Most organisations generate a significant amount of activity. What is less clear is how much of that activity is genuinely required to deliver the outcome.

Processes rarely become inefficient overnight. They evolve gradually, shaped by decisions that made sense at the time. A control introduced after a near miss. A report created to provide reassurance. A handoff built around a constraint that has since disappeared.

Individually, each step has a rationale. Collectively, they create systems that demand more time, effort and coordination than the work itself should require. Because every element has a backstory, it becomes difficult to challenge, and over time it simply becomes accepted as the way things are done.

This is where waste becomes embedded. Not as something obvious or easily removed, but as part of the operating rhythm. Teams stay busy, yet progress slows. More effort is applied, yet outcomes do not improve at the same rate.

The critical shift is in the question being asked. Rather than accepting the current state, it becomes a matter of stepping back and assessing whether the process reflects what is actually needed today, or whether it is the product of accumulated decisions that have never been revisited.

Why Waste Is So Hard To See

TIMWOODS is a Lean framework for categorising waste, commonly used within Lean Six Sigma to identify non-value-adding activity across Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Over-processing, Defects, and Skills.

Its value lies in the perspective it creates. It provides a structured way to step back from familiar processes and assess whether each element is contributing to what the customer actually values.

Each category offers a different lens on where time, effort and resource are absorbed, creating a clear starting point for examining how waste shows up in practice.

The 8 Wastes at a Glance

Some are easy to spot once you know what to look for. Others are well-disguised as good practice. Here’s a brief introduction to each:

Transportation

The unnecessary movement of materials, data, or documents between people, teams or locations. The challenge here isn’t whether things are getting where they need to go. It’s whether the journey itself adds anything, or whether it exists because of how the organisation is structured rather than because of what the customer needs.

Inventory

This refers to holding more than is currently needed, stock, data, work-in-progress, or capacity held in reserve. Inventory often feels like prudence. In practice, it tends to mask the instability that made the buffer feel necessary and ties up resources that could be used elsewhere.

Motion

This is unnecessary physical or digital movement by people: navigating between systems, searching for information, switching between tools to complete a single task. Unlike transportation, which moves things, motion is about how far people travel, literally or digitally,  to do their work.

Waiting

Time lost while a process pauses, waiting for approval, information, a system response, or the next person in the chain. Waiting is one of the most visible wastes and one of the most readily accepted. When something has always taken a certain amount of time, the wait becomes part of the expectation rather than something worth challenging.

Overproduction

Producing more than is needed, earlier than it is needed, or more frequently than is required. In manufacturing, this is physical output. In service environments, it shows up in reports that no one acts on, communication that covers everyone just in case, and output generated ahead of demand.

Over-processing

Applying more effort, precision, or process than the customer actually requires. This is one of the harder wastes to address because it often stems from a genuine commitment to quality. Extra sign-off stages, detailed formatting, additional review layers, each feels responsible in isolation. Together, they can consume significant time without adding measurable value.

Defects

Errors, rework, and corrections. The direct cost is visible. The indirect cost is less so: every defect is also a waiting event, a motion event, and often a trust event. A process that produces defects reliably is a process whose design deserves scrutiny, not just whose outputs need checking.

Skills (Underutilised Talent)

The eighth waste, and the one least likely to appear on a process map. People working well below their capability, or whose experience and judgement are never drawn on, represent a significant cost, not just in performance terms, but in engagement and retention. It’s also the waste most directly within leadership’s control to address.

What Changes When You Apply The Framework

TIMWOODS doesn’t tell you what to fix. It helps you look at what you’re doing with fresh eyes and ask better questions.

What we consistently see when working with clients is that waste is rarely invisible, but often accepted as the “norm” or simply not explored from a different perspective.

For example, in a simple document process, teams may already recognise that reports take too long to put together. The framework creates the space to explore that more deliberately, and the conversations that follow can often unlock more value. 

A Useful Question To Sit With

TIMWOODS becomes useful when it shapes how processes are looked at day to day. It introduces a simple but effective prompt: is this activity contributing to what the customer values, and would it exist in the same way if it were designed today?

That question tends to surface insight quickly. The real value comes from the discussion that follows, understanding what the process was originally solving, how that context has shifted, and what a more effective approach could look like now.

If this feels relevant, a practical next step is to explore the eight wastes in more detail or apply this thinking in a simple Gemba Walk or waste walk. It can also sit alongside other Lean tools, or be used on its own as a focused way of reviewing how work is structured.

For a more applied view, the Inefficiency Files series offers a simple, characterised take on how these patterns show up in practice. A lighter way to bring the categories to life, making it easier to recognise where similar opportunities may exist within your own processes.

Back to top