Taking care of the details – how looking after the small things can lead to business success
“Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves. You can gain more control over your life by paying closer attention to the little things.”
Emily Dickinson’s quote and its iterations throughout the years are familiar to all of us. Who doesn’t remember being told as a child that if you… “look after the pennies the pounds will take care of themselves…” by a well-meaning older relative anxious to foster good saving habits?
But what about the big picture?
Strategy and “big picture” thinking are, of course, crucial for business success. Many management and leadership books encourage business leaders to refrain from micromanagement, to leave the details and not to sweat the small stuff – but to focus on the big picture of company vision and mission.
Mission-critical details
However, paying attention to detail can cause a project to succeed – or to fail. In mission-critical industries such as energy production or space exploration every detail must be right. Failure of a tiny component or a slight miscalculation can have catastrophic consequences. We recently wrote about the disappearance of the Mars Climate Orbiter which was partly caused by a failure to convert imperial measurements to metric – click here to read more about it – and cost NASA hundreds of millions of dollars. The Challenger disaster in 1986 had even more serious consequences – all seven crew were killed when the shuttle broke up moments after launch. O-ring seals in the solid rocket booster failed, causing pressurised gas to reach the external joint attachments and fuel tank.
Marginal gains
Taking care of the details not only helps prevent failure, it can also bring huge success. In the early 2000s Sir David Brailsford joined the cycling team then called Team Sky, now Team Ineos. Sir David’s approach was to break down every aspect of cycling and aim to improve each by 1%, thus developing overall performance. Team Sky changed cycle seat design, upgraded kit fabric, used electrically heated shorts to enhance muscle strength and even researched the best pillows for athletes. They found areas for improvement beyond the obvious – even recruiting a surgeon to teach the athletes the best hand-washing method to prevent infection with colds and other viruses.
Getting results
Since 1908 UK cyclists had won only one Olympic medal and had never won the Tour de France. After the marginal gains programme the UK won 60% of the cycling medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2012 Olympics in London, Team GB athletes set nine Olympic records and seven world records. Sir Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France that year, Chris Froome replicating his success in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 with Geraint Thomas taking the title in 2018. Taking care of those details meant “marginal gains” became “major success”.
Oil and gas pipe details
At OMS we specialise in the occasionally unglamorous business of pipe measurement, mainly in the oil and gas industry. In this sector industry operators are constantly focused on making sure every detail is taken care of because the consequences of failing to do so are so serious.
Dimensional measurement – at the heart of getting things right
In our experience dimensional measurement is at the heart of getting things right. Understanding outwardly “small” things such as pipe bevel geometry can reduce project costs, improve pipeline lifetime and integrity, increase the chance of delivering on schedule and cut the number of personnel required. Not only can “taking care of the little things” save operators a fortune, it can also increase health and safety and improve business efficiency. To find out more about how our measurement services could help your business click here.
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Posted 18.02.20
[5 minute read]