The 8th of the 7 MUDAs / WASTEs

Nearly everyone has heard or knows about the famous "7 MUDAs" (WASTEs in English).

There is plenty of good literature on the subject, what they are, how to identify them and most important how to reduce them to an acceptable level.

To keep it simple they are:

- Over production

- Waiting

- Conveyance

- Over processing

- Inventory

- Reject, repair, rework

- Transportation

As soon as you are trying to produce something, good or service, you have to deal with them. They do not create value to your customers but a burden for your company.

There are techniques to learn how to identify them and they all start with the 3 basic rules each and every one should know and apply when dealing with whatsoever kind of problem:

1. Use your feet
2. Use your eyes
3. Use your brain

In that precise sequence, meaning get where the problem has happened, see the problem with your own eyes and then (and only then) start using your brain to run the analysis and build your understanding of the problem (i.e. not by reading reports sent by email).

Isn't that nice to realize that all problems (which are very often one if not more of the famous 7 above) can be observed, touched, understood and fixed?

Yes it is and it is a real relief.

But now there is another MUDA which is far more serious and hard to detect and fix, the 8th one, and that is the wrong utilization of human resources.

This one is really terrible and we all experienced it personally in our career.

Who never felt under-utilized, not heard, under powered or frustrated not to be able to run a breakthrough project or change?

Until the time will come when robots will replace humans in everything they produce (goods and services) this situation will exist and solving or mitigating it will mostly be in the hands of managers.

The more I gained experience, the more I became skilled at managing the 7 wastes and found out how difficult it is to reduce the 8th.

What are the root causes of the human waste? I am sure you have tons of examples in mind, please add them in the comments section.

Based on my experience I observed mostly

• Wrong organization or process
  • People cannot change easily of position in the organization to cope with change of priorities or level the workload.
  • Too strict segregation of duties.
  • The waste is built in the process itself like useless documents to be uploaded repeatedly instead of batch
  Take a look at that https://video.ted.com/talk/podcast/2015S/None/YvesMorieux_2015S-480p.mp4
• Wrong management like
  • I got enough on my plate as a manager and I do not want to take more (everyone has to know how busy we are)
  • My team has capacity but I do not want others to know about it (We are working on super confidential subject….)
  • It is too complicated to bring new comers up to speed (I am the boss have no time for coaching and this is not a school)
  • I do not want to let anyone of my team go because it will make me look weaker as a manager (I am the little king of the hill)

It may sound funny but I can tell you it is hurting people first and the company second.

In the end the good people, frustrated by the situation will leave the company, and the bad ones will stay making the whole performance of the company getting worse.

I do not pretend to bring magic solutions in that post like there are plenty already (7 things top leaders are doing, 5 golden rules of successful people, 10 ways of doing pancakes - maybe not that one…) but to give a couple of principles.

1. If the organization or process is wrong, give power to the team to change it themselves don’t hire expensive consultants. Consultants will just interview your people and come with exactly the same solution.
2. If one person is so good but does not fit in the organization, bend your organization for him or her.
3. Fight for your people, you will be successful only if your team members are successful too. Empower and coach them if required.

These are my principles and I had often very hard times to get them applied and understood both by the management and those managed.

That is my own burden of 8th MUDA.