Underpromise. Overdeliver.

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Are railway communications set in an 'Overpromise / Underdeliver' mode and if so, why?

Thinking of the bridge wing wall failure, the communication has been 'Dusruption till 'x' o'clock'... till the end of the day... till the end of the day (again). Wouldn't it be better to immediately issue info on the basis that, say, "We've lost use of the line in service for five days" and then reel that horizon in as the situation unfolds. Also, is this perhaps a factor when there is sub-optimal planning to handle the effects of the disruption?

Mark

[stuving]

I had exactly that argument with several of my bosses, mainly in the context of reporting progress on engineering projects. My preference was "bad news first" - not trying to minimise how bad it could be. That way you get several reports after that painful one where you can say "look - it's not going to be as bad as we thought", and leave the customer with a stronger memory of that good news and only a fading memory of what went wrong.

But it does seem we are in a minority on this one, and I never won the argument. Pretty well everywhere, the good news gets exaggerated and admission of failure gets suppressed. There is a whole industry of advertising and PR^▸ (Public Relations) built on doing it. Of course politicians are among the worst. And journalists - not a blame issue, but headlines are always written promising a "bigger" story than the real one.

In big projects, the same thing happens internally. In extreme cases, top management may set up a reporting system that so penalises bad news it never gets any - as in Crossrail, or the Jubilee Line extension before that.

And isn't this all related to the concept of delayed gratification - as in that mean psychological test done on kids?

[Mark A]

Thanks for those thoughts on this issue.

Mark

[CyclingSid]

Similar in both engineering and my analytical job. Quote a realistic delivery time and then add contingency.When you deliver early they think you are a magician (?). Clients approve, even if management aren't keen.

[grahame]

Similar in both engineering and my analytical job. Quote a realistic delivery time and then add contingency.When you deliver early they think you are a magician (?). Clients approve, even if management aren't keen.

Indeed.  You'll find when the forum is going to go offline, ( see http://status.passenger.chat ) we give an alert well ahead of time and tend to overestimate the time we need to do the work.  Where something unexpected happens, the page is updated and if we don't know how long it will take, we say so.   We promise an update by a certain time, and make sure we provide that.   This might sound very noble - but really it's self defence - it allows us to concentrate on getting running again without having to field large numbers of questions.

[Electric train]

I had exactly that argument with several of my bosses, mainly in the context of reporting progress on engineering projects. My preference was "bad news first" - not trying to minimise how bad it could be. That way you get several reports after that painful one where you can say "look - it's not going to be as bad as we thought", and leave the customer with a stronger memory of that good news and only a fading memory of what went wrong.

But it does seem we are in a minority on this one, and I never won the argument. Pretty well everywhere, the good news gets exaggerated and admission of failure gets suppressed. There is a whole industry of advertising and PR^▸ (Public Relations) built on doing it. Of course politicians are if among the worst. And journalists - not a blame issue, but headlines are always written promising a "bigger" story than the real one.

In big projects, the same thing happens internally. In extreme cases, top management may set up a reporting system that so penalises bad news it never gets any - as in Crossrail, or the Jubilee Line extension before that.

And isn't this all related to the concept of delayed gratification - as in that mean psychological test done on kids?

Projects small or large have a P / political control who control or influence the funding and need to agree to the project, from the small jobs at home to the grand schemes like HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)).

The funder and or those who need to agree if you give them the bad news before you start you may never get started .................. certainly works for me a home when it comes to redecorating 

Projects always want to start on a point of realistic optimism what gets frustrating is when its clear things are going off track and a senior in the project decides to supress the news to those outside the project hoping things will recover and they never do

[Mark A]

It's happening again with respect to the Nuneham bridge failure.

With various authoritative predictions of 'Weeks' to address the issue and a bridge which has been of concern for months if not more, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) around 6pm finally advises the travelling public that the line will remain closed 'Tomorrow'.

Mark

https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1642932338991546386

[TaplowGreen]

It's happening again with respect to the Nuneham bridge failure.

With various authoritative predictions of 'Weeks' to address the issue and a bridge which has been of concern for months if not more, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) around 6pm finally advises the travelling public that the line will remain closed 'Tomorrow'.

Mark

https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1642932338991546386

Some things don't age so well.......

Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Oxford

Due to urgent repairs to a bridge between Didcot Parkway and Oxford the line is closed. Disruption is expected until 23:59 23/04.

Train services between Didcot Parkway and Oxford have been cancelled.

[infoman]

'Tomorrow'.

The one word in the English language I would delete in audio or written form if I had a magic wand.