Cutting Cycle Time Without Cutting Corners
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Most of the Time Is Waiting
When we measure a process end to end, active work is usually a small fraction of elapsed time. The rest is queueing: waiting for approval, for information, for someone to notice the task exists.
Attack the Queues
Speeding up the people doing the work rarely helps and often lowers quality. Removing the wait states almost always does.
- Set decision rights so approvals stop stacking
- Make incomplete inputs impossible to submit
- Give every stage a visible owner
- Trigger the next step automatically
“Work rarely takes long. Waiting does.”
Measure After, Honestly
Track the same measure before and after, over the same kind of week. A change that only looks good on a quiet week is not an improvement, it is a coincidence.
