Preparation

Many, if not most, tasks can be completed more efficiently with a little preparation. Contrast these two approaches to the same task: putting together a desk.

Andy tears open the carton and dumps all the pieces out. He does not believe in reading the manual; the preparation time was 2 minutes.

Andy picks up the topmost pieces in the pile and tries to put them together. These are not compatible—they depend on other pieces. Andy then searches in the pile for the pieces they depend on, tries to figure them out, and finally takes out the manual after wasting 15 minutes. The first step according to the manual involves attaching rubber floor protectors to the bottom surface of the pieces that would form the sides of the desk. Andy walks over to the garage and searches in a pile of tools for a hammer—a waste of another 15 minutes. Andy finally finds the hammer, goes back, and knocks in the rubber floor protectors. The next step is to lay the back of the desk flat on the floor and attach...