When discussing waste, it’s important to understand that not all types of waste can be eliminated from our work processes. Some are actually necessary to ensure product quality. But what about waste in project management?
Let’s take a concrete example: testing software. It’s a critical activity, but our clients may not necessarily want to pay for it. However, the absence of testing could lead to a poor-quality product, negatively impacting our economic performance. This is where the two main types of waste come into play:
Necessary Waste: These are activities that don’t directly create value but are essential to ensure product quality. Think of testing, planning, reporting, and so on.
Pure Waste: These activities don’t add value and can be immediately removed from the process. Anything that doesn’t add value and creates unnecessary delays can be considered pure waste.
The Lean philosophy identifies seven areas where these wastes can hide, known as the seven wastes of Lean.
- Transportation: The unnecessary movement of resources or materials that doesn’t add value to the final product.
- Inventory: Excessive inventory created out of fear of not being ready for unexpected demand, resulting in unnecessary costs.
- Motion: Unnecessary and complex movement of employees or equipment, causing loss of time and efficiency.
- Waiting Time: The stagnation of goods or tasks, causing delays and time losses.
- Overproduction: Producing more than what is needed, leading to additional costs and triggering other wastes.
- Overprocessing: Adding unnecessary or excessive features that don’t provide real value.
- Defects: Errors requiring rework or generating waste, causing time and resource losses.
By adopting a Lean approach, we can identify these wastes and work towards eliminating them. Every small improvement counts towards a smoother and more efficient process.
So, let’s view these wastes as opportunities for improvement and resource optimization. By reducing what’s unnecessary, we pave the way for faster, more effective, and more satisfying solutions for both our clients and our business.
May the Scrum be with UX