MBA VERSION OF JIT

JIT stands for Just In Time. It is a Production & Operations management concept. The concept states that inventories should be avoided and raw materials should arrive at the assembly line just when they are required, rather than lying idle on the production floor for long time durations. Or where a certain inventory level should always be maintained, the raw materials reach exactly when the inventory levels decrease beyond certain specified level called the critical level.

MBAs have a their own version of JIT to manage the heavy task pressures of preparing for presentations, exams (which happen day in and day out in a b-school), quizzes, assignment deadlines, et al.

 The concept MBA students implement is called S.H.I.T. It stands for Some How In Time. Funny but true. How else can one cope up with the tremendous pressures a student is put through during his b-school days?

This is how S.H.I.T works:

-          If there is a group presentation after 2 days at 14.00 hrs, and is notified today, the first thing the group does is to divide the topics to cover among themselves and “SOME HOW” agreement is achieved on who will cover what. But, hardly any one prepares on those lines on the same day. The poor student has assignments to submit the next day by evening, a quiz in the morning and another presentation to give in the afternoon the very next day. All of these have to be “SOME HOW’ managed.

 

One day later everyone starts collecting data on the topic. But there is no time to analyze because there are other things that require immediate attention.

 

So now, we have the presentation the next day. The day’s classes get over at 16.00 hrs. It’s time to break head analyzing the data collected for the presentation, drawing a rough draft of the flow and contents of the presentation. By now its dinner time i.e. 20.00 hrs. Around 22.00 hrs everyone knows what he/she will be presenting and how but there are no slides even by now. Also there is a quiz in the morning session.

 

So the group meets and decides a time to meet up next and submit their slides to a member at a specific time for consolidation. The time is somewhat in the early morning as the group member is an early riser. So everyone now gears up to prepare for the early morning quiz and by the time the preparation is over, its 2 am already.

Now the slide preparation starts and is complete by 4 am. It’s posted to a shared server facility. It’s time for a nap now.

 

Having slept at 04.00 hrs, the student wakes up at 07.45 hrs with just 15 mins remaining for the class to start and the quiz papers to be distributed. The breakfast has already been sacrificed for 20 mins of extra sleep. Note: The breakfast timings are from 07.00 hrs to 07.45 hrs.

 

“SOME HOW” or the other the student manages to reach the class. Right on time for the quiz and then the other lectures continue.

 

Its 12.30 hrs i.e. lunch time. A super fast lunch it has to be. “SOME HOW” the lunch is over by 13.00 hrs and there are 60 mins left for the presentations to start and no one still knows if the compilations are over or not, what is being presented by other members of the group and the flow of the presentation as a whole.

 

It’s relieving to know that the parts of the presentation slides submitted by the group members have already been compiled but each member’s slides have different formatting. So a common formatting is decided upon and implemented throughout the presentation sides. 30 mins left for the presentations to start. “SOME HOW” the members manage to brush up on the topics they are covering and also on what other members are covering along with the flow of the presentation.

 

After a quick lunch and so many things to be taken care of……. “SOME HOW” the group manages to be on time for the presentation and manages to “SOME HOW” impress upon the faculty and classmates with their content of presentation, presentation skills and ability to answer the questions fired at them from the faculty and fellow students.

 

“SOME HOW” a good job is done but its only one of the tasks that is over now and several others are still waiting to be completed…… “Some How In Time” (S.H.I.T).