Dr. Koyuki Himekawa was the director of the symposium during the next two days because it was an operation of utmost discretion.
She was not an Executive Liaison but just an apprentice with Professor Yuu Shirogane to shadow him and absorb all crisis management situations and protocols as course work in logistics.
The Yuu Shirogane Method
She has observed three axiomatic principles foundations of the " Zero Distraction Zone 2003:
Risk Quantification (the P Value): Each possible crisis had a probability P, and high risk (like Professor ito travelling or the university core server being offline) and low risk (like running out of regular pens) items had pre written detailed protocols; any low level, self correcting pool (mostly the mathematics major) handled these low risk items.
Resource Allocation Optimization: The team of Yuu, Kenji, Haru, Miyu and the rest were not applied on the base of their personal abilities but the most measurable one. Kenji was as pure navigational speed (Human GPS); Haru was nervous and his nervousness changed him into an excellent, non-empathetic border guard, by being an obsessive badge checker; Miyu was nihilistic, which made her an excellent, though non empathetic, border guard.
The Crisis Time Limit (Tmax): The rule of 12minutes was the hysteria of the system that Yuu worked in. Any of the events, which overran its programmed settings, was automatically escalated and defined as a complete failure of the entire system.
Using Cold Science to Hot Cocoa.
At these intervals between which Professor Shirogane was on the podium or organized the high bandwidth network group Ms. Himekawa retired to a secluded corner, where she translated the strict academic approach to system design into working protocols (GALA PROTOCOS (Tier S)).
It was the difficulty of changing abstract, data driven science to an experience of festivity, utilitarianism.
Original Crisis: Cocoa Machine Failure.
According to Professor Shirogane protocol, a protocol that guaranteed P( failure )> 0.15 meant that there was a maximum permissible response window of 12 minutes, so a redundant unit was required in that time range.
The GALA protocol used by Ms. Himekawa required two additional cocoa dispensers to be installed at a distance of ten metres of the main station, and Kenji was to be provided a round trip to refill his containers in under nine minutes, otherwise it was a Tier S morale failure.
Original Crisis: Missing Keynote Speaker.
The reaction of Professor Shirogane was GPS tracking, a cell phone with a burner, and sending an executive liaison.
The adaptation of Ms. Himekawa involved finding someone (Haru) to monitor the stability of the main attraction, if the giant inflatable snowman or ice sculpture had a probability of failing greater than one in ten, Miyu would set about stabilizing aesthetically by means of immediate visual inspection with a decorative tarp.
Towards the end of the afternoon of the second day, the pink and green ink soaked the annotated notebook of Ms. Himekawa, which was now filled with flowcharts, directional arrows, and even specific temporal matrices. This manuscript was an organizational work of art part logistical scheme, part decorative fantasy that is a display of her ability to arrange the gala with the highest level of precision.
The Staging Room Encounter
At the end of her volunteer shift, Ms. Himekawa was given the assignment to locate the terminal presentational files of the symposium in the secure staging section of the Great Hall. She maneuvered around the wailing main server stack, the cables being strung on the floor, and when she found a plastic wall separating a particular area, she found that it held the stores of her gala.
Below the transparent screen hung the palpable materials of Ms. Himekawa, i.e. a large custom star tree topper, a number of packaging units of the string lights by voltage, and the cut outs of anime like figures in flat cardboard.
The middle agency had apparently been instructed by Professor Shirogane to change her supply wardrobe, covering it with a protective sheath to keep the dust and the static that were so common in the server environment out of it.
The place was segregated, and it was called Low Risk Staging Cache (Gala): the voice of Professor Shirogane echoed at the door in general, and was silent on the way.
Koyuki turned around and was carrying the flash drive. "Senpai, I… I did not know that you had already shifted and packed my stores.
It was resource allocation optimization in the future, playing on the bright utility light, and with his silver eyes, Professor Shirogane stood. So letting your supplies pollute the staging area of the network was not an acceptable risk, (P 0.8). Immediate organization and segregation meant the risk was now gone and that your team could install their materials at T start = 7:00 AM on the 13 th at no delay.
He stopped, and looked longingly at her bright colored notebook, which she hastened to conceal.
I have seen your technique of the past two days, Himekawa san. Your concentration is great, and your vitality is not optimized. I hope you are ready to be of the required amount of logistical rigor in executing your event?
Ms. Himekawa experienced a satisfaction creeping up her neck; she knew that she had been looked at, judged and getting ready to her next evaluation.
I am ready, Senpai, and I have the flash drive to symbolically protect myself, she said, waving the flash drive as a weapon. My gala will be operated in Tier S rigor. Thank you on the unintentional mentorship.
Professor Shirogane smiled briefly a gesture which was better than praise. "Good. The scheduling of the Great Hall should be of high integrity. Presently, give me that presentation drive. T max is two minutes."
The reminder was unnecessary to Ms. Himekawa; she had burst out of the staging area running, leaving Professor Shirogane all alone in his cable filled quietness, and prepared to prove the truth of the statement that a rigorous, empirical science can be used to uphold a spirited holiday spirit.