For example, he determined that the optimal amount of coal to shovel in a single swing was 21 pounds. Taylor then standardized the entire industrial process around these averages so that the way to perform each task became fixed and inviolable (in the case of coal shoveling, he insisted that special shovels optimized to carry 21 pounds were always used), and workers were not permitted to deviate from these standards—just as I was required to stamp aluminum in a precisely prescribed way.
