transcribing from notes on plane.

july 5th 2020

My Gemba Walk at Amazon

a book told in a series of 6 page memos

memo 0
day 1: i imbed myself in an amazon facility toobserve and critique

memo1 - stop throwing away product

memo 2 - ergonometrics of the produce aisle

memo 4 - a hunble brag. my currilculum vitae,a 6 page resume

memo 5 a leave of absinthe. i take a month off to do a rough draft of this book. and read a few books about amazon

memo 6
mentors, mentees and manatees.
i'm not even sure there's a memo here

memo 7 a glossary - some amazon jargon explained.

memo 8 the 13 1/2 values, roadmap or hype?

memo 9 - iww, prayer circles, recruiting an empire.

memo 10 - vid and covid.

memo 11 - my life as an amazon consumer, reseller, and kindle author

memo 12- angling for promotion, apply for L3jobs

memo 13 proposal for a health care program

memo 14 investing - my 401k, tesla, amzn, etc.

memo 15 what is gemba? six sigma explained in 6 pages.

= = =

memo 0
day 1: i imbed myself in an amazon facility to observe and critique

this part is one page per memo, just to get an outline,first expand from tobale of contents.
star stories, situation, task, [a-thing] result
narrative - a memo tells a story.

day 1.  I embed myself at an amazon warehouse FC for 10 weeks to learn about the company from the inside, so i can observe and report, criticize and praise.
who how when where and why.

the narrative part:
during covid, my usual gigs shut down, so in late march of 2020 i was thinking about coming out of semi-retirement and actually getting a job. earlier in march, i had reopened my schwab brokerage account, bought a share of tesla, and was looking for a way to make some money to buy more shares, because there seemed to be an unusual attractive investment opportunity. my lifestyle is such that i dont need a job, because i own my house and car, get my food for free, spend almost no money,  and just have a [broken thought]

5 years after my accident, i was recovering well, and though that for the first time i might be well enough to hold down a warehouse job. i lay in bed in pain for the first couple years, but i'd been making progress over the past year.
i had a federal lawsuit going, in which i argued that i had lost income, because i had planned to go work at amazon. this looked pretty speculative to the insurance company, so actually getting a job at amazon would make this more persuasive to a jury.

my plan, as far as it involved amazon, had three stages:
one: work for wages in the warehouse, learn about the company, develop some expertise. invest the wages in tesla or a similar opportunity, maybe buy another house or some cars.
two: learn how to sell used books to amazon.
less likely, find a product or product to sell via amazon; at least i would learn a bit about this option.
three: write a book or other publication for kindle. bruce sterling told me one time, in a bookstore in austin, that there's more money in nonfiction than fiction. there have already been good books written about amazon, but there might be room for one more. if not a book, maybe an article that could be pitched to a magazine.
i know a guy online who supports himself writing one book a year about his adventures, while going around having adventures. adding in some writing income to my current multiple streams suits my long term goals.but in the short term, i was looking for a paycheck, and amazon was offering $17/hr during april. so i put in an applicatioin.

as far as amazon knows, i was just some guy who showed up on time for his shifts and pushed the cart around as the computer told me. they didn't know that i have a doctorate and a masters, that i have a background in working in warehouses, that i've been a teamster, that i've held appointed public offices in the same 4 states where i've been arrested. or for that matter, that i have an internet persona as an aardvark.







memo1 - stop throwing away product

memo 2 - ergonometrics of the produce aisle

memo 4 - a hunble brag. my currilculum vitae,a 6 page resume

memo 5 a leave of absinthe. i take a month off to do a rough draft of this book. and read a few books about amazon

memo 6
mentors, mentees and manatees.
i'm not even sure there's a memo here

memo 7 a glossary - some amazon jargon explained.

memo 8 the 13 1/2 values, roadmap or hype?

memo 9 - iww, prayer circles, recruiting an empire.

memo 10 - vid and covid.

memo 11 - my life as an amazon consumer, reseller, and kindle author

memo 12- angling for promotion, apply for L3jobs

memo 13 proposal for a health care program

memo 14 investing - my 401k, tesla, amzn, etc.

memo 15 what is gemba? six sigma explained in 6 pages.