I recently had to work out of town every day in a work week. This is a huge departure from me working at home most days. What it meant is that I had to leave the boys at the Yellow Castle by 6:30 a.m. and I rolled home most days after 5:30 p.m. The boys were awesome at managing their own breakfast and getting out the door to catch the school bus as well as managing after school requirements. Well for clarity the teenager manages this mostly anyway but not so much the 11 year old and not doing it together.

 I utilized several components of the LEAN production (from the Toyota Production system) to set my family up for success. I did set-up production for breakfast with food and utensils all laid out at a kitchen station. For lunch I left a box of granola bars to ensure the teenage boy took something to school. A crockpot of something (made the night before) was set on low for dinner. I also used standard work in the form of a checklist for the Toad to ensure he was fed and ready for the mad dash to his after school activity about 5 minutes after I got home.

The week was not  ideal for us but it has taught me to let go to grow independence in my littlest boy, it highlights the invisible work that I do each and every day to keep the Yellow Castle running smoothly and makes us all appreciate that I am able to work from home 90% of the time. 

The irony – I was away all week doing my requirements for my LEAN Implementation Specialist certification.