“Lean” in real life?

There was a lean initiative in an organization where I was previously working. The office is on multi floors with few meeting rooms on each floor. One interesting proposal from a team is they will attend the team meetings in a meeting room on the same floor only and not go to other floors’ meeting rooms, thus saving time in motion. Motion is one of the seven wastes in lean due to the non-value-added movement of equipment. The proposal seemed silly and trivial, but it saved time for the team with 10 members doing daily meetings.

There are many product improvement techniques and Lean is eminently applicable in personal life. Marie Kondo’s Konmari technique is essentially lean of reducing unused inventory, keeping only things that speak to the heart, and discarding the things which no longer spark joy which is “waste”. The reducing waste principle in Lean is closer to minimalism. There is a cost associated with clutter. If you are not using a thing for a year, there is little chance that you will ever use it again. Give it away to people who can use it or resell it and make some money in the process. The result is a cleaner home with more space.

In designing my kitchen at home, I have used lean principles. The work triangle in the kitchen is an imaginary triangle with the refrigerator in one corner, the sink in the second corner, and the stove in the third corner. When we work in the kitchen, we move between these three points the most. The aim is to reduce unnecessary movement and make sure that this triangle is not too elongated. In practice, this helps to finish my cooking faster and more efficiently and reduces the running around in the kitchen.

Have you used lean principles in your life? Let me know in the comments.