Our limited vision
of reality and pressure to expand, to improve performance and
productivity forces us to increase aircraft utilisation and reduce slacks even at congested airports and at peak times. This without understanding how much it will affect the on-time performance, passengers, and ultimately cost and revenue. The system we are in and
information we have available don’t allow us to see these connections.
Here is
how Seth Godin explains why we should invest in slacks:
'If your delivery drivers have
to do six deliveries a day, they’ll rush from the first moment. They’ll be
super efficient at easily measurable metrics. They’ll cut a few corners.
If they only have to make five
deliveries, you can ask them to spend that ‘down’ time doing things your
customers will actually remember. They can invest in less easily measurable
metrics. Instead of cutting corners, they’ll embrace them.
Systems with slack are more
resilient. The few extra minutes of time aren’t wasted, the same way that a
bike helmet isn’t wasted if you don’t have a crash today. That buffer will save
the day, sooner or later.
One thunderstorm can cripple
the air traffic system for six major cities, because each plane is stacked so
efficiently that the ripple cascades, leading to failure and cancellations. In
the old days, when efficiency was measured over a longer term, there was enough
buffer to absorb a bump like that.
The mistake happens when we
over-index on the easily measured short-term wins and forget to account for the
costs of system failure.
Competitive environments push
profit seekers to reduce slack and to play a short-term game. If your
organization hits the wall, the market will survive, because we have other
options. But that doesn’t mean you will survive.
Slack is actually a bargain.'
A good reason to start reshaping our strategies.
