# Spot the waste in office work

_In Lean: 8 wastes checklist_

---

## Page 1: what to look for

Follow one real item from arrival to done, or sit with someone while they do the work. Each time you see one of these, add a mark and a note. You are there to learn about the process, never to check on people.

### What you followed

**Team or process:**  
**Item followed:** _(One real, recent item, not a typical one from memory.)_  
**Date:**  

### When work moves between people and tools

_Is the work stuck, moving, piling up, or is a person hunting?_

| Kind of waste | In Lean | Signs in office work | Quick test | Seen (One mark each time.) | Where, and what exactly? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Waiting | waiting | An item stuck behind an approval, a reply or a system. People chasing for a status update. | Is one item or one person stuck behind something specific? |   |   |
| Handoffs | transportation | Work forwarded from team to team. A file exported from one tool and loaded into another. | Does the work itself move between people, teams or tools? |   |   |
| Backlog | inventory | A shared inbox or ticket queue that grows week on week. Drafts started and parked. | Are you describing the pile as a whole, not one stuck item? |   |   |
| Searching and switching | motion | Hunting for the latest version or for who owns something. Switching between tabs to finish one task. | Does one person travel between places to do their own task? |   |   |

### When effort goes into the wrong things

_Everyone involved may be busy and working hard. Look at what the effort produces._

| Kind of waste | In Lean | Signs in office work | Quick test | Seen (One mark each time.) | Where, and what exactly? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Errors and rework | defects | A request sent back for missing details. A report corrected after it went out. | Was something wrong or incomplete, so it has to be done again? |   |   |
| Work nobody uses | overproduction | A weekly report nobody opens. Work prepared before anyone asked, then redone. | Does anyone use this output, now? |   |   |
| Extra steps | extra-processing | The same data typed into a second system. A sign-off that has never changed a decision. | The output is used: does it take more effort than its purpose needs? |   |   |
| Skills not used | non-utilised talent | Specialists keying data or resetting passwords. A problem raised every week with nowhere to take the idea. | Does the work need what this person knows, and can their ideas go anywhere? |   |   |

> **Describe the process, never a person. Ask before watching a screen, note the kind of information on it but never a customer's details, and do not fix or correct anything on the spot.**

---

## Page 2: what you saw

One row per thing you saw. Write what happened to the work, not who did it. Most real frictions show more than one waste: name the main one, and a second only if it is really there.

### Seen where the work is done (in Lean: gemba)

| No. | Which step, in which tool? | What happened to the work? (Stuck, moving, piling up, or a person hunting.) | Kind of waste (Use the names on page 1.) | How do you know? (Dates, counts, the screen you watched.) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 |   |   |   |   |
| 2 |   |   |   |   |
| 3 |   |   |   |   |
| 4 |   |   |   |   |
| 5 |   |   |   |   |
| 6 |   |   |   |   |
| 7 |   |   |   |   |
| 8 |   |   |   |   |
| 9 |   |   |   |   |
| 10 |   |   |   |   |

### Afterwards

**What did the people doing the work say was missing when you showed them your notes?**
_They are the experts on their step._

> 

**Which one thing you saw will you write up first as a problem?**
_Pick the one where the work waits or goes wrong most often, and start from where the problem begins, not where it is noticed._

> 

---

Template by KaizenProof · CC BY 4.0