Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1136IR // #c1136Synthesis

"…only one workman at a time should be dealt with at the start. Until this single man has been thoroughly convinced that a great gain has come to him from the new method, no further change should be made." "…very rapid progress can be made, because at about this time there is, generally, a complete revolution in the public opinion of the whole establishment…"

— In our words · Source: The Principles of Scientific Management (Frederick Winslow Taylor)

[Use when]

You are rolling out a new way of working and want to announce it to everyone on day one.

[Why it matters]

Taylor put a full changeover at two to three years and sometimes four to five. It starts with one convinced worker, and once a quarter to a third of the workforce has switched, opinion turns and the rest ask to join.

More from The Principles of Scientific Management

#c1113"The greater part of the systematic soldiering, however, is done by the men with the deliberate object of keeping their employers ignorant…Your team's estimates never get shorter no matter how familiar the work becomes. #c1114"…after a workman has had the price per piece of the work he is doing lowered two or three times as a result of his having worked harder…You are tempted to raise a quota because someone beat it. #c1115"…since they were paid by the hour, the faster they went the less money they got, and finally telling him that if he went too fast the…You are setting up pay for work where you can't easily see the pace.

Same situation, different book

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