I observed activity in the ITP kitchen for this assignment. Sharing a common kitchen is always a challenge, so there was sure to be some pain point there. My original thoughts were around running the dishwasher, since I know that has been a problem in previous years and is something I don’t do all the time myself.
However, after observation it turns out that running the dishwasher is not the sticking point of the ITP kitchen. Some of my observations:
- Everyone will rinse and put their dishes in the dishwasher, or wash them in the sink
- No one will run the dishwasher
- George will run the dishwasher
- Very few people unload the dishwasher
The fact that not many kitchen-users are unloading the dishwasher creates a situation where both dishwashers are full. This in turn creates a backlog of dishes that either are left on the counter or washed by hand. The result is a messy kitchen or one that’s overcrowded. The situation is exacerbated by the ‘3pm Rush’ where many people are cleaning up their lunches before they go to class. I counted at least 20 people who either left their dishes in the sink or waited to wash them by hand instead of unloading the dishwasher.