ABSTRACT
Starting with standards is harder than it sounds. A big challenge with creating a culture of Lean problem solving in offices is that offices have far fewer standards compared to factory work. Even the most batch and queue, resource-efficient, conventionally managed factories have engineering specs that function as standards of what constitutes “acceptable” work. The big difference between the way standards work in Lean companies and traditionally managed companies is the fact that standards are, in Lean companies, created bottom up and horizontally. Management can check how closely the work is to “good”, but it should not create nor impose standards on anyone unless they pertain to human safety or regulatory/legal requirements. Typical quantitative standards that help in offices are things like estimated vs. actual amount of work completed per time period, work in process limits, estimated vs. actual completion times, backlog volumes, prioritization criteria and daily work schedules.
