This YouTube video (by Anthony LaFazia, uploaded June 6, 2025) explains the concept of "waste" in lean thinking and lists common types of waste that slow workflows: defects (errors/rework), overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation (of materials/info and of people), excess inventory, and extra processing. The speaker uses everyday analogies (baking cookies, messy desks, awkward office layouts, excessive emails/meetings) to make each waste concrete and urges viewers to identify and eliminate these wastes to create calmer, leaner workflows.
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Alright, first things first. Let's talk trash. Not literally, of course. Unless your desk is. You know. In lean thinking, waste refers to anything that consumes resources without adding value. It's the stuff that bogs down your processes, eats up time and generally makes things less efficient. Think of it as the digital clutter in your work life. Now, waste comes in many forms. Here are some of the big defects. These are errors that require rework. Think typos in reports, coding bugs. Anything that forces you to do something twice. It's like building a house with crooked walls. You gotta tear it down and rebuild. Super annoying overproduction. This is producing more than what's currently needed. It's like baking a hundred cookies when you only need a dozen. Sure, you could eat them all, but probably not the best idea in a work context. It leads to storage issues and wasted resources. Waiting. This is any time spent idle, waiting for the next step in the process. Waiting for approvals, waiting for information. Waiting for someone to finally reply to that email. It's a huge time sink. Downtime due to technical issues can also play into this. You know the times when technology is great except when it isn't non utilized talent. This is underutilizing people's skills and abilities. It's like hiring a concert pianist to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all day. Wasteful, right? And all you'd have at the end of the day is a tune you can't get out of your head. And a now half psychotic musician. Transportation. This is the unnecessary movement of materials or information. Think excessive emails, unnecessary meetings, physical documents being shuffled around. It's all about minimizing those touch points. This is having more materials or information than you currently need. It's like hoarding files just in case you need them someday. Usually you don't. This is the unnecessary movement of people. Think. Awkward office layouts, poorly organized workspaces. Anything that makes people walk, stretch to reach or even just turn around back and forth in their tasks more than they need to. Not that you shouldn't move throughout your day, but if you can move COG B closer to part A instead of keeping COG B five rooms down, do it. You get the idea. Extra processing. This is doing more work than is necessary. Think excessive reporting. Unnecessary approvals. Adding bells and whistles that no one asked for. Some folks are stuck in this mode. It's time to break the cycle and go lean. Lean thinking is all about identifying these types of waste and then actively working to eliminate them. It's a bit like a digital detox for your workflow.
