The Toilet Paper Illustration
As an example of systems-thinking, and at the risk of an awful pun, reaching for a piece of toilet paper is the bottom line.
Toilet paper is a mandatory accessory. It may be the one thing that all of us have used daily for all our lives. As an illustration of a system that is ubiquitous, it’s perfect.
The act of loading toilet paper on a toilet paper roll is a system—a system that proceeds in a linear fashion until the goal is accomplished. Step one: In the bathroom, approach the sink. Step two: Open the cabinet door underneath the sink. Step three: Reach under the sink and grasp a roll of toilet paper. Step four: Take the protective wrap off the roll. Step five: Approach the toilet paper dispenser with the roll, etc.
Ask yourself the following question. Right now, in your own house or apartment, is the paper roll loaded on the dispenser with the free end of the paper off the top of the roll where it can be easily grasped? Or, is the leading edge off the bottom, against the wall, where one must awkwardly reach underneath the roll to retrieve it?
For the fun of it, over the years I’ve kept an informal tally. Not counting hotels and motels where professional housecleaners have been instructed on the most efficient positioning, it is a nearly 50-50 split with a slight advantage going to those who chose “top.” This means most people don’t think one way or the other about the insertion of the roll in the dispenser. (Or, implausibly, one half the population is adamant the roll be inserted one way and the other half of the population, the other way.)
So, not many people think of this triviality. Is it important? Of course not—but that is not what matters here. The important point is the illustration of the lack of systems-thinking by the vast majority of people.
Since having the retrieving end of the paper on the top of the roll makes grasping the paper easier, why don’t all people load the paper that way every time? Is the task of inserting the roll one way more difficult than inserting it the other way? Not at all. But deciding to always do it this way would require a one-time analysis of the goal and the process—in this case just a few seconds of time—and we Westerners don’t oft en consider underlying processes, even ones so innocuous as this one. Most of us are not naturally predisposed to see life with the systems-perspective.
Yes, this is a silly illustration, but try to get past that. See that in considering loading the paper in a different way, you are putting yourself outside-and-above the act of loading toilet paper. You are deliberately managing the process in order to produce an incrementally better result every single time the process executes in the future.
There is another, more visceral lesson here, and maybe it’s a bit unnerving. Because you have considered this toilet paper question, it may cause you to choose to load your rolls in a more deliberate way, or the contrarian in you may consciously decide not to. Whatever your choice, my prediction is that from now on you will think about the process every time you replace a toilet paper roll. Like it or not, due to this end-of-chapter illustration, there is a small slice of systems methodology that has been permanently imbedded in your thinking process.
Welcome to my world.
For the record, when I polled my management staff in a staff meeting on how they load their toilet paper at home, I got a 100 percent “Pleeeze! Off the top, of course!” response. Even in the most mundane tasks, the Centratel staff reflexively takes a posture of outside-and-slightly elevated.
Sam Carpenter is author of the book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Working Less and Making More. Visit www.workthesystem.com to purchase the book and/or receive a free download of Sam’s “Six Steps to Working Less and Making More.”
December 11th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Very good info that I’m surely going to utilize!
http://www.yorefoundation.com
December 11th, 2008 at 11:16 am
A long, long time ago I was informed by my then boyfriend that there was a right way to put toilet paper onto the dispenser. He had been given this wisdom by his mother and sister. He said once you know, you will never be able to do it “wrong” again. And he was right. It strikes me that this is almost viral in the way it spreads.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Sam, this is great. I’ve been looking for a good explanation of why businesses should incorporate systems. Something as simple as toilet paper; who knew!
p.s love the remind me video on your site. Where did you get that?
December 16th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Hi Sam,
I think that it’s beneficial to have a “systems perspective” but an open mind as well. Too many people are convinced that their systematic approach is the right way — or even the only way. It’s important to listen and learn from all perspectives — except in the case of dispensing a toilet roll.
Best Regards,
Andy Lax
IntelliCollect, Account Manager
http://www.intelli-collect.com
December 18th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I know that I personally am planning to review how things went at Christmas and evaluate lots of simple things I do to streamline them. It took the Christmas rush to see how lots of little inefficiencies affect the amount of labor I put into my work to produce the outcomes. Some of these little things involve nothing more than rearranging my shipment packing station. More involved projects include keeping a more efficient inventory and re-ordering process. And probably most importantly, I want to evaluate whether I’m making the most of the valuable contact of being able to ship a box to my customers. Am I asking them to come back and do business with me again? Thanks for the article. It’s helped me formalize what has been knocking around in my head during this very busy season.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hey Sam -
You’re a person that needs to read Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance…
- PonB
December 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Toilet Paper is a process that needs to respond to changes in the business environment and (in-market) forces. In this case, the forces would include playful cat paws and enthusiastic toddlers. In both cases, keeping the toilet paper roll flap over the top opens a security risk since it becomes easier to spin the roll again and again, resulting in your profits, and paper, going down the drain. As any parent of either a child or a cat may know, the result is not pretty and can be easily avoided by having the flap positioned down in the back.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
And then there are those who go for greater efficiency by eliminating everything after step 4 (i.e., they unwrap the roll, use it, and set it on the counter).
I’ve noticed more and more public facilities are taking that approach, too. Instead of loading the paper in the locking dispenser, they just pile five or six rolls on top of it.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
You may have forgotten one thing, Sam. Parents and grandparents of small children long ago recognized the paper trail kiddies can make when the roll is placed on the top.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Well, this post seems to indicate that systems thinking has no advantages, other than to spend a lot of time where time didn’t need to be spent. Me, I don’t even put toilet paper in the holder. I keep a open package within reach of the toilet, and I just pick it up as needed. Way more efficient, and you never have to take the time to put the roll in the silly holder ever, and you can easily see when you are about to run out.
I once worked for a major company that actually had a written procedure of what one was to do when the toilet paper needed to be replaced in the bathroom. To actually have paid someone to figure out the process and actually write this down, along with establishing the “visual controls” for what to do when supplies were low, seems to me a waste to the shareholders of the company that should have been an outrage.
I am not advocating flushing system thinking, it is needed, but like everything else in life, should be used in moderation.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Sam,
Obviously, you have never lived with a cat.
Sometimes the younger cats will lean on the front of the toilet paper. If it dispenses from the top, the paper will dispense, read, “create a chaotic mess.” I think there is a term for that in your business, “Not Good.”
If loaded the “correct” way, with the loose end under, the cat leaning on the roll will harmlessly spin it.
As Jim Hamliton points out, small children can create a similar snafu.
If one has the cats or kids exception, UNDER is better. OVER works for all others.
BTW, I have thought of this years ago, made the analysis, and decided on the household policy. So that is an example of systems-thinking. Just came to a different conclusion to fit a cat inhabiting domicile.
Good article!
December 18th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Great article, I agree with the cats and kids perspective but would like to add that aesthetics plays a part in many TP roll decisions. Visually, UNDER generally creates a more pleasing look, though OVER might be more utilitary.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I was surprised that the author totally missed the toddler/pet rationale behind people opting to mount the role “Wrong”!
I was glad to see that others mentioned it.
For the true contrarian, some stores offer a toilet tissue holder that has a vertical post allowing the roll to sit sideways. Then the choice is whether to unwind to the Left (Liberal) or to the Right (Conservative) or alternately clockwise or counterclockwise.
So why do the systems-methodology thinkers conclude that to have the free end “out” is the only logical way? The parent or pet owner actually used a thought process that solved a true problem, while the alternate system’s choice was merely a matter of convenience. Sounds like a religious belief - that no other reason existed for someone to knowingly chose the opposite placement.
If you get right down to it, that is the definition of prejudice. Judging the other option to be wrong without considering a reason.
I hope the author learned from the responses posted.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am
He also must have missed the great toilet paper debate in the Ann Landers collumn several years ago. Many people do indeed have strong feelings on the issue of toilet paper positioning.
June 21st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
OK, OK! I get it re the kids and the cats. I have another printing in the works and I will add the qualifiers (and if I can’t add the verbiage this time, I’ll get it on the NEXT printing)! For the record, I’ve had both kids and cats. For some readers, maybe some of the message I was trying to deliver was lost in the right vs. wrong question and whether I had covered the various scenerios adequately. It doesn’t matter how you load your toilet paper! There is no right or wrong way that someone like me can dictate or recommend. (And, again, this is VERY small stuff, designed jsut to get one thinking). What matters is that one takes the time to analize the details of his or her challenges and then customizes things for the most efficiency…or not (it’s your choice!). It’s time well spent, however, One comment suggested that searching for efficiency in the wrong places is a waste of time. I agree. There’s a lot of that thought process (or lack of thought process) going on right now, here and all over the world. Just read the news. Thanks for making that point, David.
Here’s the point of the illistration: Spend some time making the details of life more efficient — based on your individual requirements — and you are more likely to get what you professes to want. It’s a matter of mechanical efficency.
Sherese, find the Remind Me video on Utube…search “Remind Me.” Pretty interesting stuff behind the video if you search Google….
BTW, I am on Facebook (finally) under Facebook.com/samcarpenter. Better yet, search for “work the system” to become a fan. I’m starting a video series this week that will post there (and on the website).
New book coming out In January, for the general public.
Finally, for any of you who commented (up to this date), email me your mailing address and I’ll send you, gratis, a signed copy of the hard cover which just came out in book stores. It’s been edited and reads much better. I am not that happy about the previous self-published soft cover editions. Send to info@workthesystem.com
Thanks everyone!