Saturday, January 07, 2006
The Problem With Zero-Gravity Pens
I came across a great anecdote today. It seems that NASA had a problem with its first space flights. There were things the astronauts needed to write down, but their pens wouldn't work in zero gravity because pens rely on gravity to draw the ink down to the tip. So NASA spent millions of dollars to come up with special pens that would work in zero gravity.
The Russians had the same problem with their first space flights, too. But they solved the problem much sooner and much. They just used pencils.
The story reminds me of how we as business people often do the same thing. Faced with a problem, how often don't we go through the same efforts to find a complicated solution to a simple problem.
Always look for the straightest path to your solutions and you can save yourself lots of time and money.
Jeff
I came across a great anecdote today. It seems that NASA had a problem with its first space flights. There were things the astronauts needed to write down, but their pens wouldn't work in zero gravity because pens rely on gravity to draw the ink down to the tip. So NASA spent millions of dollars to come up with special pens that would work in zero gravity.
The Russians had the same problem with their first space flights, too. But they solved the problem much sooner and much. They just used pencils.
The story reminds me of how we as business people often do the same thing. Faced with a problem, how often don't we go through the same efforts to find a complicated solution to a simple problem.
Always look for the straightest path to your solutions and you can save yourself lots of time and money.
Jeff
Comments:
Post a Comment
© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Jeff Baas, One Stop Web Support
