VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [89]
“Fantastico,” she raved. “What do you call these again?”
“ABTs,” said Murphy. “Atomic buffalo turds.”
At which, Sarah nearly choked.
From that point on, they got on quite well, worked harmoniously together, and in a suitable way became friends.
• • •
One evening a few weeks later, Sarah Schwick coaxed Murphy to an Indian restaurant, thinking he would enjoy some of the hot curry dishes, which she loved and which were extremely spicy. As she did not own a car, Murphy drove. And as he had no idea even how to pronounce much of what was on the menu, she ordered for them – a meatless rajma masala for herself, and a rogan josh with lamb for him, knowing his carnivorous propensities, as well as some curried side dishes for them to share.
“So how do you like life in the big city?” she asked. “Or I guess I should say, the big suburb?”
Murphy smiled in a wry way, which said everything necessary.
“Well, I sometimes feel the same way,” said Sarah, “but, on the other hand, I like my work – even if it does drive me crazy.”
“Yes, I know what you mean,” said Murphy. “It can be a little … what’s the word?”
“Chaotic? Dysfunctional? Insane?” Sarah supplied. “Depending on the day, any or all of those might fit. By the way, what do you think of Joe Tassoni?”
Murphy chuckled and said, “A very odd, but very likable and interesting man. And I’m not sure the degree you’re aware of this, but Joe is the bottleneck of your operation.”
“What do you mean, ‘bottleneck’?”
“Excuse me, let me try to state that more precisely – and I mean no disrespect to Joe or you or anyone at F&D. Things are the way they are. Having watched him and everyone else, Joe Tassoni is a bottleneck, and the analysts in general are the F&D system constraint.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Constraint? Bottleneck? First of all, what’s the difference?”
“Well, a constraint is something that limits flow – like a one-lane bridge on a two-lane road. When traffic increases beyond what the one-lane bridge can comfortably handle, the bridge becomes a bottleneck. You see, in general manufacturing lingo, a bottleneck is a constrained resource that is incapable of filling the demand set for it. For example, a pipeline must deliver one hundred gallons per minute, but a sticky valve limits the flow to seventy-five.”
“So a bottleneck is bad,” said Sarah.
“That is the world’s view on bottlenecks, but my own view is different. Now, I sometimes use ‘bottleneck’ and ‘constraint’ interchangeably, though I probably shouldn’t. To me, a bottleneck is a key feature in the functioning of the bottle. It is there by design. It’s purpose is to help regulate the flow.”
Murphy had a bottle of beer at hand on the table, and he raised it and poured into his glass to demonstrate.
“If a bottle had no neck, what would happen? Why, the beer or whatever would run all over the place! You’d have a mess!”
“Unless you were extremely careful,” said Sarah, “and your pouring angle was precisely controlled.”
“But why not just keep the neck in the bottle and be done with it? Well, it’s the same in a factory, or in an office, or a lab, or any organization with a systematic output of something through a series of steps. A constraint is desirable, or even necessary, to regulate the flow.”
“What about Joe? Why is he a bottleneck?”
“Nothing against the man, you understand,” said Murphy. “Joe is clearly brilliant, but he is messier than my wife, which is saying a lot, although I love her dearly. I’ve been watching Joe for a while now, and he meanders through his duties, working on what he feels like at the moment. In order to compensate for his inefficiencies, he works extremely long hours, but still, everything that has anything to do with Joe is always late. And the policies at F&D, the work rules, often serve to make him even less productive than he otherwise would be.”
“What about the other analysts?” asked Sarah.
“The other analysts are more capable in terms of output, but so much is demanded of them that they can barely keep up. So if there is any disruption, they cannot keep up. Projects become