Save Your Steps
"Save your steps" was one of the first lessons my dad taught me growing up. I first heard this advice when helping him around the house. When he would ask me to get him a tool from his toolbox, he would also make sure I had something in my hand that would eliminate a separate trip to the toolbox or trash at a later time. The concept is simple, by taking an extra moment to plan, you will save your energy and not spend your days walking back-and-forth. Do not take steps because the urgency of the moment calls for it. Instead, think strategically before acting. Even for the smallest task.
I saw the power of the idea at a larger scale when I started sweeping the shop floor at elementary school age. I thought I had a good grasp of the “save your steps” concept from helping at home, but I was shown again how I was wasting steps in the process of sweeping the shop and disposing of the dust. I walked to a trash can that was positioned somewhere in the shop to throw away the collected debris. My dad stopped me and instead showed me that if I bring the trash can near me when I sweep, I will save the steps by not walking back to the central trash can. Better yet, put the trash can on a wheeled dolly as you gently pull the can behind you around the shop, instead of expending energy carrying or, worse yet, dragging the can.
I have applied this concept to many things since and it is a main idea I hold in the back of my head when working on improving our processes. For example, when I see someone in Drafting looking for the same information that someone in Estimating already searched for and found, that is an opportunity to “save your steps” as an organization. It also helps determine priorities for which changes to make. If you are going to head in a certain direction, you should try to accomplish more than one small task in the process. What can we go after that alleviates a lot of operational pain at once? If we are going to spend our time building something, it better have an impact.
The dark side of “save your steps” is that it leaves room for complacency. If you are only thinking about optimizing your steps and never taking the steps, then the saying loses all its meaning. Which is when I hear that other saying from my dad, that I have heard for years, echo in my ears, “do not put off for tomorrow, that which can be done today”. Pair the two together and there is a balance of planning and urgency, which have been a winning combination for this company for many years.
p.s. Funnily enough, on the day I was drafting this blog post, Marty was moving a box of cabinet hinges from one area to another when the bottom of the box gave out and 200 hinges scattered across the stairs and onto the shop floor. Without a word Marty went to grab a more rigid box and I stayed to help him pick up the hinges. We started in one spot and once the hinges were cleared and it made sense, I moved to an area with more hinges. But as I was turning around to bring my handful of hinges to the original box location, Marty was already right behind me, having moved the box to meet the hinges.