Two watchmakers
Story Synopsis
- Characters: Hora and Tempus, master watchmakers
- Product: High-end watch with approx. 1,000 parts per piece
- Condition: Phone rings frequently and work is often interrupted
tempus
- Assemble 1,000 parts at once from start to finish
- If you let go of your hand in the middle of a task, everything falls apart and you have to start all over again from the beginning. hey!
- 10 Parts → Create and fix small units
- 10 small units → medium units
- 10 medium units → complete
- The unit does not collapse when placed in the middle of the process, and resumption starts at that stage.
Result: Tempus resets every time the phone rings, but Hola thrives because it can reopen with very little loss, and Tempus goes out of business.
Key Lessons Learned -- The Power of Hierarchy and Modularity
- Hierarchical partitioning (resolution)
- Dividing a large problem into stable "subassemblies" makes it more resistant to disturbances and exponentially reduces the search space.
- Almost independent" subsystems
- Strong coupling within each unit and weak coupling between units → to a structure that Herbert Simon. later called "near decomposable systems".
- Speed of evolution and learning
- If the intermediate form is stable, "trial and error with conservation" is possible, and the probability and time required to create a complex system can be dramatically improved.
summary
- The fable of the two watchmakers has a universal message: "Divide things, organizations, and knowledge into units that cannot be broken down along the way, and build up reusable blocks. Today, when interruptions and environmental changes are commonplace, the hora-like approach--stratification, modularization, and securing a stable intermediate form--is the key to achievement and sustainability. The key to success and sustainability is the holistic approach.
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