Thursday 1 March 2012

Efficiency, effectiveness: a striking demonstration

It’s often said that driving quickly to your destination is efficiency; driving to the right destination is effectiveness.

I had that point vividly demonstrated to me today. After attending a meeting together, a good friend who also happens to be a colleague, drove me to the local station. He knows the way well and I just sat back and left finding the way entirely to him. As a good family man with growing children, he naturally drives a nippy two seater, and he was racing along the straights and jauntily throwing the car around the curves with just the stylish confidence I have come to expect of him.

So it was fascinating at one point to wake up to the fact that we were going round the same roundabout for at least the second time. Since he hadn't dropped the speed any more than absolutely necessary, he was therefore providing a wonderful example of delivering maximum performance to achieve absolutely nothing.

I couldn’t help pointing out to him how much I was enjoying the experience.

‘I thought you might like a second look at the wonderful landscape,’ he assured me as he finally managed to take the correct turning off the roundabout.

He really is a good friend, and it was kind of him to run me to the station. So I said nothing more, except to thank him for going out of his way.

I only hope his way home was more direct. And more effective.



Round and round, going nowhere, but wow it's fun





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