People Who Do the Work

Identify waste and its impact on people who do the work.

Practitioners: tactical, and integrative

This is a loaded little sentence. We could simply start with what is waste. Or we could focus on the impact of waste. We could also debate this idea of ‘people who do the work’. What work are we discussing? Let us begin there. If we concentrate our focus on value-added work only (not necessary but non-value add), we find ourselves in very tactical territory. Our customers value something, do we know what that is?

This question requires us to see our processes through the lens of method creates outcome. Any analysis – efficiency, productivity, waste – requires clear definitions of value or outcome. Without an understanding of the value we create, we can never identify what keeps us from achieving it. This might seem obvious to us, but when questioned, most team members have vague notions of the value they are creating in the work they do.

People Who Do the Work

That language sounds familiar. It is present in number 37. The people who do the work. If we are to identify the waste and its impact on the people who do the work, we should be in conversation with the people who do the work. We should ask them questions so that we can understand their experiences and their perception of value. Does it match the customers’ perception? If not, we need to correct that and then continue our analysis.

This statement is important, but it leaves out the next part. Once we have identified the waste, then what? Eliminate it, of course. Easier said than done, and quite frankly this is where the real trouble begins. The solutions are in the people who do the work. That is why we check their understanding of value. If they understand value the way the customer does, then they will also understand the best way to create that value. Leave them out and you will have less than the best solution. But that is for another conversation.