Variety Kills Flow

22 May, 2025

When teams are stretched, the conversation is usually about output or resources: work faster, add headcount. But capacity has a third variable: time. And variety creates hidden time costs that quietly erode it.

Processing ten different formats for the same request type consumes time - context switching, different monitoring points, aggregation overhead, setup costs for each type. In knowledge work, this is easy to miss. We see ‘fifty tasks’ not ‘fifty tasks across fifteen different processing patterns.’ But that variety consumes time.

Before reaching for more capacity, it’s worth asking: what variety is the team handling, and what time is it consuming?

Where Variety Hides

A finance team receives expense reports in ten different formats: PDFs, spreadsheets, emails, photos of receipts. Each format demands different processing - different validation rules, different error handling, different approval paths. Processing slows not because the team lacks skill, but because the system is absorbing more variety than it can handle efficiently.

The time costs aren’t obvious. Different inputs mean different monitoring points (where do I check for new requests?), different information digestion (how do I extract what I need?), different aggregation logic (how do I combine these?), different prioritisation rules (which matters more?). In manufacturing, handling three different raw materials makes these costs visible. In knowledge work, they’re hidden in what looks like ‘just doing the work.’

Three Things Worth Managing

Cut variety at the entry point. Most variety isn’t valuable - it’s just different ways of asking for the same thing. Give people one way to submit a request type, not ten. Don’t start work until you have everything you need upfront. Handle genuine edge cases separately rather than forcing your main process to flex for everything. Limit how much work is in flight at once.

Handle unavoidable variety better. Some variation you can’t eliminate, but you can process it more efficiently. Automate the repetitive validation steps. Write down what decisions people can make themselves without asking you. Use the same process structure even when the content changes - same steps, different inputs. Don’t let variations pile up at bottleneck resources.

Keep information clean. Variety degrades information quality - requests arrive incomplete, handoffs lose context, priorities stay ambiguous. Use a one-page handoff format that’s the same every time. Check that key fields match across systems before work starts. Set clear triggers for when something needs escalation - specific risk levels, specific age thresholds, specific buffer levels. Information only matters if it changes what you do.

Worth Checking

Look at where work enters your team. Count how many different formats or paths exist for the same type of request. If it’s more than three, variety might be consuming more time than you realise.

Pick one request type. Define what must be present before work starts. Standardise the entry format. Limit work-in-progress to one less than your current average. Track how long processing takes before and after.

Most teams find they have more capacity than they thought - not because people work harder, but because the system stops fighting them. Variety isn’t the only answer, but it’s worth checking before you add headcount.

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