Sunday, March 11, 2007

How does management work?

Worker : Sir, I want a hammer to hit a nail. Please, provide me a hammer.
Director : No. I want you to use a laptop instead of a hammer. Laptop is more efficient, and it has multiple uses.
Worker : No Sir. I want only hammer. Laptop is useless.
Director : I don't accept you to buy a hammer. I want you to buy only a laptop.

Worker goes to the manager.

Worker : Sir, I want to buy a hammer, and the director is not accepting me to buy one. He asked me to buy a laptop instead.
Manager : Then, buy laptop only.
Worker : How can I use laptop for hitting the nails. It is useless for me.
Manager : If there is any problem, then give enough data to the director to support why you need a hammer.
Worker : What data to give? I just need a hammer to hit a nail. I cannot understand what you are talking.
Manager : Ok. I understand your situation. What is the cost of the hammer?
Worker : Around Rs.100.
Manager : What is the cost of the laptop?
Worker : Around Rs.40,000.
Manager : Can you use a hammer efficiently to hit a nail?
Worker : Yes.
Manager : Can you use a laptop efficiently to hit a nail?
Worker : No.
Manager : Why?
Worker : It is not very easy to hit a nail. It does not have a handle to use. The density of the laptop is very less when compared to the density of hammer.
Manager : If I provide a handle to the laptop, can you use it?
Worker : No. Laptop is too big to use it. Still it is not strong enough to hit a nail.
Manager : If I provide small laptop which is very heavy, does it solve your problem?
Worker : No. I just want a hammer.
Manager : What is the life time of a hammer?
Worker : Easily more than 10 years.
Manager : What is the life time of a laptop?
Worker : If we use this to hit nails, it will be useless after a day or two.
Manager : Can we use hammer for any other purpose other than hitting nails?
Worker : hmm. No. We cannot use it for any other purposes.
Manager : Can we use laptop for any other purposes?
Worker : Ya. All the senior software engineers need one laptop. They keep one laptop with them always.

Both manager, and worker goes to the director.

Manager : Sir, our worker wants to buy a hammer. He told me that you suggested laptop. I evalutated both the options. Here is the summary.

Hammer costs only Rs.100, and we can use it for more than 10 years. This is easy to use. It also has a handle. But, the disadvantage is, we cannot use this for any other purpose.

Laptop costs around Rs.40,000. It has so many uses. All our software engineers need one laptop, and they keep one with them always. It has high usage. But, it is not as efficient as hammer for hitting nails. It does not have a handle, and it is not strong enough. We can provide a handle, and buy a small and heavy laptop. Still, it won't be as efficient as a hammer. Not only that, if we use laptop to hit nails, it will break easily, and will be unusable. Life time of the laptop is just in the order of the days.

Director : It seems hammer is more cheaper and efficient than laptop for this purpose.

Manager : Yes. It is more cheaper and efficient.

Director : Then, buy a hammer.

Manager : Thank you sir.