It's the Little Things

Last week we needed some repairs made to our septic system.  I called the company who performed the original installation, but since this was the second major problem we had in just over two years, I also called a different company to get a second opinion.

What transpired over the next several days showed me that no matter what services or products your business provides, poor organizational culture will damage your business. Here’s a summary of what happened.

Company 1 - When I finally reached someone (I had to call twice…) the person speculated about all the ways the problem might be my fault before agreeing to send someone out after I emailed them a photograph of the problem.

The employee who arrived at my house did so without tools (you need to borrow my shovel?) and worked without gloves (gross…). After trying to convince me to repair it myself, he admitted he doesn’t normally do the repairs, but rather drives the truck. He agreed to return to the shop, relay what he saw and follow up the next day.

I called the office the next day (they didn’t call me) and they suggested I call distributors about possible equipment warranties. The person I spoke with again began speculating on the cause of the problem – despite never having been onsite. Most of their responses focused on how others were responsible – the electrician, the health department, me..., but nothing about how the company might share some accountability, or how best to proceed. They promised to have the Company President come out to see the problem for himself.

I received a voicemail later that day from the President promising to “fix this mess” -  but no visit. The company emailed the next morning asking how we would like to proceed (You mean other than fixing the problem?!!). I replied that I had already hired another company to do the work. I’ve had no other response from them.

Company 2 – The person who answered the phone asked me a few questions to help diagnose the problem and scheduled someone to take a look. The employee who showed up diagnosed the problem, and offered additional guidance about replacement and warranty options. They also provided a written estimate for the repair.

They called the next day with the information about the available warranties and replacement options, and I scheduled them to perform the work. They arrived on time and fixed the problem (using their own tools…).

I understand that sometimes equipment breaks and projects don’t go how you may have hoped. But the difference between two companies illustrates an important point. Both companies would have purchased the same replacement parts from the same distributor, so there was essentially no difference in the product they provided.

But while Company 1 missed calls, deflected accountability, and arrived unprepared, Company 2 won the job, simply by being responsive and solving my problem. The disparity in customer service and professionalism between the two was incredible. 

There’s nothing new under the sun – in most cases your competitors can offer the same product or service as you do. What are you doing to differentiate yourself from them? Believe it or not, simple tasks like returning phone calls will move you automatically to the top tier in almost any industry. Listen to your clients, provide what your customers need. They’ll thank you for it.

Perspective from 3 Billion Miles

Consider a bit of perspective the next time you face a challenge at work (perhaps you’re in the middle of one right now). The New Horizons space probe completed its closest approach to Pluto this morning after travelling for over nine years across three billion miles. New Horizons arrived at Pluto one minute ahead of schedule, travelling through its target window in space which measured approximately 60 by 90 kilometers – “the equivalent of a commercial airliner arriving no more off target than the width of a tennis ball”.

Unless you actually work at NASA, or are a brain surgeon, you’re not working with those sorts of constraints or margin of error. Step back, take a deep breath and deal with your problem in a thoughtful, intelligent manner. What’s the worst that could happen? In reality, most of the time, it’s a bruised ego. 

To reach Pluto, New Horizons is the fastest space probe ever made – travelling at over 30,000 MPH. At that speed, impacting a particle the size of a grain of rice could incapacitate the probe. It’s unlikely the same could be said about your project.

It's Pronouced "Atlatl"

When people learn I’m an archaeologist they often ask me about the artifacts I find, and many of these questions are about arrowheads. It's not surprising – they’re interesting, easy to identify, and fairly common.

But many of the objects that look like this – aren’t arrowheads at all.

What I mean is – many of these sharp, pointed stone objects, were never intended to be propelled through the air using a bow.

The bow and arrow was invented by different groups of people at different times, but it appears in the Midwest U.S. by around the year 700 AD.  Before the invention of the bow, there were two primary means of launching a sharp projectile.

The first, and most basic, is throwing the object by hand, similar to a javelin or spear. This method, while simple, has obvious limitations of speed and distance. The second approach uses a similar throwing motion, but employs a tool called an atlal, which increases the velocity and distance a person can launch a projectile.

Note the dart flexing to store and release the energy provided by the atlatl

An atlatl is a short shaft that holds and propels the butt end of a spear or dart. A person holds the shaft opposite the end holding the dart, which adds leverage to the arm during the throwing motion.  This allows the dart to be launched further than with the arm alone. Skilled individuals can reach speeds approaching 100 mph, but as you can see in the sequence below, the atlatl can assist younger throwers as well.

Atlatl demonstration at a recent archaeology outreach event

The term atlatl comes from the Nahuatl Aztec language, but this tool appears in cultures all across the world. Most archaeologists agree that the atlatl was invented approximately 20,000 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic period, but various indigenous groups continued using the tool after the invention of the bow, well into the 20^th century.

So can archaeologists tell if a sharpened stone point was used on an arrow, spear, or an atlatl dart? 

It depends.

Based on what we know about a particular culture or time period we may be able to say that a particular point was probably used as a spear, dart, or arrow. Generally speaking, smaller points would tend to perform well if shot by a bow, while larger points would do well at the end of a spear or dart, but some experiments have shown that darts can be very effective using small points, and bows can shoot arrows with large points, so the size of the point is helpful guide, but it’s not definitive.

Also it’s important to know that many cultures have used spears, darts, and arrows without stone tips, but rather by simply sharpening the shaft, or using other materials, like bone, as pointed tips. The difficulty comes from the fact the point is part of a system -  shaft, bow, atlatl - but since the stone point is only part that tends to survive, it's easy to lose sight of the rest of the system.

So remember the next time you see something like this –  

Understand that its history might just be a little more complicated than you might think.