Trainwreck or Bus disaster?
From the “This is london” website there is this story about the dangers of relying on satnav and the unexpected outcomes that arise from decisions taken on incomplete or inaccurate information.
Summary… 50 people take a shopping trip from Gloucester to Lille (France). Driver of coach relies on SatNav. He selects “Lille” from the menu. He neglects to check if it is the right Lille as there are two within 100 miles of each other – one in France and one in Belgium. Coach tour winds up miles off course in the wrong country.
The passengers notice this as they are travelling, particularly when they see signs for Eindhoven (not in France) and (possibly) “Welcome to Belgium”, but when they brought this to the driver’s attention they were ignored. The end result was they wound up in the wrong country and, by the time they got to the right Lille (France) there were only 2 hours of shopping time left.
The shoppers stayed overnight in Lille and the next day the driver turned off his SatNav so as not to make the same mistake again. Unfortunately that resulted in him getting stuck under a low bridge and having to go back and find an alternative route, adding an hour to the journey.
What is the moral of this story?
- When using technology in a process, pay attention to signposts along the way that could tell you you are going the wrong way.
- Listen to your customer… sometimes they see signs of error you don’t
- Don’t blame technology for errors originating with people or incomplete information. Rather than throw out technology, first look at the process end to end and see where the problem actually originated. It might mean you can use the existing technology more effectively and avoid future delays and problems.
Is it an IQ Trainwreck? 50 people affected, poor quality information involved, a double whammy of issues…. if not a trainwreck then perhaps a Bus Disaster?
