The Primes: How any Group can Solve any Problem

MUDA

Can you distinguish “non-value-added activity”? How much of your group's resources is it consuming?

MUDA is Japanese for “non-value added activity.” MUDA happens when you are not paying attention. It builds up slowly, silently, and continuously until it chokes the system and contributes to a cloying sense of powerlessness. Meetings are a huge source of MUDA. In 2005 the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unnecessary meetings cost US businesses approximately $37 billion each year.

Any time you are doing something, you are either adding value to your business, adding value to your customers, adding value to both, or wasting resources. The MUDA PRIME enables you to distinguish where you spend your time into 7 unique categories:

1. This is where you are actually spending time doing things that address BOTH customers and business needs.

2. This is where you are spending time taking care of strictly business needs.

3. This is where you are spending time taking care of strictly customer needs.

4. This area represents needs common to BOTH customers and the business that you are not addressing.

5. This area represents business needs that you are not addressing.

6. This area represents customer needs that you are not addressing.

7. This area represents activities that you ...