Spring Checkerboard

 

If you’ve read Cheaper by the Dozen, or seen the 1950 movie, you know about Frank Gilbreth. But you don’t know Lillian’s story. Lillian and Frank were married in 1904. Together, they raised a dozen children. They also pioneered a field that is now known as industrial and organizational psychology. They studied how people do things in the workplace, and formulated ways to make work more effective. Frank’s focus was on mechanics; Lillian’s was on people: fatigue, error and human behavior. Frank died of a heart attack in 1924, leaving Lillian to support twelve children. Their clientele, assuming Frank was the brains of the operation, disappeared. So, Lillian turned her attention to productivity in the home. Lillian interviewed thousands of housewives to understand their needs. She invented the foot-pedal trash can. She rearranged refrigerator shelving to make it more ergonomically efficient. She designed the “kitchen work triangle” – stove, sink and fridge – still used in homes today.