Moving at the Speed of the Slowest Participant

Is the pace of a project determined by the slowest participant?  My friend was on a canoe trip with a group of families and on a canoe trip it is important that they all stay together.  They moved very slowly because some of the paddlers were not a strong as others. 

My friend found it very frustrating because he likes a hard paddle and loves a good pace.  The only solution was to put a strong paddler with a weaker one to improve the pace. 

He also realized that depending on the objectives of the trip he needs to pick his fellow paddlers.  On a family trip, he must realize the pace will not be to his liking.  For a "real" canoe trip, he will select more capable paddlers.

I think these insights also apply to our projects.  If you have slower paddlers on the team, putting them with stronger paddlers will increase the speed of the project.

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