Combine small activities into composite activities
A technique for combining smaller tasks into larger ones to reduce setup times and improve the quality of work.
Reijers, H., & Liman Mansar, S. (2005). Best practices in business process redesign: an overview and qualitative evaluation of successful redesign heuristics. Omega, 33(4)
Task Combination is a process optimization technique that involves combining smaller tasks into larger ones. This technique reduces setup times, which are the time that resources need to become familiar with the specifics of a case, and can improve the quality of work. However, it is important to strike a balance between the size of the tasks and their workability. Tasks that are too large can result in smaller run-time flexibility and lower quality. Smaller tasks, on the other hand, can result in longer setup times.
By finding the optimal balance, organizations can achieve the best of both worlds: shorter setup times, higher quality, and greater flexibility.
Foundational free Patterns
Let workers perform as many steps as possible for single cases
Collect similar work items and work in batches
Let products appear greener
Consider whether it is eco-friendly to let humans work over machines
Let customers interact with your organization whenever they want to.
Offer customers the possibility to choose among privacy settings
Assign tasks based on resources' roles in the organisation
Workload-based task assignment
Allocate tasks based on individuals' incomplete workload
Allocate task based on past feedback or quality metrics
Consider the division of a general activity into two or more alternative activities
Collect similar work items and work in batches