When does your disorganisation create work for others?
The projector has been returned to the cupboard. Its power cable is still in the borrower’s bag.
The next person opens the case to prepare a talk. Instead of setting up, they search the shelves, check other cases and call around to find the missing part.
A return that seemed finished to one person has become an extra task for someone else.
Disorganisation creates work for others when something they depend on is left incomplete and they must supply the missing effort, often without being asked or warned.
A Spark from From Chaos to Order
No one lives in isolation and a life in regression pulls back the progress of other lives, in the way that a negative number reduces the value of the whole quantity or set.
In Out of control, Innocent Mwatsikesimbe compares shared life to a road system. Everyone wants to move, but movement depends on coordination. One person’s actions can help others proceed or leave them blocked.
The missing cable makes that connection tangible. It is a small omission, but it uses someone else’s preparation time.
When the borrower answers the phone, the immediate question is how to put it right. “You can collect it” leaves the correction with the person already delayed. “I’ll bring it over. When do you need to start?” recognises that returning the equipment included more than putting the projector on a shelf.
Perhaps the borrower cannot deliver it in time. Then a clear explanation matters more than another vague promise. They can help arrange an alternative and acknowledge the additional effort being requested.
The mistake may have been accidental. Its effects are still real.
That does not make the person a burden or turn one forgotten cable into a verdict on their character. Keep the attention on the incomplete handover, the cost it created and the repair now possible.
People can willingly share work and help each other through difficulties. The problem here is that the work was passed on without agreement. Someone else had to discover it before they could decide how to respond.
Once the immediate issue is resolved, a short equipment list inside the case could make the next return easier. The borrower already knew the cable belonged with the projector. The list puts the check where it can be used, at the moment the job is being finished.
An agreement to report missing parts before the next booking would also help. If a return cannot be completed, the next person can plan rather than discover the gap at the last minute.
If the same omission keeps happening, the process may need to be simpler or the responsibility shared differently. The aim is a handover people can rely on, not a system that assumes nobody will ever forget.
Order is useful here because it gives other people back the time they expected to spend on their own part.
Related lessons
AI-generated from Innocent Mwatsikesimbe's writing.
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