How Not to Make Tea
The kettle was full.
The mug was ready.
The marble rolled down the ramp, hit the dominoes, released the spoon, knocked the pulley. Then it stopped.
No tea.
This was attempt number nine.
The team in question weren’t children.
They were mechanical engineers from a global HVAC firm.
They had designed a Rube Goldberg machine to pour one perfect cup of tea.
It took them four hours.
The CEO called it a waste of time. They disagreed.
What was the point?
They wanted to test a new rapid prototyping process.
One they’d been talking about but hadn’t used in the field.
They learned more in four hours than they had in six months of meetings.
Here’s what changed:
- They learned to give up perfect
- They discovered their own biases
- They practised collaborative failure
Not everyone agreed with the method. But the result was clear.
Weeks later, that same team redesigned a key assembly process using the same approach.
They shaved five hours off the install time.
No one called that a waste of time.
What about your team?
When was the last time they played with ideas?
Not theorised.
Not discussed.
Played.
It matters. Because teams who play together:
- Trust each other more
- Test faster
- Admit failure earlier
You can’t get that from a spreadsheet.
Most innovation doesn’t come from innovation teams.
It comes from engineers fixing a mess.
From managers testing a hunch.
From people doing things that look silly until they work.
Want to get serious about innovation? Start by wasting time well.
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