5S is often associated with workplaces, workshops, offices and process improvement. But it is not limited to work environments.

So, what about family photos?

Many of us have seen — or inherited — those boxes of old family photographs: jumbled together, from different decades, with people we half-recognise, places we cannot quite identify, long forgotten events, and stories that may disappear if they are not captured.

Those of us who are genealogists encounter this problem all the time, and not just with old photos. I have drawers full of family documents and notes I have written. When I’m lucky, they are haphazardly organised in folders and envelopes. Otherwise, they are loose. A similar level of chaos has sometimes been applied when those items have been scanned. I know, I should know better. I promise it’s on my to-do list.

But let’s get back to photos.

Perhaps 5S cannot tell us who everyone is or where every photo was taken. But it can certainly help when it comes to digitising, sorting, naming, storing and making those photos easier to find, share and enjoy. You can read about one personal learning experience here. And, of course, the same approach can be applied to family documents.

If you would like more information on using 5S in the workplace, I wrote a blog on that very topic some time ago: “How can I organise my workplace so I’m more efficient? The 5S approach.”

And if you are looking for a fun way to learn about 5S, there is also a free 5S game you can download from my website.

Finally — and this really is finally — when you read the blog, you may notice the author, Gareth, is from Digital Shed45: the very same Gareth and Digital Shed45 that created my website.

If you would like to find out more about Lean, what we do and how we can help, please get in touch.

Photo by Fiona Murray-deGraaff on Unsplash