A Hidden Enemy of Efficiency: Fake Bottlenecks

In the pursuit of efficiency and productivity, businesses often focus on eliminating bottlenecks or opening up process step(s) that cannot keep up with the pace of the rest. However, not all bottlenecks are created equal. Some may be caused by nonessential work entering the process, creating the illusion of a bottleneck. These "fake bottlenecks" can lead to wasted resources, delayed processing times and decreased productivity. They can also trick your Lean team into focusing on the wrong part of the process.

Be aware of Lean teams spending time fixing fake bottlenecks

The root cause of fake bottlenecks is often a lack of critical thinking about the work coming into the process. Teams may prioritize work based on urgency or requester importance, rather than business criticality and customer value. This can result in non-value-added work (e.g., unnecessary reports, redundant tasks) and non-critical work (e.g., low-priority tasks, nice-to-haves) entering the process and creating congestion.

Consider the example of a Learning and Development team receiving "nice-to-have" course requests that don't align with business objectives. These requests may be prioritized based on the requester's importance or urgency, rather than the actual business value of the course. As a result, the team may spend valuable resources developing and delivering courses the customer would not be willing to pay for if they were to see this.

Similarly, a Customer Experience team may be asked to explore dozens of individual projects to see if they may or may not affect Net Promoter Score (NPS) instead of being firm about what project efforts will in fact improve NPS. These requests may be driven by a desire to "fix" NPS, but they may be exploratory in nature. By accepting these requests, the team may create a bottleneck that diverts resources away from supporting critical work.

To identify and address fake bottlenecks, teams must work backwards to analyze the intake process. This involves reviewing the process's purpose and goals, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics used to measure success, and mapping the process to identify potential entry points for nonessential work. By analyzing the types of work being processed and prioritizing critical tasks, teams can filter out nonessential work and prevent fake bottlenecks from forming.

So, how can teams address fake bottlenecks? Here are some practical tips:

1. Establish clear criteria for critical work: Define what work is considered essential and critical, and ensure that all team members understand these criteria.
2. Manage expectations with requesters: Educate requesters on the criteria for critical work requests, and ensure they understand that not all requests will be accepted.
3. Implement a gatekeeper function: Establish a clear point of entry for work requests, and ensure that all requests are reviewed and prioritized based on business criticality and customer value.
4. Continuously monitor and evaluate: Regularly review the process to prevent nonessential work from re-entering, and make adjustments as needed.

To measure the success of these efforts, teams can use metrics such as:

• Customer value: Would the customer pay for this work if they saw us doing it?
• Business criticality: Does the work align with business objectives and goals?
• Process efficiency: Has the process been streamlined and optimized to eliminate waste?
• Customer Intermediation: Are we enabling workarounds, delays, or making ourselves the middleperson for customers?

By recognizing and addressing fake bottlenecks, teams can free up resources, reduce waste, and increase productivity. It requires a critical thinking approach to work requests, a customer-centric mindset and a willingness to challenge the status quo.