One example that I commonly use is that of flagged emails in the inbox waiting to be worked upon. If you have many of these, the turnaround time of email processing can be very large. (This means any new email coming in may take weeks to be processed as you have a large queue). Instead if you respond to emails at the moment you see them, you reduce rework (it takes time and energy to refocus) and you reduce turn-around-time.

Another everyday example relates to inventory and flow. - Let us assume your subordinate has 550 tasks to be worked upon, and he gets 10-12 new ones everyday. On one specific day, if he does not work due to a lazy feeling and you question him, his obvious response would be - "Even if I worked on the pending tasks today, there would not be a big change. My everyday work makes a minor difference"

This is exactly what happens when we sit in a "sea of inventory". 550 pending tasks are nothing but inventory. Inventory hides inefficiency in a company.

Compare the above with a situation where your subordinate is given exactly 12 tasks everyday with a visible dashboard. Is it possible for him to get that feeling of "not making a difference"? If his tasks is linked with others tasks that need inputs from him everyday, he would feel involved, important and "making a difference" everyday.

Do you have other Lean examples to share? You can share them here by replying to this message.

Here is a counter-argument Have a look at the following article which says - "Batching makes me productive"

Click here to reach the batching article related to everyday life.

In this article, do you think Darren has made the correct reference to batching that we know as batch processing in lean principles? When we work on emails or posts one after the other - is it one piece flow or is it batch processing?

Any comments.