This post is a direct shout out to the Tampa International Airport, TPA.  

A theme you'll notice in posts from me is: systems.  I think conceptually, which plays out in the real world as systems.  Systems make up society, and our daily lives are governed by systems.  Systems of school, systems of government.  Things start with a concept, that concept is broken down into processes, those processes are given definition, and that definition plays out in reality. 

Systems are obviously good.  They are necessary.  Some synonyms of system are: routine, procedure, method, process.  Most people appreciate a routine, and knowing what they're going into.  Order is a good thing.  Order results from following a system.

On personality tests, I've scored highly in understanding concepts.  This is good for me in many ways.  I can process big things and pick up on overall themes early on; it's problematic in two ways.  One, I'm terrible with facts.  Two, when systems don't work, I cannot handle it well at all.  This benefits me in teaching writing.  I can pick up an individual's voice very early on, which makes it much easier to hone their tone.  It hurts me in the realms of History and Science where names and eras are all labeled to a proverbial T.    

One of my least favorite things that people say it "that's just the way it is".  Or, "what can you do?"  Well, the answer is: fix it.  It's made me terribly frustrated at my job, where the people in charge of the system don't have a good grasp on systematic thinking, we're rather a very loosely joined fragment of function.  

But this is all a tangent.

I want to give some credit where credit is due, and that credit goes to the Tampa International Airport (TPA).  

My wife and I were at a family wedding this weekend, and flew through Tampa.  It is the most well run airport I've experienced.  They are very efficient in how they work, and are a shining example of how to do things well with a structural shift.  Typically, you check in, get a boarding pass, go through security, find your gate.  Often, you meet long lines composed of all the other travelers making their way into the all the terminals before their respective planes.  This is not the case in Tampa.  

TPA has a different, much more efficient process, or system.  At TPA, you get your boarding pass, then find your terminal, A-F.  Each of these terminals has a security checkpoint, with a guard checking boarding passes.  Once your pass is checked, you ride a train to the gates of your specific airline.  Once there, you go through security. 

This means you're only waiting in line with the people you're directly flying with.  It was fast, and it was smooth.  My wife and I both were quite impressed.  The little things that we'd come to associate with annoyances of travel didn't exist in TPA.  Credit where credit's due: a system that runs smoothly.  A process atypical from the others that runs smoother.  

Well done Tampa, well done.