Engineering a Perfect Solution

"You have my attention. So how do we approach this project?

"We get all of the engineers in both departments together someplace and start talking about each thread. They gave us pretty clear but broad idea about the quantities of each material and what they want at the output. After we talk through each process, we start drawing lines and putting the pieces on the lines. Once we have that, the mechanical guys can flesh out their required details and the electrical guys can draw out the control system."

"Can you be ready to do this on Friday?"

"Sure. I need a couple of days to clarify a couple of things, but I can be ready Friday."

"How long would this meeting take?"

"Plan on all day which means we will need lunch for everyone. We don't want to stop but for short breaks. Everyone needs to stay focused."

"You do your homework and I'll set it up. I think I now understand why you are here."

"Oh, before I forget, Crys said to tell you that you are taking your two favorite women out sailing Friday night. Schedule the meeting to end by 4:30." I heard the words but my mind was picturing a network of conveyors moving material. That thought process ended abruptly when she added, "Crys also wants you to decide when you are going to start my sailing lessons. I don't know which excites me more; this project or learning how to sail."

She turned and went to her office as I reached for the telephone to call Crys. I stopped when I saw that I had an e-mail from her. That was a sure sign that she didn't want me to call her. It read, "Don't call. I will be in a meeting all afternoon. We'll talk tonight." I quickly translated that into wife-speak. It simply meant that we weren't going to discuss it until later when she could use her full range of physical and mental attributes to convince me to do what she wanted. I decided that I would hold out for the full physical treatment before I caved in.

Then I set about working out how to put this meeting together. I quickly realized that we didn't have a suitable room to hold a meeting for thirty engineers. I would need to reserve a room at the nearby hotel for a meeting that size. It was an easy decision to make when I also realized that we definitely didn't want the cafeteria to cater the lunch. The hotel lunches were far better. The only drawback was that I would have to get Reynolds approval to spend the money. I rose to go to his office fully prepared to grovel a little to get the approval.

I stayed in Bill's office for an hour. The approval took five minutes and then he wanted to talk about other things. Those other things were about how we could adapt our current engineering group to meet these new kinds of specifications. He said that there were several more in the pipeline. We discussed several options, but they all came back to combining the two sections into one and creating teams of talent depending on the requirements. He said that he would talk to Jerry and then probably talk to both of us later. I could tell that he was confused by this new approach to projects. He was an old school engineer who still preferred to sit and think at a drawing board rather than work on a CAD computer. I empathized with him, but reminded him of how much the newer systems had improved speed and quality. I also offered that Heather had shown me that this new system might be just as beneficial. His last comment was, "I hope so."

When I got back, Brad came in and laid the new gear in front of me. I was surprised at how quickly it had been produced and how nice it looked. I thanked him and then knocked on the wall. Heather was there in a minute. "Oh yes, that looks nice. Tomorrow we can have the tech polish it and clean up the rough edges for us to test."

"I think it looks great as is." I replied.

"I know; but it can be better. That is the part I don't know. I worked with the professor on getting the first cutting done. After I went on to another project, another student worked with him on refining the cut and polishing the product. The full software will turn out production grade prototypes."

I called our tech to come to my office. When he arrived, I said, "Larry, this is Heather and she wrote the software for the new milling machine to cut this gear. She wants it polished and cleaned up. Can you do that?"

"Yes sir; I'd be happy to. Anything else?"

Heather said, "When you are done, take these two gears out of here and put this one in. You will probably have to adjust the shaft a little. While you are doing that, take this motor out. Jerry will get us a variable speed one to test with. We will mount it externally for the tests and then replace it with a fixed speed one when we decide what speed works best."

Larry looked at me and I just nodded. "Larry, if Heather asks for anything, just assume that it has my approval and do it just like you do for all of the other guys. Thanks. You are a good man."

He smiled and as he left, he said, "It will be a pleasure; she is a lot prettier than the other guys to work with." Heather actually blushed.

I decided to add something and said, "So are you happy now; you are one of the guys."

She grinned in spite of her pink cheeks, "You will be hearing about that comment from both me and Crys. She said to not let you bully me."

"Me? Bully you? I don't think so."

"That is because you think like a man. You are always supposed to recognize that I am a woman."

"As a man, I can assure you that I am very well aware that you are a woman."

"Thanks, but you are still in the doghouse until we start the sailing lessons." Then she went back to her office.

I turned and called up Crys' e-mail and wrote, "You have been conspiring against me. None of your feminine wiles will work on me tonight." I sent it and as I expected got an almost instant reply. "Wanna bet?"

Even if I was a betting man, I knew that this was one bet I wouldn't take. I finished up and got ready to go home. Heather was again deep in the computer so I stopped and said, "Earth to Heather. It is 5:30 and we don't pay overtime."

Her head popped up and said, "5:30 already. I'll walk out with you. I guess that you have figured that when I get started on something that I lose track of time."

"I'll have an alarm clock on your desk in the morning."

"No, just do what you did and give me a little warning." Then she got that grin on her face that I was beginning to recognize. "I hear that you have been mean to my friend today. I think that you need to go home and take really good care of her tonight. She needs some tender loving care."

"You think that, huh?"

She just grinned and didn't say anything. She simply got in her car and drove off with a wave.

The next morning, I went to the office well loved and very satisfied. I caved in early because she had made a perfect dinner and had seduced me skillfully. I do love my wife. My first stop was in Jerry's office.

"Hey, dude. What's up this morning?"

"The usual. Tell your people that we will all be having a joint meeting at the hotel across the street tomorrow all day and to have their thinking caps on."

"Heather?"

"It is her show."

"What is it about?"

"We got in a spec that if I showed it to you, you would roll your eyes. It is going to require all of us to put our thinking caps on and look at something with new eyes. I now realize that this is why she is here. This could be very important. Make sure your people are there and you too. Reynolds got someone to watch our phones."

"It must be important for him to spring for the hotel and someone to watch the phones. We'll be there."

"Thanks."

"Are you up for golf Saturday?"

"Sure. Crys is going to introduce Heather to Melissa. We will both probably be free all day."

"That could be good or bad. Good if Mel doesn't tell Heather too much about me and bad if she does."

"You know exactly what it will be."

"True," Then he shrugged, "but I can work around that. It's just details. Ten at the course. I already have a tee time."

"I'll be there."

Heather was lost in her computer all day until I reminded her that it was time to call it a day. She said that she was ready for the meeting and more than ready for the sailing afterwards. I nodded and I walked her out to her car again.

That night, Crys dropped another bomb after she warmed me up again. Since she met Heather, she had been spending a lot of time warming me up. "Honey, why don't you leave Heather's car at work and you bring her out to the boat tomorrow night after your meeting."

"But then I would have to drive her back late."

"No you won't. I invited her to stay with us tomorrow night since we are going to brunch with Melissa while you and Jerry play golf."

"Ah, now I see. How long have the two of you been planning this?"

"Just a couple of days."

"You have only known her a couple of days. Out with it."

She started rubbing my chest and started slowly. "Honey, from the moment I met her, it is like I met myself ten years ago. She is so much like me except that she is taller. We think alike, we have the same interests, we..."

"She turns you on, doesn't she?" I asked quietly. Crys buried her face in my chest as her ears and the rest of her face turned red. "It's all right, honey. She is a beautiful woman and you are right, she also reminds me of you when I met you. You don't have to worry about me. Follow your heart. I will always be here waiting for you to come home."

From my chest I heard a weak, "I don't know what to do."

I smiled and replied, "I didn't know what to do about you either, but it worked out just fine. Just be yourself and whatever will happen will happen."

We said no more that night and she said nothing else for quite some time after that. But I could tell that things would be changing slowly. I wondered for a brief moment why I wasn't angry or jealous. The truth was that I trusted Crys completely and knew that she wasn't going to leave me. I also felt a trust towards Heather. I had only known her a week but I had seen both her strength and her vulnerability. She seemed perfectly natural and without guile. If she and Crys were attracted to each other, I felt that I could support both of them as was needed. That night, we fell asleep with each of us holding our own council. As if to tell me to not worry, she snuggled next to me and let me hold her closely like we always did at special times.

The next morning, I went directly to the hotel and made sure that everything was ready. Heather arrived ten minutes after I did, I couldn't detect any nervousness, but decided to check. "So are you ready for your big show?"

"Technically, yes. I am concerned about how they will respond to me and this."

"Don't be. Two third of these guys are younger than I am; so they are closer to your way of thinking already. The others will reserve their thoughts until they get comfortable with things. You will know when they begin to ask questions or offer suggestions. That will tell you what you need to know. You will do fine. I have confidence in you and am eager to get deeper in this."

"Thanks. I will do my best."

"That is all anyone will ever ask of you. Here come the first arrivals. They will want the coffee and Danish before we start. I'll introduce this and then you. Is that all right?"

"Yes, please. That was one of the things I was concerned about."

I greeted the first arrivals while she set up her presentation. She also put five large sheets of paper on the wall with tape. Twenty minutes later, everyone was there with a cup of coffee and was seated. I took a deep breath and went to the head of the group.

"Good morning guys. Thanks for being prompt this morning. We have been tasked to look at a project that doesn't fit very well with our usual way of doing things. So we are going to see if we can work it out a new way; we are going to work together from day one. Our goal is not to solve all of the problems today or even in the near future. Our goal today is to come to a consensus that we can do this job. That is all we need to do. We will then tell the guys who make the big paychecks how we feel about this project." I paused and looked around and didn't see any problems yet.

"Since we are all grounded in how we do things and this will require a different outlook, we are going to rely on someone who has experience doing this. If you haven't met her, I am quite certain that everyone knows that we have a new addition to our department. This is Heather Harlowe and she will lead us through this process today. Some of you will buy into this quickly; others might need a little time to adjust. Take your time and Heather will get us to where we need to be. Heather, it is yours."

I went to the back and sat next to Jerry and then turned my attention to Heather. The first thing I noticed was that she had dressed for effect. She wore dark blue slacks, a light blue blouse with a blue vest. Her hair was back in a pony tail. There was no doubt that she was a woman and a beautiful one at that, but there was nothing about her appearance that would be a distraction. She was ready for business. Two hours later, she owned the audience. The younger guys were already asking questions and offering suggestions. She wrote all of the suggestions on a sheet on the wall. By noon, the older guys were involved in the discussion. After lunch, she started on the individual process lines. Some of them were easy and quickly resolved. The more difficult ones took longer, but the group as a whole offered a lot of suggestions.

Finally, at 3:30 she began to wrap things up. "I think that we are mostly agreed that we can do this project and others like them. Does anyone disagree with that?"

One of the older raised his hand and Heather acknowledged him. "Heather, when you started, I wasn't sure about this. But the idea grew on me as we went. I just want to thank you for how you handled this today. I still have some processing to do for myself, but I will support you and this project any way I can."

"Thank you, Mr. Thompson."

"My name is Chet. Mr. Thompson was my father." He grinned at the young woman who was about the same age as his own daughter."

"Thank you, Chet. If that is it; Allen, do you have anything to add?"

"Thanks Heather. I told you that this was new, but I personally see a lot of potential in addressing projects this way. I can't speak for Jerry, but for my guys, I have no problem in applying this approach to even the smaller projects we work on. Call a team together if you want. Not all of our projects will fit this approach especially when the customer specifies what they want. But I have been assured by the big guys that there are more projects like this in the pipe. So we need to be prepared to be flexible. I see by the clock that it is quit and go home time. Have a good weekend and it is back to normal on Monday."

The room emptied slower than I was expecting. A number of guys approached Heather to thank her or to offer afterthoughts. Finally, there was only Jerry, Heather, and I left in the room. Heather was rolling up the worksheets. From experience, I knew what was going to happen next.

Jerry went up to Heather and said, "Are you up for a quiet drink? You have been busy today and must be exhausted."

She flashed her winning smile and replied, "Thanks Jerry; it has been a busy day, but I feel exhilarated. I appreciate the offer of a drink, but I have plans for tonight. Maybe another time."

"You're sure. Just a drink."

"Thanks, but I have to get going to change and all that stuff." For a moment I wondered if our plans for tonight had changed. Then I realized that she had blown Jerry off without pissing him off. She was definitely a multi-talented young woman.

I approached her and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

"Hell no. I am so wound up, I need you to buy me a drink first so I can settle down. Besides, I want to hear your report card."

"The last part is easy; you got an A+ for today. Let's go into the bar and get you wound down."

"You better or I will jump your body when we get on the boat."

"I certainly wouldn't want that."

"Asshole. I want something big and cold."

"A beer or a wine?"

"No, a double scotch on the rocks; single malt."

"Ah, a woman after my own heart." I led her to the bar holding her elbow. I could feel the energy coursing through her arm. Doing something like this definitely got her motor running. I was also glad that we were going sailing. If Jerry had taken her out for a drink, she would have been putty in his hands.

While we waited for our drinks to arrive, I asked, "You weren't really concerned about what I thought about your presentation today, were you?"

"Sure I was." She paused and then added. "Allen, I like you. I like working for and with you. Today was my first opportunity to stand up and be a big girl. You are damn right I wanted your approval." She softened her voice and said, "Mainly, I really appreciated your introduction and closing remarks."

"What did I say? I didn't even think about it much before I said anything."

"That is exactly the point. You didn't make a big issue about me being a woman; you didn't say to be kind to the newbie. You introduced me as a peer with experience that might be valuable. I can't tell you how much confidence that gave me. You also presented this as an opportunity and not a demand. When you closed, you reinforced that we need to be flexible because that is what this is really all about. In short, you set me up perfectly and then closed it out with just the right words. I can't thank you enough."

"Hey, you did the hard work and the response showed it. When Chet said what he said, he was speaking for all of the older guys. Everyone respects his judgment. Winning him over was the best thing you did today. I am very proud of you."

She leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder and whispered, "Thanks. That is what I needed to hear. When we finish our drink, I am ready to go sailing."

"Me too."

An hour later, we pulled into the parking lot at the marina. Crys' car was already there. She had told me to just come to the boat and that she would pick up some things to eat and drink. It was obvious that Heather had calmed somewhat, but she still seemed very animated about going out tonight. We walked down the dock to our boat and her eyes grew bigger. "I thought that it was a small boat like a day sailor or something."

"Nope; twenty five feet of cruising boat. We have a dream to take it down to the coast sometime and sailing offshore a little and along the Intercoastal waterway. Maybe someday, that time will come." I took her hand and helped her down as Crys emerged from the cabin. She was wearing shorts and a crop top and looked beautiful.

The two women met with a tight hug and kiss like they hadn't seen each other in months rather than days. Crys then said, "Get your bag and we'll go down in the cabin so you can change. And you, if I see any eyes peeking, you will be the first blind engineer at the company."

"Would I do that?" I replied in my most innocent voice.

Both women giggled, but Crys said, "In a heartbeat." Then she led Heather into the cabin and closed the shutters. I smiled and changed into my shorts on the deck. I was fairly certain that no one would peek at me changing. Then I set about preparing the boat to go out.

A few minutes later, the two emerged from the cabin carrying a basket. I had to swallow deeply because I was now looking at almost all of Heather at her best. The only possible flaw I could detect was a mole or a birthmark just above her halter top. The two settled down on one side of the cockpit as I turned on the engine and backed out of the slip. A few minutes later, we were outside the breakwater and I shut the engine down and we were enclosed in the silence of the evening. Then I went about setting the sails. As I did that, I could hear Heather eagerly telling Crys about her presentation. Crys was sharing her excitement and patting her thigh as she did.