Hi Reader,
I’ve been noticing how often we make things more complicated than they need to be.
A quick call to the bank somehow takes forever. Sitting on hold while trying to schedule a routine dentist appointment. A small project approval gets stuck in layers of process. Before you know it, the easiest task on your list feels like the hardest one to finish.
I catch myself in that all the time. It’s not the work that slows me down, it’s everything surrounding it.
That is, until I got my tires changed this past week.
Not fancy
In this area of North America, many of us switch between winter and summer tires. I needed to not only swap the tires on my (new-to-me) DIY camper van named Mary, but also buy a new set of tires. I followed a local recommendation and went with one of the best rated tire shops nearby.
At first, I was not thrilled that they did not follow the same process as my old tire shop, where I could book online. So I made a phone call instead and spoke to a helpful person. Within five minutes, they gave me three tire options. Simple enough. Of course, I shopped around, confirmed they had the lowest price and that the tires were the right fit for Mary. They were, so I gave them a quick go ahead phone call.
The next morning, they called to say my new tires were ready for installation.
That is when they told me something important. They are not a fancy tire shop.
No apps, no dashboards, no “log in to track your tires” tech system. Just paper. Actual paper. The same system they have used for over 65 years. Although this is an incredibly busy shop with customers coming and going all day. And yet somehow, it works well.
You show up, get a slightly greasy sticky note with a number scribbled in thick marker, and wait in your car until someone jogs over to send you into a bay. Then your tires get swapped and you’re on your way.
Cars move in and out smoothly, everyone knows their role, and somehow the whole place runs well with tire installers happily singing along to the radio.
They also store winter tires for a fee, but since it is all paper based, you are responsible for remembering your storage spot. They make that very clear, because if you lose the slip of paper, you might be waiting until someone rediscovers your tires during the great seasonal shuffle. It shifts some responsibility to the customer, which keeps their system running even more efficiently.
I asked the owner about it, half expecting to hear a failed tech system story. Instead, they shrugged it off and said they would rather focus on tires than pretending to be tech savvy.
Honestly, it was hard not to respect that.
Keep things simple
For this company, it's all about tires, not technology. I also asked the owner if they ever planned to switch to a digital system, and they said absolutely not. Why change a paper system that already works this well? They also do a good job of educating customers on their process so there are no surprises.
In a world full of apps and automation, it was refreshing to see a simple, non digital system work so smoothly.
I left with new tires, a slip of paper I am now treating like a passport, and It made me wonder if efficiency is not about adding more tools, but about building something so clear that nothing extra is needed.
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Barbara Kephart, PMP
Founder and Chief Project Officer
Projects Pivot
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