A common problem is how to divide up household chores between two or more house-mates. One approach is to divide up chores by type, and permanently assign each person certain recurring tasks. Another approach is to divide up by time, so that, for example, three people do the dusting once every three weeks on a regular rotation.
Task division requires more effort to figure out which tasks are how much work and for whom, but allows specialization. Both approaches are fairly inflexible, however, in the work load required each week. Attempts to allow exceptions, such as for sickness or deadlines, often slip into large-scale shirking.
When both my wife and I were employed, we split the task of cooking (or picking up) the evening meal with a "Tug-O-War" board, like:
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|h /#\ | h|
|i 0 0 ### 0 0 0 0 e|
|m \#/ | r|
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This has a row of seven holes, with a peg sitting in one of them. The
rule is that when you cook, you get to move the peg one step in your
direction. If the peg gets all the way to your end, the other person
*has* to cook. Now you can cook a few nights in a row if you feel
energetic, or wait a few nights if you're sick. If neither of you
wants to cook, the person farther down is expected to cook.A triangular array of holes could be used for dividing between three people. For more people, you could use an array of holes, with one column for each person, and a peg in each column. When you cooked, you would move your peg up one step, except that if you were already at the top, you instead move everyone else down one step. You can't cook if you are at the top and someone else is at the bottom.