  1-page handout – 91KB |
If you manage or work in a process that frustrates staff and falls short of customer expectations, here’s great news: Tim can help, he can start now, and he works for free.
Who is this generous Tim?
Well, he’s an acronym, designed to make a key concept more memorable. His full name is TIMUWOOD (typically referred to as Tim U. Wood). Each letter stands for a different form of process waste – a point where the process is overly complicated or too slow or redundant or error-prone.
Click on the thumbnail for a TIMUWOOD one-pager. This isn’t the only summary on the web, but it’s the best. It conveys plenty of information in concise plain English, and it’s tailored for service-oriented workplaces. If you work for any kind of service organization – a professional service firm, a government agency, an educational institutions, or anything like that – this TIMUWOOD summary will be very relevant.
The key is to put it to work, and here’s one surefire way:
Gather with colleagues who all work in the same process. Share the TIMUWOOD handout, provide a quick overview, and allow a few minutes for review. Then prompt the group to think about their process in terms of all eight TIMUWOOD factors. Ask: Which of the descriptions on the handout seem to match what we’re seeing and what our customers are experiencing?
A couple good questions will open the conversation. As people share their views, list the discoveries on a white board or flipchart. See where the group gravitates. Look for an emerging consensus around the two or three occurrences of waste that people seem to cite most.
Now, this exercise isn’t the end all, it’s a starting point. It gets everyone thinking more deeply about their process – in a way that sets the stage for improvement.
Here are additional questions to build momentum toward next steps:
• What are some “just do it” improvements we can make right away?
• With those one or two occurrences of waste that really stand out: What’s the root cause? Some snap analysis will deepen the group’s thinking.
• Is there information or data that can help us get smarter about the situation? Who can do some research and get back to the group?
• How about a process walk? Some groups get so curious from their TIMUWOOD conversation that they schedule a start-to-finish walk-through of their process – literally going from station to station so everyone can get a better understanding of what goes on. This isn’t always feasible because some processes reach beyond a given location, but when it’s doable, a process walk with a cross-functional team will yield all sorts of useful findings.
• How can we hear from the people we serve? Processes exist in order to deliver something of value to customers, so customer input is the ultimate reality check. A few questions posed to select customers will uncover important insights.
Can all this improvement really start with a single page? We’ll let Tim answer that.
Download the 1-page TIMUWOOD handout (PDF 91KB)
Contact us
Use the online form
or call 614-571-9529
