How to Coach Yourself and Others Happiness Is No Accident | Page 97

Eliminate Waste
Waste is the result of activities or environmental conditions that prevent a team from reaching its
goal. The opposite of waste is something that adds value (more, faster or higher quality) to the
desired result.
The whole notion of eliminating waste comes from lean manufacturing. More recently, Mary and
Tom Poppendieck applied this idea to software in their book "Lean Software Development: An
Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers". In this (excellent) book, the authors list the
wastes of manufacturing and the wastes of software.
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

As wastes are eliminated or reduced, a team will function faster and with higher quality. However,
not all waste can be eliminated. Sometimes waste is legislated, som