Efficiency
A busy business is not always an efficient one.
People can work hard in a process that makes progress difficult. Follow the work to understand why it waits, repeats or returns.
Does this feel familiar?
Less waste. Less rework. Less firefighting?
- The same information entered repeatedly
- Frequent chasing and workarounds
- Issues return after being fixed
Recognition is the beginning
Follow the work
Read each hand-off as a test: is the next person ready to move the work forward?
An illustrative starting point for investigation; the actual flow depends on your business.
- 01
Request
Capture what is needed once, clearly enough to act.
What might slow this down?
Missing information starts a cycle of chasing.
Assess the impact using actual cases and evidence.
- 02
Assign
Give the next action an owner and a priority.
What might slow this down?
Work waits between teams because nobody owns the next step.
Assess the impact using actual cases and evidence.
- 03
Prepare
Resolve dependencies before work begins.
What might slow this down?
People repeatedly stop to find information or permission.
Assess the impact using actual cases and evidence.
- 04
Complete
Complete the work with a reliable method.
What might slow this down?
Duplicate entry and workarounds consume avoidable effort.
Assess the impact using actual cases and evidence.
- 05
Check
Check quality where errors can be prevented or corrected.
What might slow this down?
Late checks turn small errors into extensive rework.
Assess the impact using actual cases and evidence.
- 06
Hand over
Pass complete information to the next person.
What might slow this down?
An incomplete handover sends the same work back again.
Assess the impact using actual cases and evidence.
What could be happening?
A different cause needs a different solution.
These are possible drivers to investigate, not a diagnosis of your business.
The visible symptom
Less waste. Less rework. Less firefighting?
Potential drivers to investigate
Unnecessary steps
Which steps move the work forward?
Approval queues
Where does work wait for permission?
Incomplete information
What must be chased before work can continue?
Recurring defects
Why does completed work come back?
Redesign the work before automating it
The work wasn’t the only thing consuming time. The way the work moved was too.
25%improvement in productivity
Where effort went
Manual activity, difficult handoffs and gaps in control.
What changed
I redesigned the underlying workflow first. Automation supported the new way of working where it genuinely removed effort.
What improved
Productivity improved by 25%, through changing how work moved rather than asking people to work faster.
Selected experience from my career, before this independent practice.
The important part wasn’t the automation.
It was knowing what should change before deciding how to change it. That principle continues to guide how I approach improvement.
How I may help
Fix the cause.
Improve the outcome.
Remove friction from the work, rather than asking people to work faster.
The right change depends on where avoidable effort is actually being created.
The answer might sit in unnecessary steps, hand-offs, approvals, missing information, recurring defects, unclear ownership or the way existing systems support the work. Remove the friction before asking people to work harder.
Evidence before investment
Observe. Connect. Prove.
Quantify. Decide.
Follow actual work, test likely causes and assess the business impact before committing to a change.
- 01
Observe
Follow actual work.
- 02
Connect
Link symptoms to possible causes.
- 03
Prove
Test the explanation against evidence.
- 04
Quantify
Assess the business impact.
- 05
Decide
Choose what is worth changing.
What could improve?
Potential improvements depend on the diagnosis and your starting point.
- Less avoidable work
- More dependable flow
- Time for work that matters
Connected outcomes
One change can reach further.
- Capacity
Less avoidable work can free time for useful output.
- Margins
Rework and chasing consume the contribution from a sale.
- Technology
Better information flow may reduce manual bridges.
Let’s start a conversation
Which process in your business takes more effort than it should?
A number that concerns you. A frustrating process. Something that should work better. You don’t need the root cause, a solution or a formal project brief.
In 30 minutes, we can explore what’s happening, what may be driving it and what deserves closer attention. A starting point, not a complete diagnosis or a commitment to a larger engagement.