How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 38

Here I have summarized and generalized these types of wastes
so that they apply in any situation:
The Seven Wastes
1. waiting - caused by delays, unreadiness, or simple
procrastination
2. partially done work or inventory - caused by sub-optimal
workflow
3. extra processing or processes - caused by poor organization
or bureaucracy
4. defects and rework - caused by insufficient skill, tools,
inspection or filtering
5. movement of people or work - caused by physical separation
6. overproduction or extra features - caused by working
towards speculative goals
7. task switching - caused by multiple commitments
In order to eliminate waste, first waste has to be detected and
identified, then the underlying causes of the waste have to be
identified, and finally changes to the work environment need to
be made to both eliminate the cause of the waste and the waste
itself. Many agile work practices help with this process.
Value stream mapping is one particular tool that can be used by
a team or organization to identify wasteful activities. The team
describes the amount of time that work takes to go through each
activity in their overall work process. Next, the team determines
if each activity adds value or does not add value to the end goal.
All activities are subject to speed improvements, and activities
that do not add value are subject to elimination.
In order to determine the causes of waste, special attention
should be paid to incentives and motivations. Wasteful behavior
often exists because there is some incentive for people to do it.
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