As many of you know, Steve's educational background is as an electrical engineer. Coupled with the fact that he frequently teaches TOM (aka Technology and Operations Management) to first year HBS students, you can understand his fascination with "how things get done". As Karen emerged from a shop housing the most delicate hand made silks, she found Steve looking skyward. Considering the ubiquitous presence of temples and saffron clad monks, could this be an inspired moment of spirituality?
Ah, but much more engrossing, it was the running of a new line by the local electrical utility group. Men work in threes - one moves the ladder to rest
against the lines so he can catch the new line tossed up by his partner and then throws it down to the third man in the team. The workmen move at incredible speed and can go down an entire block in about 10 minutes. As we wondered about how anyone could make sense of the tangle at the corner junction, it was explained that if a line goes dead, instead of tracing it back, another line is simply run. Now that's efficiency!
Steve needed an ice cream to recover as he thought through this approach to utility repair. However, when Karen considered the HOURS she has spent getting the Boston electrical utility to come to the house, and the subsequent HOURS repair men spend staring at and testing junctions at their home's electrical panel, often resulting in their need to return to repeat the process, she's gladly willing to try the Cambodian approach.
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