Here in New Orleans, there was a problem with the city water today and there's a 24-hour “boil water” order in effect through tomorrow morning. We could play a good game of the 5 Whys:
- Why can't we drink the water? It's potentially unsafe
- Why? The water pressure dropped earlier this morning
- Why? Because there was a power outage
- Why? Because there was a small fire
- Why? We don't know (publicly… yet?)
There was a similar incident that affected the water in October and there was the famous Super Bowl outage. I hope the lights stay on for my HIMSS talk Monday morning!
So, while I'm sure the city is being overly careful, I don't want to risk being sick for my talk.
I might forget to not drink the water or forget to not brush my teeth with it. So, I've placed a bottle of water in my hotel sink as a reminder to not use the tap. It's probably more effective than telling myself to not forget and it's probably more effective than posting a warning sign.
This method worked for me during a similar water problem in Boston back in 2010.
In the spirit of Kaizen (or continuous improvement), I'm happy to publish and share my idea with others!
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