Critical Chain - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [74]
It doesn't work. "I took care of it."
"May I ask how?"
"First, I had a meeting with my boss, the VP of finance. Then he dragged me with him to tell it to the president. I explained the bottom line impact of shortening our project lead time. That trivial stuff you talked about. They took to it like fish to water. No problem."
I can't believe my ears. Such a thing coming from Roger? It's hard for me to grasp. I considered Roger my most nasty, bitchy, cynical student, and the last one I expected to take initiative. Nasty and bitchy he is, but he sure can move.
"By the way," I hear him say, "next week I have important meetings with three more vendors. Is it possible for you to join in? Soften them up a little for me, you know?"
I'm wondering how to answer, when he continues.
"Of course, I can't ask you to do it for free. Will five hundred dollars a meeting do?"
"Only if you prepare a presentation for the class on how to negotiate shorter lead times with vendors."
At last I reached him. He makes faces, but I'm firm.
In the car, it dawns on me. That's fifteen hundred dollars. Judith will love another weekend in the Big Apple.
Chapter 19
Mark, Ruth and Fred update Isaac Levy. He wants to go over the details. It doesn't take long; the project is not far from completion. The project buffer is still nine weeks. The remaining feeding buffers also look healthy.
"Looking good," Isaac says when they finish. "Almost too good to be true. I must say that at the beginning I was quite skeptical, but you can't argue with the results."
"We are going to deliver two months ahead of time and without compromising on any of the original specs," Mark is confident.
Levy smiles.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's a world record," Mark concludes.
Still smiling, Isaac asks, "What is the chance of a piece of bread falling with the butter-side down?"
"Fifty percent," Fred answers.
"In this place it's closer to one hundred," Mark corrects him.
"You are too optimistic," Isaac says. "The chance of a piece of bread falling with the butter facing down . . . is directly proportional to the price of the carpet."
They are all in a good mood, so it takes some time before they stop laughing.
"You haven't finished yet," Levy reminds them. "The final tests on the modem just started. Anything can still happen."
"So I shouldn't have started the wheels rolling in marketing?" Ruth is not sure anymore.
Levy thinks about it.
"We can't afford to surprise them," Ruth tries to persuade him. "If we do, all the gain we make here will be wasted there."
"You are right," Levy says.
"So what do you think?" Mark pushes Levy. "Suppose that the final tests do not reveal anything catastrophic, do you think we made it?"
Isaac looks at the three of them. They are quiet, waiting for his verdict. "Let's straighten things up," he says. "Even if the final tests reveal some bad news, it has nothing to do with what you three have done. We were looking for a way to significantly shrink the development time and you pointed out such a way. But..."
He pauses for a few seconds to organize his thoughts. The three do not dare to even blink.
"But, there is still a lot to do until the way is clear. Right now I have more questions than you have answers. We are only at the beginning."
He tries to give them an example of what he means. "When you started to implement this radical method, the A226 was in the final stages. Not that I'm trying to put down what you did, you have done a wonderful job. But I would like to see how your method works on a full project. From start to finish."
"I don't see much difference," Marks argues.
"You may be right, but until we try it, we don't know. Besides," Isaac adds, "don't you think it would be interesting to find out by how much your method can shorten the development time?"
They do not answer.
"There is another thing that troubles me,"