Infants on a Carpet

It's kinda like infants on a carpet.

If you've had, or seen, an infant in the early stages of mobility, they appear to be naturally drawn to little specs of fluff and other inconsistencies.  Trying to keep these nuggets of grossness away from babies can be a real challenge, because we don't always notice the tiny specs in the randomness of the carpet.

For whatever reason, the little bitty people zero in on the things that don't fit in, the things that are different.  Even on a deep pile carpet with all it's texture, they can still manage to easily locate the single un-popped kernel of popcorn that has eluded the vacuum for weeks.

Grownups with this tendency tend to take pride in their retention this ability.  They will happily, and with great satisfaction, identify the "opportunities for improvement" and move on.  Making others clean up messes they didn't know existed.  The reluctant "parents" (occasionally management, frequently subordinates or fellow team members) are left to perform all sorts of urgent work.

This is, on the one hand, a good thing.  These messes need cleaned.

It isn't good when the person thinks they are "special" or have a knack for identifying the wrong thing and just leave it at that, not assisting in solving the problem.  Any baby can point out what is wrong, can identify the anomalies of a situation.  It takes maturity to identify what the issue is, how to best address the issue, and how similar problems have been solved both locally and regionally.

The urgency created by these people can actually be harmful to the team.

With the popcorn example: the baby finds the unpopped kernel in the carpet of a friends house.  Everyone is over for a social event and the babies are exploring.  If the host has to clear the room, bring in the vacuum and address that kernel as well as any other kernel, the party is no longer a party.  And, the next party will have fewer attendees.  Do this more than once, that is address the urgency at an inappropriate time, and the ability to complete the base activity is taken away.

It is kinda like infants on a carpet, crawling around makes parents nervous and embarrassed, and every so often stinking up the room.