The catalog helps identify a starting point
The project questions do not promise a predetermined answer. They precisely define a shared challenge that requires knowledge distributed across different parts of the organization.
Organizational Challenges · 30 projects
30 Collective Decidement Projects for Operational Excellence
A collection of focused projects for improving workflow, process interfaces, quality, and capacity across the organization. Each project activates collective intelligence by bringing together practical knowledge distributed across operational roles and helps teams select concrete improvements that can be implemented and measured.
01
Workflow and Constraints
01Where does work wait the longest in our processes?
Project task: Contribute ideas identifying where queues or unfinished work accumulate and the causes of waiting observed across different parts of the process.
Discuss this project →02Which recurring process steps slow the entire workflow disproportionately?
Project task: Contribute ideas on frequently performed steps whose duration, sequence, or dependencies have the greatest effect on overall flow.
Discuss this project →03Where does urgent work most often disrupt the planned workflow?
Project task: Contribute ideas on situations where unplanned tasks displace agreed work, including the sources and consequences of these interruptions.
Discuss this project →04Which dependencies make process lead times most difficult to predict?
Project task: Contribute ideas on dependencies involving people, systems, suppliers, or other processes that make completion times unpredictable.
Discuss this project →05Where can we simplify workflow without compromising quality?
Project task: Contribute ideas on steps, sequences, or conditions that could be changed to accelerate flow while preserving essential quality requirements.
Discuss this project →02
Handoffs and Operational Interfaces
06Which handoffs most often lose essential information or context?
Project task: Contribute ideas identifying handoff points where the next part of the process does not receive the knowledge needed to decide or act.
Discuss this project →07Which handoffs between teams create the greatest delays?
Project task: Contribute ideas on specific handoffs, the causes of waiting, and the conditions that different teams see as contributing to delay.
Discuss this project →08Where does ownership become unclear after work is handed off?
Project task: Contribute ideas on situations where responsibility between process stages remains undefined, overlaps, or is inadvertently left unowned.
Discuss this project →09Which process inputs most often arrive incomplete or unusable?
Project task: Contribute ideas on documents, data, requests, or other inputs that routinely require clarification, correction, or reconstruction.
Discuss this project →10How can we make handoffs more reliable and reduce repeated follow-up?
Project task: Contribute ideas on clearer acceptance criteria, information, and feedback practices that would help the next stage take over the work correctly the first time.
Discuss this project →03
Errors, Rework, and Quality
11Which errors and forms of rework recur most often in our processes?
Project task: Contribute ideas identifying recurring errors, corrections, and additional work cycles observed at different stages of the process.
Discuss this project →12Which systemic causes of error remain invisible in operational reports?
Project task: Contribute ideas on working conditions, rules, information gaps, or system characteristics that create errors but do not appear in standard metrics.
Discuss this project →13Where are quality problems discovered too late?
Project task: Contribute ideas identifying where a defect becomes visible only after substantial work has been completed or after it reaches another stage.
Discuss this project →14Which quality requirements are interpreted differently across the process?
Project task: Contribute ideas on standards or expectations that teams, functions, or partners interpret differently, including the practical consequences.
Discuss this project →15Which preventive changes would reduce errors and rework the most?
Project task: Contribute ideas on earlier controls, clearer criteria, or process changes that would prevent the most common errors from recurring.
Discuss this project →04
Non-Value-Adding Work and Simplification
16Which approvals and checks no longer create proportionate value?
Project task: Contribute ideas on control steps whose cost and delay exceed the practical benefit or risk reduction they provide.
Discuss this project →17Where is the same information entered, checked, or reported more than once?
Project task: Contribute ideas identifying duplicate data entry, verification, and reporting work across systems or teams.
Discuss this project →18Which reports and status summaries are produced but rarely used to guide action?
Project task: Contribute ideas on information produced routinely, the effort required to prepare it, and whether it actually informs operational decisions or subsequent action.
Discuss this project →19Where do people use manual work to compensate for system or tool limitations?
Project task: Contribute ideas on hidden manual steps, intermediary files, and workarounds required to keep work moving despite current system limitations.
Discuss this project →20Which process rules create workarounds rather than value?
Project task: Contribute ideas on rules or procedures that people cannot follow without obstructing the work, leading them to create unofficial alternatives.
Discuss this project →05
Capacity, Workload, and Resource Use
21Where does the mismatch between demand and capacity cause the greatest operational problems?
Project task: Contribute ideas on periods, services, or process stages where workload and available capacity diverge most sharply.
Discuss this project →22Which fluctuations in workload are hardest for the organization to absorb?
Project task: Contribute ideas on predictable and unexpected surges, their effects across the process, and the limits of current responses.
Discuss this project →23Where does scarce expertise become a constraint on the entire process?
Project task: Contribute ideas on tasks and decisions that depend on knowledge held by only a few specialists, creating delays or continuity risks.
Discuss this project →24Where is high-skill capacity being used for work that does not require it?
Project task: Contribute ideas on tasks that consume disproportionately specialized or scarce resources and ways to redesign the work so that capacity is available for more complex cases.
Discuss this project →25Which early signals should warn us of an approaching capacity shortfall?
Project task: Contribute ideas on signals visible in day-to-day operations that would allow action before queues, overload, or service disruption occurs.
Discuss this project →06
Continuous Improvement and Sustaining Change
26Which employee-generated improvement ideas repeatedly stall?
Project task: Contribute ideas on valuable suggestions that fail to reach a decision or implementation, including the specific obstacles in their path.
Discuss this project →27Which effective local practices deserve broader adoption?
Project task: Contribute ideas on solutions already working in particular teams or units and the conditions under which they could be adapted elsewhere.
Discuss this project →28What should we monitor to know whether a process change is genuinely improving the work?
Project task: Contribute ideas on quantitative and qualitative signals that would show the change's effect on speed, quality, workload, and connected process stages.
Discuss this project →29What unintended consequences could a proposed process change create?
Project task: Contribute ideas on possible side effects for other tasks, teams, systems, or quality requirements before a decision is made.
Discuss this project →30Which small operational changes should we prioritize next?
Project task: Contribute ideas on clearly implementable improvements, including their value, required effort, and effect on the end-to-end process.
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How many people take part?
The practical minimum for one problem area is eight participants with relevant knowledge. The method is most reliable with 15–20 or more people whose experience and expertise complement one another.
Which question should be addressed first?
In a short conversation, we can assess the situation, identify the right participant group, and determine how the project fits into a broader decision-making sequence.