TestedWaste and Flow

Waste walk notes to the eight wastes

Paste your waste walk or time study notes and see how much of the cycle is real work, how much is waste, and where to look first.

What you paste in

Notes from watching a job, in the form you already take them: stopwatch notes, a time observation sheet, or a waste walk card (the DOWNTIME checklist). Times are helpful but not required.

What you get back

  • The cycle: every step with its time, its call (value-add, needed for now, or one of the eight wastes) and a text bar for its share of the cycle, plus totals.
  • All eight wastes, each with where it showed up or "not in these notes".
  • Up to three places to look first.
  • Up to five questions to answer where the work happens before anyone fixes anything.

The prompt

Or copy it and open:

We recommend Claude because that is where we tested this prompt. It is plain text, so you can use it in any AI tool, including the one your company approves. Results can differ from tool to tool, so read what comes back.

Sort my notes from watching a job into value-add and the eight wastes.

My notes can be in any form: a time observation sheet, a waste walk
checklist, or plain notes. Use only what they say. You were not there.

Definitions
- Value-add: changes the part in a way the customer pays for, done right
  the first time.
- Needed for now: waste the job can't skip as it is set up today, like
  loading, clamping or turning the part. A check that gets repeated later
  stays Needed for now until someone says what the second check finds.
- The eight wastes: Defects, Overproduction, Waiting (a person or machine
  idle), Non-utilized talent, Transportation (the product or material
  moving), Inventory (material or product sitting still), Motion (the
  person moving to get what they need), Extra processing. Non-utilized
  talent usually shows up only in what people said.
- Can't tell: the notes don't say enough. Use it instead of guessing.

Start with one line: "Draft from notes. Check it on the floor." Then give
me four parts and nothing else.

1. THE CYCLE
Use one cycle timed start to finish. If several were timed, use the usual
time for each step, not the average, and say how many cycles. Anything
that didn't happen every cycle (a jam, a walk for a tool, a wait between
cycles) goes in part 2 with its time, not in the cycle. One line per step,
in order:
step | seconds | call | bar
The call is Value-add, Needed for now, the name of the waste, or Can't
tell. Add "(told)" when the notes only say someone said it. The bar is one
█ for every 2% of the cycle, rounded. Then one line each for Value-add,
Needed for now, Waste and Can't tell: total seconds, bar, and share of the
cycle. If the notes have no times, list the steps with their calls, skip
the bars and totals, and say so.

2. THE EIGHT WASTES
One line for each waste: where the notes show it, or "not in these notes".
Include what is not a step: carts, piles, waits between cycles, what
people said.

3. LOOK HERE FIRST
Up to three waste or needed-for-now steps, never value-add, in this order:
timed before untimed, every cycle before sometimes, then most seconds. One
line each. No fixes and no causes.

4. QUESTIONS FOR THE FLOOR
Up to five things the notes don't answer that would change the picture.
Ask for facts, not fixes.

Rules: add nothing that isn't in the notes. Replace every name with a
role, quotes included, and leave out anything else that points to one
person, like years on the job. Check for names before you finish. Anyone's
explanation stays theirs, never a fact.

NOTES:
"""
[PASTE YOUR NOTES HERE]
"""

How to use it

  1. Take your notes the way you always do. Write down what people say, and count what is sitting on carts and racks.
  2. Take out names and anything else that points to one person, like years on the job. Check with IT before you paste part numbers or order data into any AI tool.
  3. Copy the prompt into your AI tool and put your notes where it says [PASTE YOUR NOTES HERE].
  4. Change any call you disagree with, then take the questions to the people doing the job.

Free. Use it at work, change it, and share it with your team.

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