I apply the ‘critical path method’ when brewing my morning coffee– Is that odd?

It’s weird when you subconsciously apply project management principles when making your morning coffee, right?

While making my coffee today, I got somewhat introspective on my several-times-daily coffee-making-habit. What I’m referring to as a “habit” may actually be a “quirk”,  which is why I felt compelled to write about it.

Specifically, I wonder if this quirk has developed because of my background in project management and business process analysis, or if I became a project manager and efficiency guy because of this quirk. I’m also curious if others out there on the “tubes” have any stories of their own to share.

I recently realized that as far back as I can remember, I subconsciously apply a project management method known as the ‘critical path‘ to simple, often mundane tasks. It’s especially noticeable when I do things that take some time and have multiple steps.

In our home, we have a Keurig single cup coffee brewer that takes K style cups. Rather than use the K cups (at 50 cents a pop), I bought an attachment (see image at right) that lets me grind my own coffee beans and brew them in a special filter. It’s less expensive, plus, I can purchase and grind my own fresh beans.

Here’s how an average person probably makes their coffee:

1. Grind the coffee beans, fill the basket with the beans, insert into coffee maker.
2. Find a mug and put it in the coffee maker.
3. Press the button to begin brewing.
4. Wait approximately 15 seconds.
5. Put sugar and cream in coffee.
6. Stir and enjoy.

Here’s how I make coffee:

1. Grind the coffee beans, fill the basket with the beans, insert into coffee maker.
2. Press the button on the coffee maker to begin brewing.
3. Find a mug and place it under the coffee maker. Don’t take too long or coffee will poor all over the counter!
4. While coffee is pouring into my coffee mug, put my sugar and cream into the mug.
5. Stir and enjoy.

It’s not a big difference, but you can see that I don’t wait to press the button before finding a mug and I add sugar and cream while the coffee is still pouring from the machine into my mug.

This practice saves me about 10 seconds for each cup of coffee. At 3 cups a day, that’s about a half a minute in time savings. Not worth the trouble, yet this is the process my brain follows every time I make coffee. I’ve noticed that I do this with more than just coffee: I also wash any prep dishes I used while my eggs are in the frying pan thus saving preventing me from standing idle in front of the stove for 5 minutes. Now that I’m cognisant of this behaviour, I’m going to pay more attention to see where else I do this during my day.

Anyone else notice this kind of anal-retentive-subconscious-efficiency behaviour in their own lives or somebody they know? Care to share?

On a related note, I’m a huge fan of my Keurig coffee maker and highly recommend it. I pruchased mine at Timothy’s, but I think you can find them at lots of other stores. When you purchase one, don’t forget to pick up the re-usable basket, called “My K-Cup” so you can brew your own beans too!