Chương 122: Chapter 123: Assessment

Inside the smallest tent owned by the Ichoris Legerdemain, Evel sat hunched over a table. On the table were various forms Prachar had given him to fill out, as well as a collection of contracts. He knew there would be paperwork involved in the partnership, but he didn't realize just how comprehensive the details were. He wouldn't underestimate a top-tier Banner, so he steeled himself to read through each contract himself. Nothing suspicious so far, but he remained alert.

He was midway through one of the contracts when he heard footsteps approaching. Placing the contract back on the table, he stretched out his arms with a yawn as the curtains slipped away for Yuna and Otis' arrival.

"Good to see you again, Eth." Otis politely greeted. They'd had a quick discussion in the morning, and he found the Prachar inspector very amicable. Yuna beside him looked a little annoyed, if nothing else. I hope nothing went too wrong.

"Were you able to take a look at everything?" he asked, signalling for the two to sit down.

"What you've created is truly a marvel," he nodded while taking a seat. Yuna did as well, but she looked less comfortable.

"And although I admit I had my doubts after hearing all your workers were from the slums with minimal experience, I was pleasantly surprised. Yuna in particular was a standout for me." Yuna practically began glowing, but tried her best to hide it.

"That's good to hear. Will you be the one worker who Prachar sends to work with us, or were you just here for the inspection?"

"Hold on, young lad, I do have a few insights I'd like to share first." Evel paused and nodded for him to continue. Of course, a dedicated inspector from Prachar would be able to find a few flaws. Otis ripped off a few pages of his notes and passed the clipboard to Yuna along with the pen, as if telling her to take notes. She didn't seem to appreciate the gesture too much, but he continued regardless.

"Have the two of you heard the concept of bottlenecks?" Evel tilted his head.

"Bottlenecks?"

"That's right. There are a few great business books on it if you folks have the time, but the concept is painfully simple."

"I've never heard of it." Yuna shook her head. Otis cleared his throat.

"Imagine you're manufacturing chairs with three parties involved. One party is responsible for procuring the materials, another party shapes the wood into the pieces required for a chair, and the final party assembles all the parts. Assuming you have six people to spread, and each task takes the same amount of time, how would you split the work?"

"Two each," Yuna replied.

"Right. Now imagine shaping the wood is very difficult, so you need three people to do the job of one. What would happen then?"

"The wood would pile up."

"Good." Otis praised.

"In this situation, we'd say that the shaping is the bottleneck. How would you go about fixing this issue?"

"I'd probably move the assembly workers who aren't doing anything to help with the shaping, then back once a pile has built up. Once enough materials have been collected, I'd move the materials person around too." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"In real life people usually aren't so versatile." Otis challenged." I'm a terrible scriptwriter, but I'm a great inspector. Individual talent shouldn't be ignored when it can be nurtured to produce so much." Yuna frowned.

"Then I'd find more workers who can shape."

"Exactly. If you have six more workers, you wouldn't split them up evenly, because the speed of the bottleneck is the speed of the whole system. For your performances, if all your seats are full, then your venue is the bottleneck. If your seats are empty, but the frequenters repeatedly show up, then advertisement is the bottleneck." Evel nodded. It really was a simple concept, but one he'd think about subconsciously rather than actively seeking out a bottleneck.

"Ah, I got distracted." Otis gave a resigned smile.

"My point is, Toan is the art department's bottleneck." Evel narrowed his eyes. Yuna's frown grew deeper.

"I can only speak on what I saw today, but the poor boy was stuck finishing up all the tasks while everybody else had nothing to do. I'm not saying it's because he's incapable. He might just need some extra hands at that last step, then all the other workers before him would be freed to continue." Yuna took a deep breath, "I… I usually let him handle how he splits up the work within his own department."

"Forgive me if I come out sounding a little rough, but not everybody is suited to be a manager. If Toan's talents lie in design, then let him focus on design." Yuna and Evel didn't reply. He'd made the members managers based on seniority and hadn't thought much else of it. He got lucky with how well Yuna fit into the role, but maybe the other three just weren't cut out for managing.

"Which all leads to my main point. The management of the circus is a mess." Yuna's body tensed.

"Clara is supposed to be responsible for all of the acrobatics, but the juggling and clown folks ran practically independent of her. Toan is the head of the department, but he's responsible for a lot of the work himself." Otis turned to face Yuna.

"Those two are honestly small-scale issues that have a quick fix, but the main problem is you. You can't handle everything you're trying to do." Evel's face darkened. There was constructive criticism, and there was insulting one of his best workers to her face.

"Yuna is perhaps our hardest worker," Evel spoke slowly.

"You're right, but she's spreading herself too thin. In just the half an hour I was observing, she did more work than I've seen others at Prachar do in a day. She looked over paperwork, helped the other sections, and even accommodated me. That's all while random workers are constantly approaching her to ask her questions that many other, less busy, people could answer." He shook his head.

"At the very least, she needs an assistant."

"I have one…" she trailed off.

"Make them do more, or get another one," he shrugged her off.

"If your work was more focused, then I'm sure you could have figured out the problems I mentioned already, but you're just too busy as the main person taking care of everything. Right now, you can think of the circus as a man with a broken leg. The senior staff I talked to, and especially Yuna, are the crutches keeping him up. You need to make it much clearer to workers who's responsible for what, and who they need to approach for which questions." He turned to Evel.

"The Ichoris Legerdemain is blessed with a friendly environment and talented hard workers. Many of Prachar's departments would be frothing at the mouth, and may even try to poach your workers. Don't you think they deserve to be treated right? Yuna has a great talent for managing and a deep understanding of the business; don't you think her time should be valued instead of pulled apart by every little task?" Evel took a long breath. When he worked as the manager, he'd always handled all the little things himself.

Now, with Yuna as the manager, it felt like the logical next step for her to take over all of his responsibilities. But the Ichoris Legerdemain was no longer a small-scale operation. They could no longer proceed under assumptions and strategies created for just a few workers. He recalled his time working as the owner of the Yosten Phantasmagoria. He didn't actually have a lot of responsibilities; things just sort of worked.

He'd never appreciated the vast experience required to allow for it to run so smoothly and without issues for so long. With the Ichoris Legerdemain, he intended to take more control. That way, nobody could take it away from him again. Perhaps that was just a failed lens to look at the world within. Otis placed the pages he'd ripped out of the clipboard on Evel's desk.

"I've included a few smaller issues I would consider fixing as well, but my knowledge of what a circus is supposed to be is shallow, so take everything with a grain of salt." Evel looked at the notes. They were specific, and each problem had an actionable fix attached to it.

"I'm not saying you're doing a bad job. It's just that this operation has grown further than any of you are used to." The old man yawned and pushed himself up.

"Anyways, thanks for giving an old man like me a chance." Evel blinked back to reality and extended his arm forward.

"Your insights are greatly appreciated." He smiled with a hum and extended his arm to meet Evel's in the middle.

"If they can even help you improve a little, I'll be satisfied." And with a quick bow, the Prachar's inspector left.