What are the most common Lean wastes in a Business Analysis workflow and how to fix them?

All answers to this question.

In a BA context, "Gemba" is where the work is actually done—which is often the user's screen or the developer's workstation. To identify waste, look for "Defects" in requirements that cause dev rework, or "Waiting" where developers are idle because the user stories aren't refined. A digital 5S could involve cleaning up your Jira backlog; delete or archive anything that hasn't been touched in six months to reduce "Inventory" waste. Most importantly, implement "Pull" systems for requirements. Don't write a spec until the development team has the capacity to start working on it in the next two sprints.

   Answered 2024-11-21 by Patricia Garcia

Do you think that involving developers earlier in the "Discovery" phase would help reduce the "Correction" waste that happens when a requirement is technically unfeasible?

   Answered 2024-11-23 by George Harris

• Absolutely, George. We started doing "Three Amigos" sessions—BA, Dev, and QA—before a single line of a requirement is finalized. It’s a Lean way to catch "Defects" early. By getting the dev's input on the complexity immediately, we avoid writing detailed specs for something that would take six months to build. It’s cut our requirement-to-dev handoff time by nearly 40% because there is much less back-and-forth once the sprint actually begins.

     Commented 2024-11-24 by Jeffrey Scott

We started using "Minimum Viable Documentation." We only document what is absolutely necessary for compliance and maintenance, ignoring the "nice to have" fluff that no one reads.

   Answered 2024-11-25 by Barbara Lewis

• I agree with Barbara. The "Over-production" of documentation is the silent killer of BA productivity. Keep it lean, keep it visual, and focus on the value-add for the developers.

     Commented 2024-11-26 by Amanda Roberts