underdogishere

It's my job (the one I get paid for) to study how people do things, to help them find the best ways to do things, and, ultimately, to design and write software to support the way they do things. I've been doing this for a long time, and so I tend to notice, wherever I happen to be, how people do things. I admire good processes. I shake my head over broken processes.

Starbucks, your process is so broken.

As you may remember, I've recently become a regular at Starbucks. What I'm about to tell you may only apply to the Starbucks stores here in Brevard County, Florida. I don't know if Starbucks are the same everywhere. But in the stores here (and I've been to them all, most multiple times), this is how I think the process is supposed to work:

1. Cashier employee takes my order and taps it into the system.


2. System prints out a little label, which barista employee sticks on cup.


3. Barista employee reads label, makes drink as specified, and delivers to me.

Seems simple, eh? Efficient, even. But it never works that way. The way it actually works varies quite a bit from visit to visit, but here's a good example, from yesterday:

1. Cashier-dudette took my order and tapped it into system.


2. Cashier-dudette yelled my order to barista-dude.


3. Barista-dude yelled back, "What?"


4. Repeat step 2.


5. Barista-dude walked over and stared over cashier-dudette's shoulder, reading order as displayed on screen.


6. Barista-dude walked back and prepared my drink.


7. Barista-dude peeled label off printer and, without reading it, stuck it on cup containing my already-made drink


8. Barista-dude handed me my drink

As I said, the actual process varies from visit to visit. But it always involves yelling. And never involves reading the little label.

Labels: Inner Geek