Documenting the Intended Primary Functions for Each Area of the Home
Documenting the Intended Primary Functions for Each Area of the Home
The intended primary function of an area is essentially what the area was designed for – the key activities that are supposed to take place in that area of the home.
For example, the intended primary function of a dining room might be as a place for family dinners. The dining room may have other functions, but it is important to know the current intended primary function. What the intended function was when the home was originally designed is moot; you want to know its intent NOW. Perhaps the room has been converted to a home office or play area. The documented primary function and necessary items will certainly be different than if it was used for daily evening meals for a family of five.
Another example might be a spare bedroom. Is the bedrooms primary function for guest comfort and sleeping? Yoga and meditation? Crafting? Now may be a good time to identify each discrete area/room in the house and quickly document the intended primary functions of each. Every area in the house should have a primary purpose. Use the 6ssuccess.com Primary Purpose Worksheet to define one or two primary purposes for each room/area in the house, the activities that support that purpose, and the necessary items required to successfully enjoy the activities.
| Target Area | Primary Purpose of Area(One or Two Intended Functions) | Activities that Take Place in Area | Necessary items for Activities |
Documenting the primary purposes of each room in the house can really assist households in understanding and prioritizing the organization and housekeeping needs for each room. Eventually 6S will be implemented in all areas of the house. However, because each room needs the buy-in of the people who live and utilize the space, you have to treat each discrete area separately. The best approach is to tackle each room separately and deal with each area one at a time. You probably already have an idea of which room or area in the house needs to most organizing and cleaning. Hopefully that room can also be a priority for other members of the household and you can prioritize that as your first 6S project.
You might be tempted to address simply the messiest or most distressed area of the house first. Really you should prioritize your 6S activities based on how frequently areas are used by members of the household, how visible the area is, and most importantly how many people use the area on a daily basis. Look for areas in the house that members of the household complain most about and use the most. You don’t necessarily have to tackle the most disorganized and “out of control” area first. It is better to start on a room that can immediately benefit from organization and cleaning because it is the most commonly used room.
You also want to set yourself and household up to succeed the first time you implement 6S. Remember, people rarely enjoy trying to learn something new while having the expectation to execute flawlessly. Whatever each household member was currently doing to organize and clean before implementing 6S, they most likely feel like they were good at it. Learning a new method of organizing and cleaning can cause anxiety in many household members, because they are not familiar with the process. So, identify a target area that will benefit from initial organization and cleaning, but also select the area based on your household members’ ability to succeed in the activities.
You can complete a 6S Prioritization Worksheet to assist you in identifying discrete areas of your home, prioritizing each identified area, and noting key criteria for success in each area.
| Target Area | Priority | Reason for Priority | This is Done When |
It should be easy and straightforward to set priorities for 6S in each target area. Focus on three categories or levels for prioritization:
- High Priority represents areas that need to be addressed immediately.
- Medium Priority represents areas that are important but do not require immediate attention.
- Low Priority represents areas that can wait until High and Medium Priority areas are completed.
You should NOT have a list where every target area is High Priority. If you do, then you need to reassess the intended primary function of each area or the home conditions are in such distress that each target area is in emergency state. If that is the case, pick the highest priority room and start there and hope you can progress through each room at a fairly consistent rate. For a house or apartment 5,000 square feet or less, choose three areas to be High Priority, three areas to be Medium Priority, and the rest to be Low Priority.
One of my favorite tasks to perform during a 6S event is to figure out what the primary function of an area is. This is like setting an intention for the area and allows the people using the space to create a sense of ownership. This is almost like a “do-over” or like the first minutes of sun-break. There is a whole new world that can be created, you just have to make the decisions that fit your intent!