Do you strategically plan ahead to improve efficiency?

Azza

Azza

Azza

Caporegime
Joined
6 Dec 2005
Posts
37,965
Location
Birmingham
So you want to make yourself a sandwich, you walk into the kitchen, over to the fridge get out your butter and cheese or what ever, put them on the work surface, go to you cutlery draw and get out a knife, then go get a plate, then get the bread out. Normal procedure right?

Or do you do what I do and try and maximize your work rate and efficency in preparing the sandwich. So I walk into the kitchen and I'll instantly go through in my head everything I need and plot what I should do to make things easier for myself, so as I walk in to go to the fridge (that's sy the far end of the kitchen) I'll walk past the cupboard with the bread in, I'll flick that open, walk past the cutlery draw and cupboard with the plates in I'll open them. All in one swift and continuous movement, get to the fridge take out what I need. Start to walk bs k and slide them along the top towards the cutting board grab a plate and a knife, close both cupboard and draw as I turn away usually with my foot and other hand so I'm doing things as quickly as I can make them.

I'be noticed that I've started to do this a lot more now, especially when I'm in the kitchen when several different things need doing and usuay if I forget to do something or get something out, having to go back and get them then I get annoyed at myself.

So does anyone else do something similar, or just me?
 
It's not just you. However in your case I would probably just head to the fridge first, get everything and then come back. I'm not sure how much opening the cupboards on the way to the fridge adds :p
 
YES.

I do this all the time, same with chores I tend to try and integrate them into things I am otherwise doing. E.g. lets say I have some glasses to take down to the kitchen, I won't make a special trip to do that, I will just carry them doing when I happen to be going that way.

If I'm cooking dinner I will assess when I have a suitable window to say, do the washing up whilst not missing the time to do something else like put veg on to boil. If I'm making myself a bacon sandwich for lunch then I will eat other bits (crisps, fruit) while it is grilling.

When pouring drinks (eg orange juice) I assess how much is left in the carton and choose glass sizes that I estimate will fit the amount of liquid to avoid 'wasting' a pint glass if there might be only say 300ml left.

Then lets say I'm emptying the dishwasher, I will work out the optimum combinations of items to remove at the same time to maximise efficiency - if I end up with a solitary glass left that needs a trip all of its own, then I have failed.

When I go online I'll do stuff like start big downloads first before I do any web browsing so I don't 'waste' any window of opportunity in terms of bandwidth.

When I was a kid, I'd always aim to have a bath when there was football commentary on the radio to avoid wasted time sat in the bath.

edit: I should point out that some of this drives my wife mad, she thinks if I'm asked to do something then I should do it straight away, not wait for the most efficient moment to do it :)
 
Last edited:
At home, never, I just sort of bumble around the kitchen doing things as and when I remember. At my old job, absolutely - Need to check something in the oven? In the 2.5m between a work surface and there you can stick on an egg, drop/raise a fryer, flip some bread under the grill, check whatever's on the chrome top and THEN check the oven - then go back the other way with a similar procedure :p

I hated that job.
 
Not when making a sandwich. But if I'm going into town I plan it like a military operation. I know exactly what I want and where I can get it. So I synchronise my watch so I get to the LZ (car park) at a specific time. Routes to objectives (shops) are known ahead of time and I visit them in specific order to maximise efficiency so I'm not cutting back round on myself and lengthening my time in the open where I might have to engage civilians. No dilly dallying at objectives either. In and out like an SAS embassy attack. Then it's a mad dash back to the extraction point/LZ and as far from the area as quickly as possible before the enemy knows what hit them.
 
gah!... Its a DRAWER NOT A DRAW!!!!

I have been seeing this creep up on the forum more and more and cannot understand how people can confuse the two i.e

Top DRAW
Kitchen DRAW
 
HangTime said:
YES.

I do this all the time, same with chores I tend to try and integrate them into things I am otherwise doing. E.g. lets say I have some glasses to take down to the kitchen, I won't make a special trip to do that, I will just carry them doing when I happen to be going that way.

If I'm cooking dinner I will assess when I have a suitable window to say, do the washing up whilst not missing the time to do something else like put veg on to boil. If I'm making myself a bacon sandwich for lunch then I will eat other bits (crisps, fruit) while it is grilling.

When pouring drinks (eg orange juice) I assess how much is left in the carton and choose glass sizes that I estimate will fit the amount of liquid to avoid 'wasting' a pint glass if there might be only say 300ml left.

Then lets say I'm emptying the dishwasher, I will work out the optimum combinations of items to remove at the same time to maximise efficiency - if I end up with a solitary glass left that needs a trip all of its own, then I have failed.

When I go online I'll do stuff like start big downloads first before I do any web browsing so I don't 'waste' any window of opportunity in terms of bandwidth.

When I was a kid, I'd always aim to have a bath when there was football commentary on the radio to avoid wasted time sat in the bath.

edit: I should point out that some of this drives my wife mad, she thinks if I'm asked to do something then I should do it straight away, not wait for the most efficient moment to do it :)
Click to expand...

I'm the same, word for word!
 
If I started doing this I'm pretty sure I'd end up wasting more time thinking about planning things than I would by just doing things separately.

:edit: Thinking about it now mind, I do tend to do a lot of it naturally. I think it's just common sense!
 
For a sandwich, I probably wouldn't bother too much, and I often don't care about it for a lot of things, but after a couple of times of doing something, I'll tend to work out an efficiently best route quite a lot... So making a pasta dish or something like that!

kd
 
I am an efficiency beast. I am not content when efficiency is being lost....in anything.

I do exactly the same, from the smallest things to the largest things.

For example, if I want a cup of tea, but also need to use the loo I will make sure to get the boiling water in first so that it may start to brew while I take a leak. Why waste time?
 
Sin_Chase said:
For example, if I want a cup of tea, but also need to use the loo I will make sure to get the boiling water in first so that it may start to brew while I take a leak. Why waste time?
Click to expand...

I don't go to the extreme but this is common sense. I sometimes like to make the gamble when doing toasted cheese sandwiches on the griddle too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom