The World’s Fastest Man (2014)

http://comstocksmag.com/longreads/cover-worlds-fastest-man

by tosh • 8 years ago

49 27 8 years ago

mindB3• 8 years ago

The way he drives his workers is very different than a common orthodoxy I see around here:

He demands 12 hour days, and he gets more efficiency than other contractors; definitely different than the view that there's some optimum level of work <=40 hours/week after which returns diminish so much as to not be worth it. Maybe the game industry's perpetual crunch time isn't as insane from a strictly financial perspective as it seems at first blush?

Avshalom• 8 years ago

"He" appears to be fast because he realized that throwing as many bodies at the problem as he can find actually pays off due to the contract structure. Not necessarily because he's making either efficient or healthy use of those bodies. How much guaranteed extra money does EA make for shipping Madden a day earlier?

colotj3• 8 years ago

Absolutely. This article speaks to the immense advantage of a 3 or 4 decade player in local markets / governments.

Contracts with $200,000/day early completion bonuses are not handed out to everyone. While they may be "hard bid" by dozens of contractors, preferential treatment is accorded to those with relationships.

If you're that guy AND you landed the contract, your decision to raid manpower from other local players is as straightforward as they come.

mindB3• 8 years ago

I think you're probably right. The impressive thing here and the competitive advantage is probably the organizational ability and supervisional manpower to make effective use of extra manpower.

ggm2• 8 years ago

The <= 40 thing wasn't some random feel-good. Time and Motion and Operations Research people looked at what happened in wartime rush-rush production, and the evidence they collected was (from what i read) pretty good that its a law of diminishing returns followed by a downturn in safety and quality.

My only cite is indirect: Angus Calder "the people's war" but I would be surprised if this isn't well documented in the real literature.

Also, some of the outcomes very quickly become externalities: nobody notices the bodge job until 5+ years later, and people die young of non-specific stress related diseases which don't get attributed to work.

QuercusMax• 8 years ago

The 40-hour thing was for assembly-line type work if I'm not mistaken.

It's entirely possible for construction-type work where specialized workers have to take turns (backhoe guy digs a hole, workers prep with hand tools, concrete is poured from cement mixer and then smoothed out with hand tools, lather, rinse, repeat), that there's enough built-in downtime / break time between steps that workers can handle longer shifts without reduced productivity.

mindB3• 8 years ago

That's interesting that the 40 hour thing came from OR. Will have to look into that. I'm working on my MS in OR right now. I had always just thought that it was based on the undeniable fact that work just kind of sucks after 40 hours in a week.

toomanybeersies2• 8 years ago

The argument for <40 hours weeks is for white collar workers.

For construction and manufacturing work, the longer the hours, the more work will get done. There is an argument to be made for diminishing returns, but it's a lot less than for office jobs.

colotj3• 8 years ago

Great bio on a man who seems to have mastered the tenets of charismatic leadership that are crucial in the male-dominated construction trades where everyone is looking for a role model.

This will not be surprising to most, but it's not C.C. Myers at 76 years old building these projects. It's his field personnel -- Superintendents, Foreman, Apprentices, etc. The secret sauce is the on-the-ground leaders and their adherence to business process to get results.

Of course this was not discussed in the article, and as a result, renders moot discussion of performance improvements based on his means & methods.

mingabunga• 8 years ago

Came here to read about Usain Bolt, and instead read a great article about another brilliant guy.

goatherders• 8 years ago

Same.

siruncledrew• 8 years ago

Is it usual to get bonuses for finishing early on gov projects?

Do other construction companies realistically struggle to finish early because of their inefficient structure or is some other compulsion factor at play?

colotj3• 8 years ago

Speaking to your question on construction companies ability to complete projects on schedule -- Inefficient structure, more specifically human resource inadequacies, may be the most apt description of what causes missed schedule and financial targets.

It's important to understand that the construction industry is a well trained, but poorly educated workforce. That translates to a lack of comprehensive planning and foresight. The better companies have solved this problem by identifying individuals with the right mix of "global thinking" and field experience and charged them with managing projects.

Lesser companies still win work (especially during economic boom times) and, as there are so many, serve as a constant reminder of how straightforward projects can go awry.

mikecarlton• 8 years ago

His company was responsible for repairing the 10 freeway after the Northridge earthquake. They got a bonus for finishing early, but there were lots of stories of him personally harassing inspectors and pulling inspector flags (where re-work was supposed to be done).

I know that one section in particular that they repaired was done really shoddy -- there was giant lip between pavement sections that would make your car shudder like it hit a giant pothole. Everytime I drove over it I cursed their horrible work and was pissed that they earned a bonus for doing half-assed work.

toomanybeersies2• 8 years ago

A classic example of Goodheart's Law [1]:

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

captain_perl• 8 years ago

On the other hand, his work on the MacArthur Maze (mentioned in the article) saved the Bay Area transportation grid.

That one project makes up for every alleged wrong he did in his entire lifetime:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze

Some other titans you may want to read about who achieved great success through sheer force of will:

- Frank Robinson, Founder, Robinson Helicopters (#1 helicopter manufacturer in the world by unit sales)

- Chuck Yeager: "The X-1 wasn't a plane. Chuck Yeager was the X-1." (The world's first and only combined test pilot/rocket mechanic. That combination was needed to break the sound barrier and survive.)

- the Florida airport consultant/GM who saved San Jose from bankruptcy by saving $2 billion in overruns on Terminal 3.

ambicapter• 8 years ago

A less than favorable review of Chuck Yeager's performance and attitude handling the NF-104 air/spacecraft: http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_11.html. And politics as usual http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_13.html.

Inetgate• 8 years ago

It page return 403. I also search wayback machine and google, but there is no cache for it.

Willwhatley• 8 years ago

I am able to navigate to the page just now.

In case there is still a problem: https://web.archive.org/web/20180827010038/https://www.comst...

sandworm101• 8 years ago

His real secret: he pays his people. He can phone someone and say "send me some guys" and the do because they know they will be paid. Most chiefs screw around with subcontractors, delaying payments and asking for reductions.... going bankrupt when it suits them. Pay people and they will work.

justinator2• 8 years ago

So I'm curious: the insanely low bid he gives, the insane timeframe he's able to deliver, and the enormous bonus he collects at the end. Is that shared with his workers, or is that all kept for himself?

Rushing bridges and tunnel jobs seems... risky.

gameswithgo• 8 years ago

It is shared in the sense that he can't make payroll without the bonus.

justinator2• 8 years ago

I guess I don't understand what's in it for the guys doing the actual construction: longer, stressful days on a tight deadline, and less billed hours because the project takes far less time. More people on site seems like a major headache. The articles talks about pulling these guys from other companies, so I'm guessing that they have work to do somewhere else.

The "little league contribution" as justification to bust your ass just seems a little suspect.

mmaunder• 8 years ago

I would caution current and future CEOs about misunderstanding this article. Quoting Jim Collins:

Interviewer: The CEOs who took their companies from good to great were largely anonymous. Is that an accident?

Jim Collins: There is a direct relationship between the absence of celebrity and the presence of good-to-great results. Why? First, when you have a celebrity, the company turns into “the one genius with 1,000 helpers.” It creates a sense that the whole thing is really about the CEO. At a deeper level, we found that for leaders to make something great, their ambition has to be for the greatness of the work and the company, rather than for themselves. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have an ego. It means that at each decision point—at each of the critical junctures when Choice A would favor their ego and Choice B would favor the company and the work—time and again the good-to-great leaders pick Choice B. Celebrity CEOs, at those same decision points, are more likely to favor self and ego over company and work.

Source: https://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-g...

vijaybritto• 8 years ago

Construction being done so fast? Something shady. The article never once mentions anything negatively. All full of praise and awe. Abusing and extracting unfair amount of work with no consequence on the company or the man is just toxic. They fire burned out employees and are proud about it. This is terrible management.

They are treating people so badly and the author is worshipping them for that. Incredibly wrong.

Measure the happiness of the employees and you can figure out if this speed is worth it.

The World’s Fastest Man (2014)

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