It's dinnertime : logistics working from the end date

     A full-time homemaker requires a multitude of skills:

• chauffeur
• chef
• house cleaner
• laundry services
• facilities manager
• chief-of-Staff
• child care
• nutrition and menu planning
• buying goods
• finance manager 
• versatile errand runner
• ...

     Logistics is defined as "the detailed coordination of a complex operation involving many people, facilities, or supplies." If you need an experienced logistics manager, just find a successful homemaker.
     One of the everyday tasks of a homemaker is that of getting meals on the table and ready to eat. Let's decompose the task into parts.

1. Get the ingredients and preparation materials
2. Prepare the ingredients for cooking/assembly
3. Cook and/or assemble
4. Serve

     So, when do we do what -- what is our timeline? We must work backward, assuming that all food is expected to be ready at the same time. We must also treat the meal by components -- the dishes to be served -- such that we can coordinate all of them.
     Let's agree on a menu. How about a quiche, warm rolls, salad, and drinks? Also, agree on a time to serve everything -- say 6:00pm.

• A quiche requires preparation of the crust, preparation of the filling, baking, and cooling and serving.
• Warm rolls (assume pre-made rolls) must be warmed up (so an oven must be available).
• A salad must have the components (greenery, other vegetables or fruit, dressing if desired) assembled and then put into serving bowls (or a communal bowl from which to be served).
• Drinks must have glasses, the contents sorted and poured, and then served.

     Of these four items, two of them are time-independent. Salad and drinks can be prepared in advance. The quiche and the rolls both need to be served soon after completion -- and there is a competition for resources because both need an oven (assume only one oven is available).
     In order to arrange proper scheduling for these two items, let us list the times needed in reverse order. Ten minutes cooling, 40 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 minutes filling preparation (could be done in 5 if needed), 8 minutes baking the crust at 375, 15 minutes crust preparation, 10 minutes gathering materials.
     For the rolls, it is fairly simple. 4 minutes at 400 degrees.
     Add up the times for the quiche (we could overlap the filling preparation time and the crust baking time but we will keep it simple) and we have 83 minutes. To have it ready at 6pm, we would thus have to start at 4:37pm. After we have pulled the quiche from the oven to cool, we can turn up the heat of the oven and put the rolls into the oven at 5:56.
     The time-independent items do not really enter into the planning except to make sure that they are done in time. I would recommend doing them during the time that the quiche is baking.
     That is a simple meal. What other duties are required from our homemaker/logistics manager? Here we may enter into the "shortest distance algorithms" area. If I have to pick up a child from school, go to the bank for a deposit, and drop off the dry cleaning then I have to figure out the best order and then the best route.
     All very small parts of a normal day.