Use value-stream mapping to distinguish work time from wait time.
A contract takes 21 days from request to signature. The legal team spends only 90 minutes actually reviewing it, but everyone calls Legal the delay. The process is mostly waiting, not working. Value-stream mapping separates value-adding activity from waiting, queues, rework, and handoffs. For office processes, the most useful first pass is often a timeline: elapsed time above the line, active work time below. That visual makes invisible delay discussable. The trap is optimizing the most visible worker instead of the longest wait. List major steps Intake, business review, legal review, signature, filing. A value stream starts with the end-to-end…
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