You work in an ice cream shop and step into the back for a few minutes. You return and see a large group of people waiting. How would you serve them?

So if I understand correctly we want to strategize serving in the least amount of time + most efficiently. Correct? (Yes you could say that).

Ok, basically I see this as a supply chain problem and with supply chain you have to think about resources, bottlenecks, and optimize for that. From my experience of working on automation in warehouses at Walmart, you have to think long term based on consistent data you have gathered. This problem, however, while could be long term we are solving it for immediate need on the fly, so in future we may have to think of a diff solution. (interviewer: understandable).

Me: Per my experience in supply chain, beyond problem, you think of segmenting problem coz you could have problems in each segment of the area such as inbound, outbound, placing the pallets in reserve slot, getting it out of rserve slot to serve an order, or re-circulate invalid labels around re-circ line, etc. So relating my experience to this problem, I think I am going to try and see if we can segment the problem rather needs of people. Is that ok?

(sure)

Me: Considerin my primary objective is to serve fast and efficienty to improve customer experience, I am thinking I serve them based on their needs. I say this because in my past I applied segmenting by last name and flight arrivals data at a major non-profit convention and it worked extermely well. But before I do that, do we have any constraints such as resources, time, etc.?

Interviewer: No.

Me: Ok...how many resources do we have? (You tell me how many you would need to achieve your purpose).

Me: That depends on how many customers we have. I see this as an estimation problem whereby I would have to think how much time it typically takes to serve each customer (well those who need tasting need more time but others need same time on an average) but I don't have time to do that so let's assume I have 20 customers. 1 more question: are the ice creams randomly organized or there is a specific order in which they are organized? (organized but let you assume how).

Me; Ok let's assume organized by sweet, tart, traditional flavors (that could have sweet or tart or minty). (ok works for me).

Me; Great! so Iet's also assume I have 3 serving staff including myself (4th would be good but resource constraint + on an avg. 3 sounds fair to reality).

Interviewer: Great.

Me: ok so I think I am going to estimate I have few customers who want 1)sweet 2) tart 3)Traditional flavors 4)tasters (thse are the people who are going to taste atleast 2 before picking 1. That's me!)

I realize that while ice creams somewhat are laid out in the order of sweet / tart, overall they kinda belong to non-traditional ice cream. So I would merge 1 and 2. Overall, I think my store is known for uniue ice creams and that's why people come to my location and pay more for ice cream. I don't very few epople pay extra for a traditional ice cream. Considering that, usually at places of these kind, there plenty tasters because they always want to try something new especially since my store also changes flavors atleast once a quarter (typicaly for these type of places). So out of 20 customers I am going to assume 10 (60%) are tasters, 10% traditional, and rest know what they want out of non-traditional section.

So if I think about the tasters their mind set is:

1. Can't wait to get a tasting. I realize here that I could have customers who have kids or adults. And that kidna changes the ball game a bit because adults are gonna be more patient to wait in line but not the kids. Places like these tend to have young adults who don't have kids so l don't think that should be considered here but just a random thought that popped in my head.

2. Will want to taste 2 and some will do 3 and even 4 (but person like me embarassment kicks in right after i do 3 so I stop myself).

I think that's the prime needs but I realize there are edge cases like mine who wants to also check whcih ones are vegan or not vegan but don't have eggs. Let's not consider that since we aren't looking for precise math here.

In terms of solving for this, I would:

1) Allocate 2 resources to taster line. 2 resources is going to allow for me breaking up that line  with 16 people out of 20 total in 2 (not literally but serving each faster). Serving here includes providing 2-4 tastes and serving their selection. I think 16 is too high of a number but that's ok.

2) The 3rd guy serving non-traditional can also work the cash register. Here I am assuming cash register is next to non-traditional section but that doesnt matter honestly.

The downside is some criss-cross isnce you have a party whereby 1 person wants non-traditional and another wants traditional and wants to taste traditional. But I think those are edge cases and we can support. Also, if oddly enough most of the 20 customers turn out to want ttraditional, my solution will not work but this is a type of decision you make in real time so you fix it on the fly.
 

Overall, I think assuming that at a non-traditional ice cream shop, and somewhat based on data, we mostly get people who want to taste ice-cream and choose based on that, I think we should solve for those people and I hence allocated most resources to that line. I would add here is that I have had an experience in Portland, OR where at such a shop focus was more on "experience" so there isn't a very particular line order so if my shop is such a shop, this might pose bit of a challenge but at one point yes a line is formed so I doubt this is an issue.

if I can serve these customers in 10-15 min I thin that be great. I think 10 is ideal coz any longer I be frustrated or getting there.