Handoffs
Ask what information changes hands, whether context is lost and whether responsibility is clear.Queues
Look for work that waits before the next activity. The bottleneck may be capacity, policy, approval authority or missing information.Rework
Identify why work returns. Common causes include incomplete intake, late quality checks, unclear standards or conflicting approvals.Variants
Determine whether different paths are legitimate customer/process variants or uncontrolled inconsistency.Manual effort
Look for repetitive transfer, searching, checking and drafting that may be simplified or automated.System switching
Multiple systems may indicate integration opportunity, but confirm whether the switching actually creates material cost or risk.The consultant question
For every visible pattern, ask:So what does this mean for the business, and why has this condition survived?The answer may be technical, operational or organisational.