Oatmeal, Revisited

Let's look again at the 5-Why Analysis from yesterday, and talk about implementing solutions.

Symptom: No Oatmeal for my breakfast. Response: Eat something else. I did this. I ate something else for breakfast. It was delicious.

Cause 1: No Oatmeal left in the pantry. Response: Buy some more oatmeal. I had to go to the grocery store anyway to get food for a special occasion (some friends had a baby recently, so we're bringing them dinner), so I bought oatmeal while I was there.

Cause 2: We didn't buy enough oatmeal at the last grocery run. Response: Increase the amount of oatmeal we purchase each grocery run. (But how much?)

Cause 3: We didn't measure our actual need before deciding how much oatmeal to buy. Response: How much oatmeal do we need? Given that we buy groceries once every two weeks, we need enough for four bowls a day for 14 days. A single carton provides 30 servings of half a cup each, so a carton lasts approximately 7.5 days. We need to make sure we have at least two cartons on hand as a result of each grocery trip.

Cause 4: We use a static buying list. Response: Make the list a little more dynamic. For staples, set a "comfort level" and subtract current inventory from it to determine purchase quantity.

But that's only 4 Whys, not 5 Whys!

I'll explain tomorrow.