The Racetrack Analogy

Another way to express the same thing is seen in Fig. 7.2.5.

Fig. 7.2.5 Cars on a racetrack.

In Fig. 7.2.5, a pathway with different workloads is pictured. You can think of it as a
roadway where there are cars running. The cars are all fast and uniform in size. The
speeds that are attained are quite high. The roadway could be the old Brickyard in
Indianapolis or Daytona. The only cars running on the track are Porsches and Ferraris.
Everything is running efficiently.

Now, consider another roadway. The next roadway is seen in Fig. 7.2.6.

Fig. 7.2.6 A racetrack with a cement truck on the track.

In this roadway, there are some small fast cars and some semitrucks. This could be
Mexico City at rush hour. Everything is slow.

The difference between the speeds that are attained is remarkable. On one track, there
are very high rate of speeds. On another track, there are very low rates of speed that are
attained. The major difference between the tracks is that large, slow vehicles are allowed
onto the road. The large vehicles slow everything down.

Your Vehicle Runs as Fast as the Vehicle in Front of It

Chapter 7.2: The Standard Work Unit