I am often asked, what type of errors do I look for, to enable me to work on brainstorm activities and problem solving solutions?
Businesses large and small all experience the same error types, regardless of what service it is offering, or what products are being manufactured.
Human error can often be overlooked, and focus turned rather to the fault of a product, delays to shipment or damaged goods.
What is there in an office environment that can be considered an error?
Here is my Top 10 list of Human errors which can be visible everywhere, and highlighted particularly when auditing a process:
Forgetfulness
Errors due to misunderstanding
Errors in identification (e.g. entering 500.00 USD instead of 5.00 USD)
Errors made by the untrained eye
Willful errors (tapping through a system warning pop up without reading it, or making the correct checks the warning is asking for)
Inadvertent errors (does not notice something)
Errors due to slowness
Errors due to lack of standards
Surprise errors (computer stops working)
Intentional errors
If you see these errors occurring, or you go looking for them, you can then apply one of many Lean problem solving techniques to focus on the reason, and what measures can be introduced to avoid prevention in the future.
So why not take a look at your last year of historic Error data and look for these commonalities?
