Follow a request all the way through
A practical way to see where a service creates extra work.
RedQuadrant practice note
Choose a request which matters to somebody using the service. Follow it from the point where the need arose to the point where the person received a useful response. Keep the person’s purpose in view. Closing a case on a system may be only one event in their attempt to get something done.
Ask the staff involved to reconstruct the work from the records they actually use. Include handovers, waiting, repeated contacts, checks, rework, and effort by the person outside the organisation. A diagram is useful if it allows people to point to a specific difficulty and explain how it arose.
Several explanations may fit the same event. A repeated telephone call could arise from unclear information, a delayed decision, an inaccessible form, or a change in the person’s circumstances. Collect enough evidence to distinguish them before choosing a response. Labelling all repeat contact as failure demand conceals work which may be necessary.
Bring the people responsible for the different stages together around this account. Ask which changes are within their authority, which rules constrain them, and which decisions need a different owner. Start with a change small enough to observe: a clearer message, a different handover, or a decision taken closer to the work.
Review the effect on the person’s experience, staff effort, and the eventual outcome. A faster transaction which creates another contact elsewhere has moved the work. Keep following the request until you can see whether the whole service has improved.