One of my favorite accomplishments

When I first opened our office in the gorgeous Alta Diagonal building in Barcelona, there was one thing in particular that frustrated me. How could it be that we had to wait over three minutes (yes, I timed it several times) every time we wanted to fill up our coffee subscription key-chain card? Reducing that time from over three minutes to less than ten seconds is one of my favorite process improvement accomplishments.

It seems odd that something so simple as recharging a card could take that much time, but if you think about it, there are lots of things in our lives that take one to three minutes and we think nothing of it— until something like the microwave, the smartphone or a Nespresso machine comes along and several-minute-long-waits are decimated.

Now complaining about waiting for three minutes might at first sound extreme, but if you look in the building's journal of coffee purchases one must sign as part of the process, you'll see that three minutes actually accumulates to about an hour and fifteen minutes per day or roughly 25 hours per month for the staff. Yes, to recharge a coffee key card.

I won't bore you with details of the countermeasures we implemented, but basically I sat down with one of the managers for about 45 minutes and made a process map, which pretty much did the work for us. (And by the way, I had to beg them to let me help them; I did it pro-bono; AND I was never thanked appropriately.)

Five years later, there are MANY improvements that I think would benefit the renters here, but during those five years I've learned not to beg, do pro-bono work for people who charge astronomical rent, and definitely not to work with unappreciative people), but every time I fill up my coffee card, I feel a little tingle of pride.

I guess it's the nerdy, side of me. The side that follows me to every store, restaurant, hospital, fitness center, customer service desk. The side that can't help looking for ways of doing things better, faster with less effort and waste. Honestly, it's a somewhat annoying side because I would probably be more relaxed without it, but nevertheless, the side without which I would most decidedly have far fewer clients.