Gluu Glossary

Standard work

Standard work is the documented, current best way of performing a task, used so the task produces the same outcome no matter who does it.

It’s a core Lean concept, most associated with manufacturing but applied anywhere consistency matters: the same three steps done in the same order, at the same pace, with the same quality check at the end. Because the method is written down rather than left to memory, it becomes something a team can actually improve – you can only optimize a step you’ve agreed is “the” step.

The common failure mode is treating it as fixed once written. Standard work is meant to be the best method known today – it gets rewritten as soon as someone finds a better way, and the new version becomes the new standard.