four lines we have now.” Then he adds, “When we put these
lines in four years ago, we were anticipating an output of about
800 units per week, but they only got the output up to 600
when we had to go online. It wasn’t a problem until recently,
when we realized we would fall short of demand by the end of
the year. That’s why you have to put another line in right away.”
Brad feels as if he’s one step closer to identifying the true
need. Then, in a bold move, he decides to try the magic ques-
tion one more time. “Whyare you only getting 600 units per
week, Bill?”
At this point, Bill has obviously had enough. “If you need
anymore information, go talk to Ann. She’s the engineer who
put these lines in.”
As Brad is leaving, Bill repeats, “Brad, we reallyneed you to
get going on this new line right away, OK?” Brad just nods and
smiles.
Before setting up an appointment with Ann, Brad decides to
reflect on the situation. The “need” presented to him is to install
a production line in Operations. But his talk with Bill revealed
that the true need is that they would not be able to meet
demand by the end of the year, because they’re not getting the
anticipated output from their existing production lines. It doesn’t
take Brad long to figure out that if he can improve the efficiency
of the production lines from 600 units per week to 800 units per
week, his client may be able to avoid putting in a brand new
production line. Brad senses a potential opportunity and picks
up the phone to call Ann.
Brad’s experience is not uncommon in the process of identi-
fying and understanding true needs. It represents an excellent
example of the phenomenon of solution-jumping. As described
in Chapter 2, this is when we grab at the first or most obvious
solution to a problem. In this case, since the four existing lines
could not meet demand, someone determined that a fifth line
was needed. Brad recognizes that installing a fifth production
line would satisfy the need to meet demand, but may not repre-
sent the optimum solution. As Brad has discovered, the only
54 Project Management