2003-10-18 - 2:44 a.m.

I�m a foreman, a good one, and I�m told your job is on the line. You need an employee to make nine widgets before the end of the night, and it�s rigged up so that only one person at at time can use this widget-making machine. Make the nine widgets, you get a raise and job security �cause it means that our client will pay us to make tons more widgets and we�ll make a killing. Fail to make those nine widgets, we lose the job and you�re fired.

So what do I do? I put my best worker on the job. He makes seven widgets, I�m psyched, two more to go, on schedule, but I notice that he�s getting a little tired. I have quite a few workers who are just now punching in, who are very skilled at making widgets. They�re reliable, and I know that I can call on any of them to get the last two widgets made, but I consult my prideful best employee, and he tells me that everything�s fine.

And that�s allright with me. He�s tired, that�s obvious, but he told me he could make the last two, even though his shift is over. And there�s a half-hour left for him to make those two widgets. I�m not gonna put this task in the hands of the several reliable workers I have who are fresh on the job. Even though they�re already trained, are ready, even though they want to be on this project.

Even though that�s been the plan all along, to let the second shift finish the job, no this time I want to establish confidence in my best worker, �cause I like playing around with stuff like that.

Twenty minutes before deadline, he�s still working on his eighth widget and is not showing signs of finishing it.

Fifteen minutes before deadline, and I think he broke a piece.

Ten minutes left before I�m fired, but I still trust this guy more than anyone else.

Five minutes left, and I take him out and put in a replacement, and the replacement gets the ninth widget done just before the deadline.

By that time, it�s too late. Despite the effort put in by the various workers I used to replace my best employee, the client wisely decides to take its business elsewhere, and that�s the end of it.

So whose fault is it?

The best employee that got most of the job done, and then, when asked by his boss if he could work late, didn�t back down from the task? The second shift workers who couldn�t get it done within five minutes, but who probably could have gotten it done with an hour to spare, if one shows signs of struggle, put in another equally skilled worker?

Am I to blame here? We got this possible client because we worked hard all year and made a name for ourselves. Now, I didn�t make a single widget, but I watched a hell of a lot of widgets got made, so I know the ropes.

Right?

I�ve worked with these guys all year, and I�d rather have my best employee at the machine at all costs, �cause he�s getting paid more. I also want to instill in him a sense of pride.

We might have lost our big client, and it�s too bad that there�s no more work for us to do, and it�s going to be rough for all of our employees to have no work coming up for a good long while, but at least I stuck with my gut on this one.

Because it doesn�t to me how skilled a my staff is. The bottom line, for me, is playing a hunch when the stakes are high, �cause I know better than everyone and �cause that�s what I like to do.