative placement of the Project Management Office as opposed to, say, the CFO’s office. Is Lindstrummer’s office in a transportable?”

Oscar looked at me incredulously.

“I think you already know the answer to that question.”

“Hence my amusement.”

As we left the main administration building and towards the PMO, I could see the primary manufacturing facilities to my left.

“Upper management wanted the PMO located near the manufacturing plant.” Oscar commented.

“Of course.”

We walked up a short steel staircase, and into the transportable. It was arranged with a large bull-pen of cubicles in the middle, surrounded by enclosed offices with large glass panels. Jane’s office was in the corner, and she greeted us as Oscar knocked briefly and escorted me in.

“Mr. Raspberry! It’s good to see you, but I have to point out that we’re running out of time! Daystrom is going to make the call on the utilization of the new invention any day now, and I have no counter to Lindstrummer’s assertions that the decision has to be made on the basis of projected return on investment. What are you going to do about it?” Jane was NOT happy.

“I think I have a handle on it, but it will require, perhaps, some modifications to the way you view the problem, Jane. Are you feeling flexible?”

Jane sat back down, still clearly tense.

“I’m wound pretty tight, but I’ll try to give you some room.”

“Great! Oscar, sit down at the desk, open your laptop, and connect it to Jane’s projector. Then, fire up the spreadsheet that has the data I asked you to collect.”

As Oscar did so, Jane pulled down the blinds over her office’s glass panels, so that we were the only ones who could see the data.

“Let’s start with Jane’s data. Add all of the Earned Value amounts of the projects in the portfolio, and divide it by the sum of their cumulative actuals. I want the aggregate Cost Performance Index.”

Oscar typed and mouse-clicked at an impressive rate.

“Done. The cumulative CPI as of the end of the most recent reporting period is 0.97.”

“Okay, next let’s do Randy’s data, market share. Acme is currently at approximately 33%, and he thinks 38% is a reachable target. Put those two data points into your spreadsheet. Finally, Acme’s return on investment is 4.8%, but place the target at the most recent prime rate, 4.3%.”

“Done and done. What’s next?”

“Create an XYZ graph. Name the X axis ‘Return on Investment,’ the Y axis ‘Market Share,’ and the Z axis ‘Project Performance.’ Set the minimum of the X axis at 4.00, and a maximum of 5.00. Set the minimum of the Y axis at 30%, and its maximum at 40%. Finally, set the Z axis minimum at 0.9, maximum at 1.10.”

Oscar continued to type and click for a few minutes. Finally, he looked up at me.

“I think I’ve got it.”

“Throw it onto the screen.”

As the XYZ graph appeared on the screen, I couldn’t help but mutter “Oh no. The Trap.”

Jane heard me.

“Trap? What trap? What is this showing us?”

“This, my dear Jane, is the Corner Cube model of Acme Corporation, and it’s conveying bad news. Of the three types of management, only Asset Management is doing well, in that it’s beating its nominal target. Do you see the placement of the marker in the graph? In the Corner Cube model, there are eight possible overall scores, and Acme’s score places it in the sub-cube named ‘The Trap.’”

“Why is it called that?”

“Because if an organization is doing well with respect to its Asset Management, but falling behind in its Project and Strategic areas, then not only is the Asset Management indicator about to take a dramatic turn for the worse, it’s often hard to convince upper management of the need to address the other two arenas. This is the score of an organization about to enter its death-spiral, unless something turns around, and soon.”

“So all we need to do is to do better in Project Management?” Jane asked, anxiously.

“Well, yes, but in the near-to-mid term, that means that the Asset Managers need to be on-board with spending more freely in pursuit of not only the Project Management goals, but the Strategic ones as well, before pushing for better asset performance. Most CFOs will be reflexively against this type of management flex.”

“No way that’s happening with Lindstrummer” Oscar muttered.

“He’s right” Jane confirmed. “What do we do?”

Next week: What we’re going to do.

As Randy’s Marketing Management Team cleared out of the conference room, Oscar and I sat back down to review the data list I had just handed him.

“Talk me through this, Mr. Raspberry. I’m not sure I understand everything on this list.”

“I’m happy to, but first, Oscar, did you capture the estimate of the percent completes for all of the projects in Jane’s portfolio?”

“Yes, they are in a spreadsheet on my computer.”

“Do you also have access to each of their Budget at Completion and cumulative actual costs?”

“Sure do! Problem is, I can’t transfer that data to you. It’s considered company sensitive, even beyond the terms of your non-disclosure agreement.”

“That’s alright, Oscar, I understand.” I consoled. “I don’t need to know the details. This is how I want you to process that data. Keep your data in your spreadsheet. Create a new tab in the same file, and use these as your column heads:

1. Project ID
2. Budget at Completion (BAC)
3. Percent Complete
4. Cumulative Actuals

The next set of columns will contain calculated information, specifically:

5. Cost Performance Index
6. Estimate at Completion
7. Variance at Completion

This is how you calculate those last three columns’ values. For Column E, Cost Performance Index, multiply the values in Column C and B, and divide the product by Column D.”

“Okay, I get that, but you don’t have nearly enough data to do either an Estimate at Completion, nor the Variance.” Oscar objected.

“Trust me. For Column F, the EAC, simply divide Column D by Column C.”

“I’ve never even heard of that!”

“Oh, but you almost certainly have.” I corrected. “Recall the basic formula for calculating the EAC, by dividing the total budget (BAC) by the Cost Performance Index? That formula can be algebraically solved to dividing the cumulative actual costs by the Project’s percent complete.”

“But that’s not the way Jane has us do EACs.” Oscar continued. “She insists that we re-estimate the remaining costs on a Project, and add that number to the cumulative actuals.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t work.” I replied. “And its failure rate will become clear once we’ve compiled this information. Just for fun, add those EACs for the projects for which they are available, and put them in Column H. And, of course, Column G will simply be Column B minus Column F. Can you pull this together for me, and soon?”

“I think so. But what about the information on Randy’s Marketing Management organization? You heard him tell Lindstrummer that they don’t even have the software to manage their data – how will we take their interests into account, if we can’t quantify their stuff?”

“We can’t be precise, but we can get close enough for the purposes of this analysis. Ask Quinn for two pieces of data from her spreadsheet: we’ll need to know the average win rate of the proposals they sent out over the last full quarter, and the total proposal backlog amount for this fiscal quarter.”

“I think I can do that, but how does that help with supporting the narrative that the resources surrounding the new tech development should go in the Project Management direction?”

“We’re putting together a Corner Cube model, and those parameters go into the Strategic Management axis.”

“A what model?” Oscar asked, incredulously.

“A Corner Cube model. You can look it up in the March 1995 issue of the Project Management Journal when you have time, but for now we will use a 35% market share as ACME’s strategic target.”

Oscar was furiously writing notes as we went along.

“Got it. What’s next?”

“We will use 4.8% overall Return on Investment for our Asset Management target.”

“That’s oddly specific. How did you derive that?”

“Lindstrummer boasted that ACME had beaten Monolithic on that particular metric, and I’ve seen Monolithic’s latest prospectus, showing a 4.7% ROI.”
“That’s right! Is that why you went there, when Lindstrummer crashed Randy’s meeting?”

“Maybe.”

“This is great stuff!” Oscar exclaimed, as he continued to write notes in his notebook. “But, while we’re discussing these performance targets, what about Jane, and the PM target?”

“Good question. Tell me, Oscar, how long ago did Jane take over the Project Management Office? And, was she promoted from within, or did she come from outside ACME?”

“About six months ago, and she was promoted from within. Before we even had a formal PMO, in fact. And actually, now that you’ve asked, Lindstrummer was key in her hiring decision.”

“That explains a lot. Okay, let’s set the Project Management target at a portfolio aggregate Cost Performance Index of 1.03.”

“One oh three? That’s kind of low.”

“If it had been 1.00 or higher, without the existence of a PMO, it’s unlikely that it would have been established in the first place, especially with Lindstrummer’s approval. He could have argued against it, pointing to the fact that the portfolio was performing adequately without a PMO.”

“Yeah, that all adds up.”

“But placing that parameter too high, for the purposes of this analysis, would be unfair to Jane. One does not turn around an underperforming multi-million dollar project portfolio in six months.”

“This is so cool!” Oscar exclaimed. “I knew you were the right person for this job!”

“Well, you might not be so excited when I make this next request: I’m going to need to see Daystrom.”

Oscar’s countenance fell.

“That’s next to impossible” he relayed. “His administrative assistant, Colleen, keeps a sharp eye on who is allowed to meet with him, and she’s pretty close to Lindstrummer.”

“I see. I refer to those kinds of admins as ‘moat dragons.’”

“Yeah, well, this one is one of the most moat dragon-iest of them all.”

“Can you wrangle an invitation to some other kind of high-level meeting?”

Oscar suddenly lit up.

“Yes! I’m pretty sure I can get you into the Operations Review meeting, held every other Tuesday. The next one is next week.”

“This is key, Oscar” I began. “Is this meeting both before Daystrom is expected to make the call on the best use of the new technology, but after you can perform this data pull?”

“Yes, and yes.”

“Then we’re good to go.”

Next week: Peering Into the Corner Cube