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Milk Kanban

brodzinski.com

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Re: Milk Kanban

#151

Post by flail »

thih9 wrote: post #144
flail wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, there is a real Kasia. Although she's a person of many talents, I would be genuinely surprised if she spent evenings studying Japanese management methods. The solution she designed, however, is as if she already knew all of that part of the MBA program :) Which shows how significant parts of these methods have roots in basic awareness and perceptiveness to how the work gets done. Lean/Agile only codified some of…

Perhaps Kasia should be offered a way to participate in core business projects, or a raise, or both. Seems only fair after such praise from colleagues and HN.

We don't need to "offer" that. Anyone can do this. Literally, anyone can make any decision (in a structured manner), so joining a core business initiative is obviously on the list.

Also, she already does participate in core activities. It would be much easier for us to deal with losing a couple of our best engineers than losing Kasia. Which is also a response to some voices in the discussion downplaying the value of the "office manager's" job. I partially blame common perceptions of this job being "just a secretary to everyone," which could be farther from what we have.

Re: Milk Kanban

#152

Post by flail »

rsanek wrote: post #137
galaxyLogic wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds good, "THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT". But would it not mean that sometimes you had 3 weeks old milk in the fridge? :-)

is 3 week old milk that old? usually when I buy milk the best by date is 2-3 weeks away

I generally trust the due dates printed on the items. But what would I know? Maybe it's a conspiracy to force us to drink old milk ;)

On a more serious note, UHT milk can be stored for months, given it wasn't opened.

Re: Milk Kanban

#153

Post by noisy_boy »

> A simple index card taped to the last milk carton in a row stating, “Bring me to Kasia.” That’s it.

A callback to indicate completion. Would have been better if the index card was taped to a carton towards the end, but still a few cartons remaining, to provide sufficient advance notice to restock.

Re: Milk Kanban

#154

Post by latexr »

gwern wrote: post #120
y33t wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've begun to notice the number five a lot. I was reading Tammy Wynette's wiki page the other day and noticed that it appears quite a bit -- born May 5th (5/5), married five times, dead at 55. She also collaborated with the KLF, a pop group from the early 90's which also had an unusual number of fives to do with them (as well as 23's...2+3=5? Oddly, Tammy has a memorial highway in Missippi, MS23). Which brings me bac…

You have discovered the Law of Fives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy#Numer... ; as it is written: > In the Erisian Archives is an old memo from Omar to Mal-2: "I find the Law of Fives to be more and more manifest the harder I look."

What a fantastically unaware admission of confirmation bias.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Re: Milk Kanban

#155

Post by jrootabega »

franga2000 wrote: post #146
castillar76 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The toilet paper we buy now comes in individually-wrapped (paper wrapping) rolls, and several rolls in every box are wrapped in bright red paper. Those rolls have the suggestion printed on them that you put them towards the bottom of the pile in the bathroom so that when you reach for a new roll and the one you pull out is wrapped in red paper, you know it's time to go get more from the box. It's a clever design, alt…

I get that it's paper so probably not that big of a deal environmentally, but why would anyone want to individually wrap TP rolls??

Selling individual rolls used to be more common. I'm sure you'll still see it today in smaller stores without a dedicated aisle for toilet paper/towels.

Why would they package those in larger packs? My guess is that the paper does help protect the roll while it's waiting to be racked. Dust/splashes/unravellng/etc. Might be where hotels get their TP.

Re: Milk Kanban

#156

Post by RobertRoberts »

This system was recommended to me from an old veteran manufacturing expert that was one of the consultants on an ERP implementation. The brilliance that this brought was anyone could easily pick up the inventory and restocking process. But the people that got in the way of this were people that thought it was "dumb". One person already knew all the bits and pieces and this was just extra work. (she was leaving the company in a few months...) The people that liked this idea were the new people that were replacing the older people, and people that only worked with the inventory periodically, so didn't have ingrained knowledge. (also, the part numbers were inconsistent and many other small issues that new people struggled with)

But, the grumpy and the veterans won out, because they just didn't see the value in making a change like this. sigh

Re: Milk Kanban

#157

Post by michaelcampbell »

celticninja wrote: post #135
somat wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a subject that bothers me far more than it should, but when I was first exposed to the term kanban I naturally look it up and go "what on earth does any of this have to do with software?" The term refers to a method to attach the logistical back pressure mechanism to the logistical items in question, basically distributing it to solve the problems of large central control. However the logistics of software deve…

You would think that, but swap manufacturing and parts logistics for user design and content, so a new feature is designed, then content is written for it, then it is implemented. Each step requires the one before it.

My angst with this (IMO tortured) metaphor, is each step is different every time. If we were knocking out exact clones of software systems this would work more like it is expected to.

Management seems to latch on this system since they understand it; it's getting both better and worse in that a lot of management now days has actually written code in smaller companies, but in bigger ones they still bring in their buddies who last coded at Uni and still go hard into this "fungible developer" assembly line process.

Re: Milk Kanban

#158

Post by joshvm »

franga2000 wrote: post #146
castillar76 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The toilet paper we buy now comes in individually-wrapped (paper wrapping) rolls, and several rolls in every box are wrapped in bright red paper. Those rolls have the suggestion printed on them that you put them towards the bottom of the pile in the bathroom so that when you reach for a new roll and the one you pull out is wrapped in red paper, you know it's time to go get more from the box. It's a clever design, alt…

I get that it's paper so probably not that big of a deal environmentally, but why would anyone want to individually wrap TP rolls??

If you buy in bulk, the rolls come in a big cardboard shipping box and not a shrink wrapped pack like the supermarket. The wrappers prevent stuff from getting on the rolls. Who Gives a Crap does the red wrapper thing.

Also common in commercial environments where you want to leave rolls out in the open, like a couple extra in every stall.

Wrapping with some tissue paper is probably more environmentally friendly than people buying 4-packs with non recyclable plastic.

Incidentally I've also worked somewhere with a little flag indicator on the milk cooler to let the kitchen staff know it's out and needs refilling (and to warn other users).

Re: Milk Kanban

#159

Post by dublinben »

flail wrote: post #151
thih9 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps Kasia should be offered a way to participate in core business projects, or a raise, or both. Seems only fair after such praise from colleagues and HN.

We don't need to "offer" that. Anyone can do this. Literally, anyone can make any decision (in a structured manner), so joining a core business initiative is obviously on the list. Also, she already does participate in core activities. It would be much easier for us to deal with losing a couple of our best engineers than losing Kasia. Which is also a response to some voices in the discussion downplaying the value of…

Anyone who would downplay the value of an office manager has never appreciated a great office manager. Most offices do not have a competent (if any) office manager, which is something we should all demand of our workplaces.

Re: Milk Kanban

#160

Post by celticninja »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #157
celticninja wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would think that, but swap manufacturing and parts logistics for user design and content, so a new feature is designed, then content is written for it, then it is implemented. Each step requires the one before it.

My angst with this (IMO tortured) metaphor, is each step is different every time. If we were knocking out exact clones of software systems this would work more like it is expected to. Management seems to latch on this system since they understand it; it's getting both better and worse in that a lot of management now days has actually written code in smaller companies, but in bigger ones they still bring in their budd…

I guess within a product this metaphor works better. For example a new page with a new form is likely to be an adaptation of an existing form.

Service ot service this is less appropriate, but extending an existing service is a bit more like assembly line stuff

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