Rework
Work done twice costs twice, plus the waiting around it. Rework hides behind words like chase, correct and resubmit.
About 4 minutes to read.
Key idea
Rework is any work done again because it was not right the first time: a form sent back for a missing signature, an order picked twice, a call returned because the first answer did not solve the problem. Each loop costs the effort of doing it again, and it also costs the waiting that comes with every handover back and forth.
Rework is sneaky because it rarely shows up as a line in a report. It hides in the language of the workplace. Listen for chase, clarify, correct, resubmit, follow up and just checking. Where those words are common, loops are common too, and the share of items that go through first time, the first-pass yield, is lower than anyone thinks.
Example: a mortgage application
Sent back three times
A couple apply for a mortgage online. The underwriter opens the file a week later and finds a missing payslip. The request goes out, the payslip comes back four days later, and the file rejoins the queue at the back. Next time it is a bank statement with a page missing.
Each loop adds days of waiting for a few minutes of real work. The fix is rarely to underwrite faster. It is to ask for everything clearly at the start, with a checklist and an upload that refuses incomplete files, so the application is right first time.
Warning signs
- The same item appears several times in a log, at the same step.
- A team spends part of every day answering “where is it?” calls.
- Checks are added after mistakes, and the mistakes keep coming.