Part III - The Revised PPE (Accepted)
(Or: Fewer Words, Much Less Confidence, Surprisingly Better Results)
The second attempt did not begin with confidence.
This was progress.
Henry opened a new document. He did not copy the old one. This was also progress.
Bruce was invited back, not “for colour” this time, but because Bob had asked, very specifically, that someone who actually touched the cheese be present.
George brought coffee. No one touched it.
The Rewrite
They stared at the empty page for a while.
“This time,” Henry said carefully, “we’re just going to write what happens.”
George nodded. “No fixes.”
“No systems,” Henry added.
Bruce raised an eyebrow. “No cream cheese?”
“Especially no cream cheese,” said Henry.
They started again.
Henry typed slowly.
Problem Summary: Packaging staff cannot consistently determine which products belong to which customer orders without checking multiple systems and communications.
No one objected.
George leaned forward.
“That’s… actually it,” he said.
Bruce nodded.
They continued.
Who Is Affected:
- Packaging Line Staff
- Operations Staff responsible for order coordination
“Not everyone?” George asked.
“No,” said Bruce. “Just us.”
George wrote that down like it mattered.
Evidence, This Time on Purpose
They paused at the next section.
“What do we actually have?” Henry asked.
Bruce didn’t answer immediately. He stood up, left the room, and returned with a notebook.
“Last Tuesday,” Bruce said, opening it, “we stopped Line Three four times because order details didn’t match. Took between six and fourteen minutes each time.”
Henry looked up.
“That’s… useful,” he said, surprised.
Bruce shrugged. “I got bored of being yelled at.”
They added it.
Initial Evidence:
- Packaging line stoppages recorded due to conflicting or incomplete order information
- Manual cross-checking required across multiple order tracking systems per order
No adjectives. No feelings. No solutions.
It felt uncomfortable.
The Submission
The document went back to Bob.
Bob read it once.
He did not sigh.
He read it again.
Then he looked up.
“So,” Bob said, “you’re telling me that before anyone can pack an order, they have to play a guessing game across half a dozen tools.”
“Yes,” said Bruce.
“And sometimes they guess wrong.”
“Yes.”
“And this costs time and money.”
“Yes.”
Bob nodded.
“That,” he said, tapping the page, “is a problem.”
The Decision
Bob didn’t approve anything grand.
He didn’t promise a system.
He didn’t mention visibility, morale, or synergy.
He said one thing.
“Validate it.”
Henry blinked. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Bob said. “If this is as common as it sounds, we should know. If it isn’t, we stop.”
Bruce smiled for the first time in weeks.
The cheeses were still sweating.
But now, at least, someone had written down why.
End of Part III.