Years ago when I worked at L. L. Bean, I attended a training session on quality. As was popular in the 90′s, we started the session with an exercise. A fresh white piece of paper was started around the room full of attendees with the instruction to tear a tiny piece of paper off the edge. By the time it made it around the room, half the paper was gone. The session leader pointed out that this was a visual of 98% accuracy/quality. After we each handed on a “project” of 98% quality, by the time the project was done there would only be a 50% quality rating.

I was reminded of this over the past couple weeks as I changed my internet service and phone provider. My existing DSL service (OTT-formerly MidMaine) was pushing out a measly .5 – .8mbps (yes, that’s point eight) and the time had finally come to just change to another provider. I chose GWI because we use them at work and service seems fine. The combined DSL and Phone package requires Fairpoint to be a contributor as well – something to do with the combined wiring at the end of our condo building.

I was really excited, thinking about that awesome speed I was going to see when the switch happened. GWI guy showed up on time, was courteous, and explained to me that Fairpoint had not been out and done their part of the job – possible communication breakdown. My switchover was rescheduled for a week later.

Next GWI guy showed up on time, was courteous and helpful, and explained that the Fairpoint people had been there but still hadn’t done what they needed to do for GWI to complete the work. He called his office to touch base and the person on other end told him I have Time Warner (I don’t). I pointed out to them that Time Warner does not even come to Brunswick. Again, no switch completed, but he checked wires, set up my modem and generally did what he could in the moment.

The next night I came home from work to find I had no phone dial tone and no internet connection. Since the order for the switch had been submitted almost two weeks ago, my current provider assumed ok to cut off my service. I tried not to break into a cold sweat and panic from not only tech withdrawal but feeling cut off from the world. Without my beloved internet I was bereft.

When I got in touch with them this morning they apologized and explained that a vendor meet appointment was set for this afternoon and I would finally be reconnected to the Interwebs. Fairpoint even came a little early and got my phone back online.

Each person was courteous and helpful, but by the time each had done their job, the process as viewed from my side had been seriously lacking in quality and satisfaction.

The cascade:

1. Communication between vendors took too many attempts. (Multiple trips expended resources both in productive hours and in gas for vehicles.)
2. No one thought to stop the end service order to my existing company when problems were encountered. (Using up more productive hours in phone calls and follow up.)
3. For the most part they did not take a view higher than the scope of their current job to visualize what was happening upstream or downstream – not looking at the big picture and the details at the same time resulted in loss of service (and extra expenses for them) during the handoffs.
4. I had to use a vacation day in order to be home to make sure all was finally completed, which in turn affected my productivity at my workplace (and the possibility of my spending money on a “real” vacation day if I hadn’t had to use it for this instead).

We are all worried about this economy.

When it comes to the environment, we often hear that even little things like turning off a light or recycling the newspaper can make a big difference if we all do them.

I have to wonder as I set up my own small side business, how much of a difference can we all make to the economy if we pay attention not just to doing our own jobs well, but also keep the broader perspective in mind, including where things might be improved in our work handoffs before and after our step in process. Each small improvement we make in our productivity can trickle down to the next part of the process – more efficiency, less waste = better economy.