Keeping apace

Are you familiar with the story of the slowest hiker?

Originally from the book "The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt, this theory of constraint shares the fable of a team of Scouts on a hike together. The first day, they start out and the fastest soon race ahead, leaving the slowest behind. As the gap increases, the group is spread over miles and those at the front need to stop and wait for the slowest boy to catch up. Once he does, the fastest boys take off and the whole thing repeats. All the stopping and waiting means it takes longer to get to the campsite.

The next day, they put the slowest boy, Herbie, at the front. He sets the pace. Everyone stays together, you can see how everyone is travelling, and they get to the campsite together and safely - but still late because they are going at Herbie's pace.

So the following day, they try to do everything to support Herbie. Any improvement with him is a win for the team. They take extra weight out of his backpack and distribute to the rest of the team, and they arrive together and on time.

By finding and removing constraints, the system will work better.

I came across this fable reading Greg McKeown's book "Essentialism" [something I do with some regularity] and he asks, "What is your slowest hiker? ... What is getting in the way of achieving what is essential" You can ponder that in any number of domains - our work life, our teams, our organisation, our world.

Is there ONE THING that you can identify and by putting this as the initial focus, would remove significant friction and make everything that much easier, more efficient and satisfying?

#doonethingdeep #constraint #teams #achievement