Lean goes too far with steps for making coffee, Sask. NDP says

The Saskatchewan NDP says the government is wasting time and disrespecting staff by posting a step-by-step guide for making coffee. 

The NDP said the document is lean-approved, and that the government's adherence to the John Black and Associates program has gone too far. 

“This is just plain silly,” NDP Leader Cam Broten was quoted as saying in a media release today. “Why should this $40 million American Lean consultant have anything to do with standardizing processes and instructing staff on how to make a pot of coffee?"

He told CBC News that workers know how to make coffee.

"Just as a nurse knows how to assess a patient's condition and to treat them properly," he said. "And it speaks to this underlying belief through the John Black version of lean that everything can be and should be standardized."

The document was posted in the Health Quality Council office and branded with the logos of John Black and Associates, and the provinces’s Putting Patients First health care logo.

Gary Teale, the Health Quality Council's executive director, said they follow the approach used by the government's Lean cost-savings consultant.

"I might make coffee once a year," he said. "So I know how to run my coffee maker at home. But I might forget how to, you know what the process is here, where I find the coffee."

According to the NDP, these are the steps to making coffee that were posted: 

1. Place a carafe below the filter basket (please ensure the carafe is empty before using it.)
2. Remove the filter basket from the machine.
3. Place a filter in the basket (filters and coffee packets are found in the top drawer nearest the machine, labelled “coffee supplies”)
4. Open one of the coffee packets and empty into the filter.
5. Return the filter basket to its slot on the machine.
6. Check to see if the green “Ready” light is lit, if not, the water is still heating and you will be able to hear it. Once the green light goes on, press the start button, which is located beside the green light. (Note: the machine is directly connected to a water source; therefore, you do not need to add any water to the coffee maker.)
7. Once all the water has passed through the filter, move the full carafe into the holder and pour yourself a fresh, delicious cup of coffee.
8. Empty the used filter and coffee grinds into the garbage can, and prepare a new filter/coffee for the next carafe.