sspunia
December 30th, 2005, 10:20 AM
1. the stranger and the gingernuts story (making assumptions, think before you act, different perspectives)
At the airport after a tiring business trip a lady's return flight was delayed. She went to the airport shop, bought a book, a coffee and a small packet containing five gingernut biscuits. The airport was crowded and she found a seat in the lounge, next to a stranger. After a few minutes' reading she became absorbed in her book. She took a biscuit from the packet and began to drink her coffee. To her great surprise, the stranger in the next seat calmly took one of the biscuits and ate it. Stunned, she couldn't bring herself to say anything, nor even to look at the stranger. Nervously she continued reading. After a few minutes she slowly picked up and ate the third biscuit. Incredibly, the stranger took the fourth gingernut and ate it, then to the woman's amazement, he picked up the packet and offered her the last biscuit. This being too much to tolerate, the lady angrily picked up her belongings, gave the stranger an indignant scowl and marched off to the boarding gate, where her flight was now ready. Flustered and enraged, she reached inside her bag for her boarding ticket, and found her unopened packet of gingernuts...
2.The fish baking story (to challenge belief systems and assumptions, and illustrate pointless routine and the need for questioning)
A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how babicka (Czech for grandma) did it."
Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.
Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."
So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great grandma to find ask if she knew the answer.
Great grandma thought for a while and said, “Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish”.
3.The cannibals (a story about management)
A big corporation hired several cannibals. "You are all part of our team now," said the HR manager during the welcome briefing. "You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat any of the other employees." The cannibals promised they would not.
A few weeks later the cannibals' boss remarked, "You're all working very hard, and I'm satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The cannibals all shook their heads, "No," they said.
After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others angrily, "Right, which one of you idiots ate the secretary?"
A hand rose hesitantly in admission. "You fool!" said the leader, "For weeks we've been eating managers and no one noticed anything, but noooooo, you had to go and eat someone important!..."
aircraft engineering support (lessons in communications and support service)
According to the story, after every Quantas Airlines flight the pilots complete a a 'gripe sheet' report, which conveys to the ground crew engineers any mechanical problems on the aircraft during the flight. The engineer reads the form, corrects the problem, then writes details of action taken on the lower section of the form for the pilot to review before the next flight. It is clear from the examples below that ground crew engineers have a keen sense of humour - these are supposedly real extracts from gripe forms completed by pilots with the solution responses by the engineers. Incidentally, Quantas has the best safety record of all the world's major airlines.
(1 = The problem logged by the pilot.) (2 = The solution and action taken by the mechanics.)
Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
Almost replaced left inside main tire.
Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
Something loose in cockpit.
Something tightened in cockpit.
Dead bugs on windshield.
Live bugs on back-order.
Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
Evidence removed.
DME volume unbelievably loud.
DME volume set to more believable level.
Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
That's what they're there for.
IFF inoperative.
IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
Suspected crack in windshield.
Suspect you're right.
Number 3 engine missing.
Engine found on right wing after brief search.
Aircraft handles funny.
Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
Target radar hums.
Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
Mouse in cockpit.
Cat installed.
Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
Took hammer away from midget.
At the airport after a tiring business trip a lady's return flight was delayed. She went to the airport shop, bought a book, a coffee and a small packet containing five gingernut biscuits. The airport was crowded and she found a seat in the lounge, next to a stranger. After a few minutes' reading she became absorbed in her book. She took a biscuit from the packet and began to drink her coffee. To her great surprise, the stranger in the next seat calmly took one of the biscuits and ate it. Stunned, she couldn't bring herself to say anything, nor even to look at the stranger. Nervously she continued reading. After a few minutes she slowly picked up and ate the third biscuit. Incredibly, the stranger took the fourth gingernut and ate it, then to the woman's amazement, he picked up the packet and offered her the last biscuit. This being too much to tolerate, the lady angrily picked up her belongings, gave the stranger an indignant scowl and marched off to the boarding gate, where her flight was now ready. Flustered and enraged, she reached inside her bag for her boarding ticket, and found her unopened packet of gingernuts...
2.The fish baking story (to challenge belief systems and assumptions, and illustrate pointless routine and the need for questioning)
A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how babicka (Czech for grandma) did it."
Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.
Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."
So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great grandma to find ask if she knew the answer.
Great grandma thought for a while and said, “Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish”.
3.The cannibals (a story about management)
A big corporation hired several cannibals. "You are all part of our team now," said the HR manager during the welcome briefing. "You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat any of the other employees." The cannibals promised they would not.
A few weeks later the cannibals' boss remarked, "You're all working very hard, and I'm satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The cannibals all shook their heads, "No," they said.
After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others angrily, "Right, which one of you idiots ate the secretary?"
A hand rose hesitantly in admission. "You fool!" said the leader, "For weeks we've been eating managers and no one noticed anything, but noooooo, you had to go and eat someone important!..."
aircraft engineering support (lessons in communications and support service)
According to the story, after every Quantas Airlines flight the pilots complete a a 'gripe sheet' report, which conveys to the ground crew engineers any mechanical problems on the aircraft during the flight. The engineer reads the form, corrects the problem, then writes details of action taken on the lower section of the form for the pilot to review before the next flight. It is clear from the examples below that ground crew engineers have a keen sense of humour - these are supposedly real extracts from gripe forms completed by pilots with the solution responses by the engineers. Incidentally, Quantas has the best safety record of all the world's major airlines.
(1 = The problem logged by the pilot.) (2 = The solution and action taken by the mechanics.)
Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
Almost replaced left inside main tire.
Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
Something loose in cockpit.
Something tightened in cockpit.
Dead bugs on windshield.
Live bugs on back-order.
Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
Evidence removed.
DME volume unbelievably loud.
DME volume set to more believable level.
Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
That's what they're there for.
IFF inoperative.
IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
Suspected crack in windshield.
Suspect you're right.
Number 3 engine missing.
Engine found on right wing after brief search.
Aircraft handles funny.
Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
Target radar hums.
Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
Mouse in cockpit.
Cat installed.
Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
Took hammer away from midget.