A Software Engineer, a Hardware Engineer and a Branch Manager were on their
way to a meeting. They were driving down a steep mountain road when suddenly
the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of control down
the road, bouncing off the crash barriers, until it miraculously ground to a
halt scraping along the mountainside. The car's occupants, shaken but
unhurt, now had a problem: they were stuck halfway down a mountain in a car
with no brakes. What were they to do?

"I know," said the Branch Manager, "Let's have a meeting, propose a Vision,
formulate a Mission Statement, define some Goals, and by a process of
Continuous Improvement find a solution to the Critical Problems, and we can
be on our way."

"No, no," said the Hardware Engineer, "That will take far too long, and
besides, that method has never worked before. I've got my Swiss Army knife
with me, and in no time at all I can strip down the car's braking system,
isolate the fault, fix it, and we can be on our way."

"Well," said the Software Engineer, "Before we do anything, I think we
should push the car back up the road and see if it happens again."


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 CDR Paul Edwards USNR Ret.       HP 3000 Certified Consultant
 Paul Edwards & Associates        Phone: (972) 242-6660
 1506 Estates Way                 Fax  : (972) 446-9022
 Carrollton TX 75006              Cel  : (214) 384-8728
 Email: [log in to unmask]          Web  : www.peassoc.com
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