I read a great story this morning that is somewhat true while inaccurate in it's factual details. But for the purposes of this discussion the accuracy of the details isn't what's important (visit Snopes if you want to know more). Even as a fictional story it does an excellent job of illustrating how complacency can creep in and that we should continually question the "why" and the "way" we do things. If our end goal is to create a business that is efficient and repeatable so as to be low maintenance or easily expanded then complacency can become a killer particularly at the Established Stage of building a business.

And it's not just businesses that suffer. The United States, despite it's many obstacles has become the dominant force in the world though determination and innovation where nations that were once huge empires have fallen largely because of complacency, an issue that is quickly becoming a seriously problem here.

Even the best processes from time to time need to be re-evaluated for effectiveness and improvement. Take for example process geniuses McDonald's. While they essentially do the same thing they always have, make burgers and fries, do you think the process for doing so looks exactly the same as they did in 1940? Of course not! It's still an assembly line from cow to cardboard carton but a lot of things to bring you a burger have evolved in technology, transportation, testing and so on.

But back to our story, keep in mind this is narrative not perfectly factual but illustrates how easy complacency can creep in and have unexpected effects. In the business development framework reaching a point of sustainability and maturity is driven by continual improvement which leads us to our goal of automation (i.e. low maintenance, well controlled, measurable, manageable and profitable).

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Does the statement, "We've always done it that way ring any bells?

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?
Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then?

Be cause, the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is d erived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. And bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's a** came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

Now the twist to the story

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make th em a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's rear. and you thought being a HORSE'S A** wasn't important!

Labels: business development framework, frameworks, processes