
Is this how most VCs think? - cvs268
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-paid-3x-rickshaw-driver-shekhar-kirani
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cvs268
TL;DR: A VC shares his positive experience when he saved his commute time by
offering 3x fare if the auto-rickshaw driver can get him to his office faster
than usual.

Nice write-up. But i'm more interested in what happens next?

1\. In return for your 3x fare, can he deliver consistent savings everytime?

2\. How would you react when one day, despite your 3x offer, the optimised-
for-time routing takes longer than the shortest-path that you would follow in
your car?

3\. Will the 3x fare continue to have the same motivational effect after
6months of this arrangement?

4\. Did throwing money at a problem actually solve it? Or did it promote an
inefficient solution (3x fare) and stifle actual innovation(remote-work
facility)?

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iolothebard
Seems the driver solved it for him, he takes the same route now and makes it
to work more quickly.

~~~
cvs268
Hmmm... Apparently.

So effectively an "expert consultant" was brought in to "streamline" the
workflow. And the one-time investment paid rich dividends. Interesting... :-)

Q5. So in your experience, how true is the analogy in IT companies?

Does hiring an external consultant to improve the workflow often result in
actual "process improvements" for the better?...

~~~
iolothebard
If you hire the right person and actually implement what they're showing as
improvements.

It's why I left my current job. Hired me as IT Director. I fixed all the
nonsense development (cowboy) and got everything going the right direction.
The owner doesn't give a shit, he just overloaded all the IT processes I setup
and we're back to where we were almost. Since I put in my notice, the
developers have gone back to the old hacking shit together way.

So yes, a consultant (or anyone) given the ability to streamline workflow can
fix something. Now will that work going forward, only time will tell due to
all the external pressures/factors that go into both the scenario in the post
and in any IT dept I've ever worked in.

