What's Getting in My Way?

A good way to look at problems is simply to ask the question  ” What's getting in my way?”

All tasks are processes and the evaluation of a process will often show how to speed it up.

In a business environment such as Manufacturing the most important tool is probably a flow chart.

The flowchart need not be complex.    it can be as simple as a list of things that need to be done in a process in order to  accomplish a result.

For seniors this process can be used to work out solutions to those problems which affect all seniors.

Access to healthcare might be such a task

Those living at home can plot out just those things that they need to do in order to get to a doctor. Those living in a retirement community or planning to live in one can do the same.

This process led me to realize that even though I was living in the midst of a metropolitan area with every conceivable and imaginable type of healthcare,  the means of getting to where I needed to go were extremely limited and complicated.

Although it did not seem  intuitive, a retirement community outside a major metropolitan area had far more transportation options than I had living independently, or so-called independently.     In fact,  I am more able to live independently in the retirement community than outside it

My retirement community is literally in a cornfield BUT is in a low traffic area with city bus transportation and county bus transportation,  along with van transportation for seniors from several sources including both the community and the county,  along with  satellite services from healthcare providers actually right on campus and accessible easily from the community campus bus service.

The same approach can be applied to obtaining Information services, to finding out about health care options,  to managing financial issues, even simple tasks like dining.    The latter:  what are all the steps I need to do to be able to enjoy a meal?

The best source for information of course is internet, so that the question is how can I obtain reliable wifi service.     The next question is where do I go to answer specific questions     And finally, of course, the question of what device to use most easily.

Local or cell phone based hotspot devices can provide service.   Here I need both,  so sometimes the local services down.    Nowadays simple voice input can direct you where to go to answer specific questions using nothing more than a simple smartphone.

So whatever the problem is, studying the flow of the process can use some unexpected results.

My experience as an engineer has always been that when someone writes down the sequence of steps used in a given process they almost always come back and ask the question why they ever did I do it that way--- they now can do it in so much better steps, just from bothering to review how they handled things in the past.