The problem of a messy kitchen has probably been around since the stone age and something that everyone has probably been annoyed or maybe even outraged about. Regardless if it is in the context of their own home, shared collective kitchen, or in the more commonly one workplace. The problems seem to correlate both both to the number of active “users” (usually >1, unless you are schizophrenic) och lack of supportive tools (e.g. dishwasher) that are supposed to, if not solve completely, at least automate and remove tedious and repetitive tasks which in turn should cause less friction between all involved parties.

In the context of a workplace (mine is no different) people usually “solve” this by sending out angry emails every now and then. Sending out “encouraging” emails to people to do the “right thing” has already proven ineffective numerous times. As a (rather funny) reference I’ll recommend you to read 1 girl, 12 cups for inspiration. Furthermore, all these emails usually seem to jump to the conclusion that people do this clearly very evil thing on purpose.

So if you agree on that this is a problem, now, where do we take it from here? I have made the assumption that everyone really want a clean and tidy kitchen. That said, I would like to state the problem with the following question:
How can make sure we have a nice and clean kitchen where people don’t forget to put their used plates and cutlery in the washing machine and leave dirty tables after themselves?

Being an engineer and occasional user of the previous mentioned facility it hurts me badly to have such a broken system! And when the tendencies have started it usually goes downhill.

Empirical studies done so far has shown that the following approaches does not work:

• Send emails to email list with reminders to clean up after themselves.
• Send emails to email list to clean up after themselves with attached photos of the mess.
• Put up notes in the kitchen encouraging people to clean up after themselves.
• Put up a note stating “Your mother does not work here”, implying that your mother cleans for you.
• Put up a note stating “Your mother does not work here”, implying that your mother cleans for you, and the mother is actually the boss and do cleans the daughters stuff.
• Roster system for cleaning (see link reference above).
• Collective punishment, e.g. temporary close down access to the facilities for everyone.

Since this problem has obviously been discussed on several occasions there has obviously been some suggestions done on how this could be handled more efficiently (I took the liberty of making these anonymous in respect of my colleagues, feel free to take credit if you want to):

• Public shaming off the individuals found guilty of charge.
• Adhesive picture of a lovely kitten in the sink reminding that he might die if we leave our dirty dishes there.
• Someone was against using animals in pictures and therefore suggested a danger sign, big and fluorescent yellow.

Personally I have also suggested:

• Implement a real-time “intelligent kitchen” solution that notifies the offender with screaming sirens, rotating warning lights, and locking down all entrances until the problem is properly resolved. I realize that this solution has a few flawed security holes (e.g. emergency situations) and would probably require currently non-existing technology, so we probably might need to wait until next year or so before this can be implemented.
• Stop using the kitchen in favor of going to a place more sanitary, with drawback of losing valuable work time due to traveling to an off-site cafeteria/bar. This also has the disadvantage of missing out the informal “water cooler chats”.

I would like to continue this obviously very flourishing conversation to a broader audience. Not only because I’m also aware that this problem existed long before I was probably born but because the outcome could hopefully benefit more people than just me. Let the ideas flow like a nyan cat in space!