Are there processes where flow may not be as important as effectiveness or quality?

Of course. It depends on customers and customer requirements. But, most of the time, in many processes, customers do care about timeliness and/or speed. If this requirement applies, then you should be looking at flow as a possibility for improvement. Walk the process, map the process, and analyze it for the bottlenecks and where the…

This post is only available to members.

Tracy O'Rourke

Tracy is a Master Black Belt at GoLeanSixSigma.com, the co-author of The Problem-Solver’s Toolkit and co-host of the Just-in-Time Cafe. She is also a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Instructor at UC San Diego and teaches in San Diego State University’s Lean Enterprise Program. For almost 20 years, she has helped leading organizations like Washington State, Charles Schwab and GE build problem-solving muscles.