So many great productivity hacks come from the world of Japanese manufacturing.
The 3 Ms are kinds of waste you should identify and eliminate to keep your work running smoothly.
What are the 3 Ms?
The 5S technique is en elemental part of lean thinking, as are the 3 Ms. By identifying and eliminating them, you’re free to streamline everything it’s crucial that you do.
Murais any kind of unevenness in your operation.
Anything that isnt uniform, regular, or scheduled is mura.
Too much mura will result in muda.
Muriis any overburden on a tool or person.
It can result from mura, as in the example above, but can also spring from overutilization.
For your purposes, think of it referring to you.
When youre overwhelmed and overworked or lack resources, youre not as productive.
To eliminate muda, identify which unnecessary steps youre taking in your work.
Familiarize yourself with kaizen here, asits a process designed to get you to work efficiently.
To eliminate mura, start tracking the process of your work and identify whats holding you up.
Is it waiting on client emails?
Is it waiting for a coworker to finish their section of a project?
Is it spending too much time in meetings and not enough time actually working?
Is it a bad scheduling technique on your end?
It might take a few weeks of really diligenttime tracking, but eventually, the pattern will emerge.
Finally, to eliminate muri, assess your own burden at work.
Try using theABCDE methodto give a ranking to all of your responsibilities.
Delegate tasks to someone else if youre overburdenedand dont do unnecessary ones at all.
Remember totake regular breaksto stay productive, utilizing a method like the time-testedPomodoro technique.
