If You Don't Have Time To Do It Right

Have you ever heard something to the effect of, “There’s not time to finish this, so let’s just fix it good enough?” Why replace a gasket when we can wrap the connection in duct tape? That saves time and gets the job done to a reasonable degree, right? Wrong.

Sometimes to check things off our list, we do them quickly and just good enough to get a passing grade. When we speed through things and cut corners, we create problems that inevitably will have to be fixed down the road.

Going back to my gasket example, if you put duct tape on the gasket instead of replacing it, you’re banking on the duct tape lasting. It is difficult to plan when duct tape is going to fail. Instead of taking the extra time to replace the gasket the first time, now you are wasting time watching that duct tape. You are checking to make sure it’s still holding up, just waiting to replace it again. And take it from me, duct tape fixes don’t last long.

The duct tape fix leads to rework because we have failed to properly plan for the job. We end up having to patch up that duct tape several times. That time you thought you were saving? You end up spending it on multiple “quick” fixes.

What is motivating about that? Not only are you and your team tired of fixing the same issues over and over again, but rework is expensive – not just monetarily, it costs you time!

This leads me to a quote I saw in a maintenance manager’s office that really hit home. It was from John Wooden and said, “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

If something is important enough to do now, it should also be important enough to do right.

Until next time…we are Advoco, make every minute count.

About Colin: Colin Whitney is a Solutions Architect with Advoco and looks forward to helping others achieve their EAM goals. He is a graduate of both the University of Iowa and the University of Georgia. When he is not working he enjoys getting outside and watching college football. Questions? Send Colin an email!