Irecently watched a reality show about a classic car restoration shop in Canada. In the episode, the owners of the shop had hired an apprentice mechanic. After a few months on the job they considered him worthy of increased responsibilities, so they gave him a project to manage.

I found the apprentice’s reaction telling. I am reasonably confident he was more than capable of doing the work because the owners of the business have a reputation for high-quality work, and they are an old and very profitable company. They did not achieve success by being foolish.

The apprentice accepted the project and then began the task of examining the vehicle to be restored to determine the scope and sequence of the project. For the next several minutes he called in more seasoned and experienced people around the shop, one by one, to look over the project, asking them a series of questions. Most of the questions were the same ones he asked of the others.

So what was the problem?

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