Lesson 13 of 23 · 7 min read
The smallest change that works: ECRS, then automate
In Lean: eliminate, combine, rearrange, simplify (ECRS), then automate
Builds on: Countermeasures, not solutions
In one minute
ECRS is a fixed order for changing a step once you know its cause: remove it (eliminate), combine it with another, change the order or who does it (rearrange), simplify what is left, and only then automate. Each option higher on the list leaves less work behind and less to maintain. The smallest change that works is the first option on the list that still answers the cause, not simply the idea that looks cheapest.
The idea
Lesson 6 asked whether a step should exist. This lesson completes the list. In plain words: remove, combine, reorder, simplify (in Lean: ECRS, from the first letters of eliminate, combine, rearrange, simplify), with automation after all four.
- Eliminate. The step goes. Nothing to do, nothing to maintain: stop the report nobody opens, drop the sign-off that has never refused anything.
- Join two steps into one (in Lean: combine). Two approvals that look at the same budget line, two forms that ask for the same data, two meetings with the same people. One step means one queue and one handoff fewer.
- Change the order, the timing or who does it (in Lean: rearrange). Ask for bank details on the request form instead of chasing them afterwards. Let the person who already holds the information do the step instead of passing it on. Check completeness at the start, so errors are caught before others build on them.
- Make what stays lighter (in Lean: simplify). The step remains but takes less: a template, a required field, a sensible default, a short checklist, a threshold below which a light version applies.
- Then automate. What remains, now small and stable, can be handed to a tool. Automate earlier and you automate the waste along with the work, and make it harder to question later.
- “Audit needs it” is often a memory, not a fact. Find the actual rule before you keep a step for it.
- Removing a step is a small, reversible trial: agree it with whoever owns the step and whoever receives the work.
Why this order? Each option leaves less behind than the next. A removed step has no running cost. A combined step has one queue instead of two. An automation needs an owner, breaks when the tools around it change, and is harder for the people doing the work to adjust.
"Smallest" does not mean least effort. The change has to answer the cause the whys found. A reminder email is small, but if the cause is a form that never asks for the information, the reminder answers nothing. Start from the cause, go down the list, and stop at the first option that answers it.
Two quick tests help with size. Can the team make this change itself, soon? Can it be undone easily if the check shows it did not work? A change that passes both is usually the right size to start with.
Example
Illustrative example, not a real company.
In a software company, each signed customer contract starts a chain: sales emails it to sales operations, who type the customer's details into the billing system, then email finance to confirm. Billing contacts are often missing, so operations chase sales. The whys reach a cause: the contract template has no billing contact field, so the details are only collected after signature.
The team's first idea was an integration between the contract tool and billing. Going down the list instead:
- Eliminate: finance already sees new customers in the billing system, so the confirmation email can stop, as a trial agreed with finance.
- Combine: nothing obvious.
- Rearrange: collect billing details before signature, as part of the contract, so nobody chases afterwards. This is the first option that answers the cause, so it is the change.
- Simplify: make the new billing contact field required, so the rearranged step stays light.
- Automate: the typing into billing remains. It may still be worth automating, but it is now one clean step with complete data, and the team can see how often it really happens before deciding.
Common mistakes
- Starting at automation. The tool request comes first because it feels like progress. Go down the list from the top.
- Choosing the least effort instead of the smallest change that works. A change that misses the cause is not small; it is beside the point.
- Rearranging someone's work without them. Moving a step changes another person's job; agree it with them first.
Words to know
- Remove, combine, reorder, simplify, then automate (in Lean: ECRS): the order in which to consider changes.
- Join two steps into one (in Lean: combine).
- Change the order, the timing or who does it (in Lean: rearrange).
- Make what stays lighter (in Lean: simplify).
Check your understanding
Try it on your own work
Describe one recurring task that wastes your time, and see these ideas applied to it.
Worksheet for this lesson: Countermeasure Plan Template (free download, no sign-up).
Where this comes from
The eliminate, combine, rearrange, simplify sequence comes from the work-simplification methods of early industrial engineering, which the Lean tradition adopted for improving any process.