Mark P. McDonaldTransporting is one of the forms of waste or Muda. Lean thinking evolved in manufacturing where raw materials and work in process move around the shop floor from station to station. Every movement takes time, increases the risk of damage and requires non-value added activities. The more transporting activity the greater the opportunity for waste.
IT executives may not think there is much transporting waste in IT, after all software is not physical and its transportation costs via the network are near zero. However, when you think about how work moves between teams, geographies, suppliers and processes the level of transporting in IT become apparent. It becomes all the more apparent for heavily outsourced organizations where work not only moves between you and the service provider, but within the service provider as well.
Transporting in IT is the unnecessary movement and handling of work. This happens when you pass work between multiple teams, multiple companies and locations. A lack of clear process, poor coordination tools and weak management all raise transporting and transporting waste in IT.
Transporting waste is perhaps the most apparent in customer service processes that require the physical movement of people and goods. Technology provisioning and support are open to waste. You see waste in these areas when you see boxes of PCs and other equipment “temporarily’ stored in a conference room or closet awaiting deployment. Given the level of dust on the boxes they have been waiting there temporarily for quite a while.
Consider transporting waste as whenever the work moves between teams, locations or configurations. Every time there is movement there is opportunity for one or more of the following things to happen:
- Introducing errors by making last minute additions, moving incomplete versions or honest misunderstandings about the requirements or their technical implementation.
- Increasing the security risk of the solutions as information and work products flow and reside across multiple locations ranging from corporate services to personal thumb drives. The more people involved, the greater their dispersion either in the company or across locations.
- Extending cycle times to account for transportation, inspection and acceptance of work moving between teams. It takes time, even via the network, to move things and in a high volume environment every little movement takes some time.
- Rising project communications costs to keep teams in alignment and aware of the work that has been done, the issues and required next steps. Handoffs between teams take time and create the opportunity to introduce errors.
IT is a collaborative and team sport. Reviewing the opportunities for transporting waste may seem that this collaboration is not beneficial. IT is a global industry so some transporting is required. IT products are digital so they carry little or no mass so transportation is not an issue. All of these are true.
IT recognizes transporting waste. Consider the configuration management tools, change control, ITIL based and other processes that are all involved in ensuring the quality of work products as they move through your processes. Transporting waste is real in IT, it may not be the biggest waste but there are opportunities.
Category: CIO Economy Lean Thinking Tags: Business Management, Lean Thinking, Management
2 responses so far ↓
1 Muda matters – sources of waste applied to IT October 7, 2009 at 5:50 am
[...] Transporting – the unnecessary movement and handling of work. This happens when you pass work between [...]
2 Lean IT – Muda Matters July 25, 2011 at 3:14 pm
[...] 3. Transporting – the unnecessary movement and handling of work. This happens when you pass work between multiple teams, multiple companies and locations. A lack of clear process, poor coordination tools and weak management raise transporting in IT. [...]
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