You've been working for a new mail order house for four months. The pay isn't great, but the stock options are promising. As part of your executive training program, you've been assigned to working in the returns department. After a few weeks there, you notice something that both troubles and amazes you. About 10 percent of the items are returned without a copy of the invoice. Instead, they come accompanied by handwritten notes that are often illegible and missing key information like addresses, making adjustments difficult, if not impossible.

You read a copy of the instructions that go out with your merchandise. There it is in black and white, clear instructions about returning the invoice with the merchandise: "Complete the return section on the back of the invoice and return in the package with your merchandise."

You take the instructions down to the line where workers sort the returns. Showing them to the supervisor, you ask, "What's wrong with people? Why can't they do a simple thing like return an invoice?"

She smiles. "What's an invoice?" she asks.

"Well, it's an itemized bill that comes with the merchandise," you answer.

"Suppose you didn't know that. What would you return?" she says. "Remember Murphy's law: What can go wrong, will go wrong."

You take her advice to heart. Obviously Murphy's law is in operation here. Your job is to minimize the number of things that "can go wrong."

You think of a solution and get management to try it.