Another run of the Tinker Toys

[Steven_S_Prevette@rl.gov]

I ran Robert Crow's Tinker Toy exercise for our training group.  Talk about
immediately competing with each other.  One group did have a broken stick,
and they went over and swapped it for a good stick (of the same size,
interestingly) with the other group without being noticed.  A few minutes
later someone in the other group noticed the broken stick, and asked where
it came from.  I stated (matter of factly) that a member of the first group
brought it over and swapped it for one of yours.  So the original group got
the broken stick back.  There was then interaction between the groups, but
more in terms of sabotage than cooperation.

One of the two towers collapsed.  Must be something about Hanford - I now
have three of four towers collapsed (tipped over, actually).

During the debrief I did ask if the groups accomplished the task at hand
(build the highest free standing structure possible).  One person (the
perfect straight man) did answer "limited resources".  I then made him read
the phrase on the Tinker Toy can that says "combine this set with other
Tinker Toy sets to create even larger structures".  It took several minutes
before the light bulbs came on that they created the competition, not me.

Steve Prevette
Site Technical Authority for Statistical Trending
Environment, Safety and Health
Fluor Hanford, A Fluor Global Services Company
ASQ Certified Quality Engineer
steven_s_prevette@rl.gov
509-373-9371