Lean Process Spaghetti Mapping Video and Worksheet

Business drives technology; not the other way around. A very important aspect of being a successful IT leader is in understanding business processes. By doing so, one can better apply technology to help increase productivity within these processes. Lean process management is an important methodology to know. Toyota found great success by basing its whole business on it. Although there's much more than process analysis to be successful at it, I wanted to provide a pretty fantastic (and entertaining) example of how one can go about analyzing their current processes to determine inefficiencies in an office context. Room Plan

The point is to create a "spaghetti" mapping of the movements that were used to create toast in the video example. The messier your map is at the end, the more need for improvement. You might see how this can benefit in the design of office space. By designing a work environment based on the work that is done, a team can greatly improve effectiveness by reducing the amount of movement necessary to fulfill tasks. In the context of information systems, you might think of ways to eliminate wasteful movements with the use of technology, such as workflow software. 




Thanks to:
Richard Heffernan
Principal Health & Safety Advisor Europe
FUJIFILM Speciality Ink Systems
for the great video example.