KaizenProof

Lesson 16 of 23 · 7 min read

Write down the best current way: standard work

In Lean: standard work

Builds on: Every change is an experiment

In one minute

Once a change has held, write down how the work is now done, so it no longer depends on one person's memory. A standard is the best way the team knows today, short enough to use while working, with an owner and a date. It is not a rule carved in stone; it is the starting line for the next improvement. Without it, improvements fade as people move on and old habits drift back.

The idea

A countermeasure that lives only in the heads of the people who made it lasts as long as they stay and remember. The best current way, written down (in Lean: standard work), makes it the team's. It also makes further improvement possible: you can only tell whether a new way is better if everyone knows what the current way is.

A good office standard is short and contains five things.

  • Purpose. One line on what the work is for and who receives it.
  • Steps, in order. As few as possible, each starting with a verb: check, send, record.
  • Key points. What makes a step succeed or fail, and why (in Lean: key point). "Search for the supplier by tax number, not by name: names are spelled in different ways." This is what experienced people know and new people lack, so it is the most valuable line in the standard.
  • Exceptions. The two or three cases that need a different path, and whom to ask.
  • Owner and date. Who keeps it current, and when it was last reviewed.

The form follows the work: a checklist inside the tool, a template with required fields, a one-page procedure, a short screen recording. The best standard is the one in front of people at the moment they do the work, not the one filed in a shared folder.

A standard-work cardThe best current way, short enough to use at the moment of work: purpose, steps, key points, exceptions, owner and date.

Illustrative example, not real data

A standard-work cardA standard-work card titled: pay a supplier invoice. Purpose: suppliers are paid on time, to the right account. Steps: 1, Match the invoice to the order; 2, Check bank details against the record; 3, Record it in the payment system; 4, Add it to the next payment run. Key point: search suppliers by tax number, not by name, because names are spelled many ways. Exception: no order number? Ask the requester before paying. Footer: owner, the payables lead, and the date it was last reviewed.StandardPay a supplier invoicePurposeSuppliers paid on time, to the right account.Steps1Match the invoice to the order2Check bank details against the record3Record it in the payment system4Add it to the next payment runKey pointSearch suppliers by tax number, not name:names are spelled many ways.ExceptionNo order number? Ask the requester first.Owner: payables leadReviewed: (date)
  • The key point is the line experienced people know and new people lack. Give it its reason.

Who writes it. The people who do the work, from what they actually do. A standard written far from the work describes how it ought to be done, and is quietly ignored. To test one, give it to someone who has never done the task and watch them try. Wherever they hesitate, something is missing.

Short beats complete. Nobody reads a forty-page procedure at the moment of work. Leave out what any competent person would do anyway; keep the steps where errors actually happen.

Standard work is not about making people mechanical. Much office work needs judgement. The standard covers the repeatable part, so that judgement goes where it is needed instead of into rediscovering the routine each time. And it describes the work, never how fast or well any one person does it. A standard used to rate individuals stops being improved, because nobody admits it no longer fits.

Example

Illustrative example, not a real company.

A customer support team changed its refund form so confirmations go to the customer's current address. The change held at every check, so two agents wrote the standard on half a page:

  • Purpose: refund confirmations reach the customer at the address they use now.
  • Steps: open the refund from the customer's account, not from the order; confirm the amount; send.
  • Key point: the order screen shows the address at the time of ordering; the account screen shows the current one. Always start from the account.
  • Exception: orders placed through a partner site have no account address; use the address in the partner field.
  • Owner: the support lead. Reviewed: the date it was written.

A new agent followed it on her second day and asked one question, about partner orders that have no address at all. The answer went into the exceptions the same afternoon. That is the standard doing its job: showing exactly where the current way is still unclear.

Common mistakes

  • Writing the ideal, not the real. A standard that describes how work should happen is ignored by the people who know how it does.
  • Too long to use. If it is not read at the moment of work, it is not a standard.
  • No owner, no date. A standard nobody owns goes out of date without anyone noticing.

Words to know

  • The best current way, written down (in Lean: standard work): short, owned, dated, and expected to change.
  • What makes a step succeed or fail, and why (in Lean: key point).
  • Owner of a standard: the person who keeps it current and reviews it.

Check your understanding

3 questions. Answer them all, then check. You can try again as often as you like; nothing about your attempts is kept.

Question 1 of 3Which belong in a short office standard? Select all that apply.

Choose all that apply.

Question 2 of 3A finance team's month-end procedure is forty pages long and nobody opens it. What is the best first change?
Question 3 of 3Which statement misunderstands standard work?

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Try it on your own work

Describe one recurring task that wastes your time, and see these ideas applied to it.

Report a friction (opens in a new tab)

Worksheet for this lesson: Standard Work Template (free download, no sign-up).

Where this comes from

Standard work is a foundation of the Toyota Production System, where the written current method is the base for every improvement (on the factory floor it also fixes the pace of work and the work in progress, which office standards leave out); key points with their reasons come from the job-instruction training methods Lean also drew on.