Another great post from Rory Sutherland on a wide range of themes connected to queuing. The bit I find most interesting is what he describes as ‘the insane new expectation of speed’, especially among younger consumers who have grown up in the instant click world of the internet: “When they send an email, for instance, or text a client, they are reduced to complete befuddlement if they do not get an answer within twenty minutes – or at most an hour. They start emailing and texting incessantly. To older clients, this is unbelievably annoying. To the young, this is normal behaviour.”
I love the line attributed to a 21-year old that: “The trouble with McDonald’s is it’s too bloody slow.”
This, often irrational, need for speed (is young people’s time that valuable?) has become one of the defining characteristics of the crowd. Organisations – as the BBC recently found to its cost - no longer have weeks to solve problems. The crowd demands that they move within minutes, which is a frightening thought given the glacial pace at which most organisations make decisions.