A new request landed on my plate last week: automate the 5S audit process. Right now, it’s painfully manual. An employee walks to 10-12 different locations with a paper form, fills it out, then trudges back to a computer to type everything into Excel. After that, they have to manually calculate the results and email them to the right people. It’s a 15-30 minute time sink per person, which is especially ironic since this is for our Operational Excellence (OPEX) team.
Naturally, I thought, “Easy fix! I can automate that.” I jumped right in, figuring it would take an hour, tops. Famous last words. That one hour quickly spiraled into many, reminding me (again) that I need to slow down and scope things out properly.
Here’s where I’m at:
- The Problem: The current 5S audit is a manual, paper-based process that wastes a significant amount of time on data entry and reporting.
- The Quick Win: I successfully replaced the paper forms with a Google Form. Now, employees can complete the audits on their phones, and the data flows directly into a Google Sheet. That part is a definite success.
- The Roadblock: The automation is stuck. My biggest headache is trying to reliably generate a “spider chart” (a radar chart) using Google Apps Script. It’s just not working consistently.
- The Unfinished Business: Because of the chart issue, the final reports and emails still have to be sent out manually, which defeats half the purpose of the project.
Honestly, this little project has drained a lot more energy than I expected. I see the value in finishing it, and I hate leaving things incomplete, but it’s become a real time-vampire. It’s another classic example of how development projects, no matter how small they seem, always have a few surprises waiting for you down the road.
Next: Finish this automation… just maybe not this month.
Tags: automation, Google Apps Script, scope creep, process improvement, 5S, Google Forms
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