Write standard work · printable packet

Standard work gives the order, the method and a standard that can be checked by looking or measuring; its main effect is to shrink the spread of results.

Paper packet. Every task here also exists on screen, where it is checked automatically; answers written on paper are not assessed by Nydus. When you are back at a device, enter your answers there.

1. What you will learn

You will rewrite vague instructions into standard work with an order, a method and a checkable standard, put a task's steps in an order no later step undoes, and measure how much standard work narrows the spread of results.

2. What you already have

You can map a process as its steps. Each step can still be done a dozen different ways, and a customer gets whichever way the person on shift that day prefers. Standard work fixes that, step by step.

3. Words for this lesson

4. Describe the result, not the effort

'Clean the mirror properly.' Every cleaner reading that line does something different, and every one of them believes they did it properly. The line describes effort. It names no standard anyone could check.

Term	What it means
Standard work	The written, current best way to do one step.
Order	The sequence the step's actions are done in.
Method	The tool, amount and motion for each action.
Standard	What the finished result must look like, checked by looking or measuring.
Spread	The largest result less the smallest: of times, weights, anything counted.
Vague word	A word like 'properly' or 'as needed' that hides the standard.

Standard work for the same task: one spray; the blue cloth from the top edge down; then the dry cloth; the test is that the glass shows no streaks with the ceiling light on. It has an order (spray, wipe, dry), a method (top to bottom, which cloth) and a standard a supervisor, or the cleaner, can check in two seconds (no streaks under the light).

The same rewrite works everywhere. 'Give everyone a good portion' becomes 'one level scoop with the 6-ounce scoop'. 'Make sure the tires are pumped up' becomes 'to the pressure printed on the tire, checked with the shop gauge, written on the tag'. Words like properly, nicely, carefully and as needed are signals that the standard is still in someone's head.

Another way: table

Vague instructions, rewritten.

Vague	Standard work
Clean the mirror properly	Blue cloth top to bottom, then dry: no streaks under the light
A good portion of rice	One level 6-ounce scoop, pressed flat
Pump up the tires	To the pressure on the tire wall, checked with the gauge

Another way: steps

Watch the person who does the step best.
Write the order, one action to a line.
Give the method: tool, amount, motion.
Name the standard: what anyone can check by looking or measuring.
Remove every vague word.
Measure the spread of results before and after.

5. What standard work changes: the spread

Standard work rarely makes the fastest person faster. What it changes is the spread, the gap between the best and the worst result. Before Neighborhood Kitchen wrote its plating standard, a lunch plate took anywhere from 20 to 40 seconds depending on who made it: a spread of 20. After, 25 to 30: a spread of 5. The quickest plate got slightly slower. The lunch rush got far easier to plan, because every plate now takes about the same time and looks the same.

6. The method, step by step, and how to check it

Pick one step from the process map. Start with the one that most often goes wrong or varies most.

Watch it done well. Ask the person who does it best to do it slowly and talk through each action. Write down what they actually do, not what they say they do.

Write the order. One action to a line, in the sequence that no later action undoes: top to bottom for a clean, prepare before assemble for a plate.

Add the method. The tool, the amount and the motion: the blue cloth, one spray, top to bottom.

Name the standard. What the finished step looks like, in words a stranger could check: no streaks under the ceiling light; pressure as printed on the tire.

Check the writing. Hand it to someone who has never done the step and watch them follow it. Wherever they hesitate or ask a question, a line is missing. Then read every line for vague words and replace each one.

Measure the effect. Time or weigh the results for a week before and a week after. The spread should shrink.

7. Why each step is allowed

Writing from the best person's method is allowed because it is proven: it already produces the result the business wants. Inventing a method at a desk risks writing something nobody can actually do.

Ordering steps so none undoes another is needed because work done twice is work wasted. Dusting after mopping puts dust on a clean floor.

Measuring the spread, rather than the average, is allowed because the spread is what standard work is meant to change. The average can stay the same while the worst results disappear, which is exactly the improvement customers notice.

Replacing vague words is needed because a vague word means something different to every reader. 'Clean' to one cleaner is 'no visible dirt'; to another it is 'no streaks under the light'. Only the second can be checked.

8. Where to keep standard work

Standard work is only useful where the work happens. A binder in the office is rarely opened. A laminated card on the wall by the sink, a sticker inside the van door, a printed line on the job tag or a short video on the shop tablet is seen at the moment it is needed.

Keep each card short: one step, a handful of lines, and a picture of the standard where one helps, such as a photo of a correctly plated lunch or a glazed mug with the clean base. A picture of the finished result is often the fastest way to show a standard that is hard to put in words.

9. Standard work is the current best, not the last word

Treat standard work as current, not permanent. When someone finds a better way, try it alongside the written way for a week, measure both, and if the new way is better, change the card for everyone. Put the date on each card so everyone knows which version is in use.

This keeps the people who do the work involved. A standard written once by the owner and never changed becomes a rule people work around. A standard that changes when a staff member proves a better method becomes something they own. The cleaner who found that a squeegee beats the cloth on large mirrors should see their method on the card the next week.

10. Training with standard work

Standard work turns training from 'watch me for a week' into something faster and more reliable. A new person reads the card, watches the step done once, does it while someone watches, and checks their own result against the standard. Within a few repetitions they can do it alone, and they know what 'right' looks like without asking.

It also makes feedback easier and fairer. Instead of 'that's not good enough', a supervisor can point to the line on the card: 'the standard is no streaks under the light; this one has two'. The conversation is about the work, not the person, which is the subject of the feedback lesson later in this course.

11. What not to standardize

Not everything needs standard work. Write it for steps that are repeated often, that different people do, and where variation reaches the customer: plating, cleaning, repairs, packing. Leave out work that is rare, or genuinely different each time, such as a custom design consultation. There, a short checklist of things not to forget, the subject of a later lesson, works better than a fixed method.

The test is simple: if two people doing this step would produce noticeably different results, and the customer would notice, write it down.

12. Standards that protect people

Some standard work exists to keep people safe, not only to keep results consistent. How to lift a heavy box, how to dilute a cleaning chemical, how to lock out a machine before clearing a jam: each is a method with a standard, and each matters more than any result a customer sees. Write these with the same care, and put them first on the card.

For chemicals in particular, the manufacturer's safety data sheet gives the correct dilution and protective equipment, and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires employers to keep those sheets available and to train staff in the hazards. Standard work turns that information into a line the cleaner reads at the sink: one capful to a gallon, gloves on, window open.

13. Reading a spread

The spread is the simplest measure of consistency: the largest result less the smallest, in the same unit. Five plates took 24, 31, 27, 29 and 33 seconds; the spread is 33 less 24, or 9 seconds. It needs no special tools and anyone can work it out from a short list of times or weights.

Compare spreads only when the conditions match: the same step, the same number of results, similar weeks. A spread from five plates on a quiet Monday and one from fifty plates on a busy Friday are not a fair comparison, because more results and busier days tend to widen it. Time the same number of results, in similar conditions, before and after the standard is introduced.

14. In the world: a Pittsburgh coffee shop standardizes its espresso

A neighborhood coffee shop in Pittsburgh had loyal customers and a recurring complaint: the lattes tasted different depending on who was behind the counter. The owner timed espresso shots for a week and found they ranged from 18 to 40 seconds, a spread of 22, because each barista had their own way of filling and tamping the basket.

She wrote a standard on a card by the machine: 18 grams of coffee weighed on the scale, leveled with one finger, tamped once firmly, and a shot of 25 to 30 seconds producing about 36 grams of espresso, also weighed. A photo showed what a good shot looks like in the cup.

The next week, shot times ran from 24 to 31 seconds, a spread of 7. The complaints stopped within a month. The fastest barista was slightly slower than before, but customers got the same drink every time, and training a new hire took two shifts instead of two weeks.

15. In the world: standard work in manufacturing

Standard work is a core idea of the Toyota Production System, where each job has a written sequence, a time and a standard, and workers are expected to suggest improvements that become the new standard. The same idea, scaled down, fits a kitchen, a repair bench or a cleaning crew.

16. Where this goes wrong

Standard work is about speed. It is about consistency; the spread shrinks more than the average moves.

Once written, it is fixed forever. It is the current best way, updated when a better one is proved.

Experienced staff do not need it. Their method is exactly what should be written down.

17. Northside Repairs' chain oiling

18. Maya writes the glazing standard

19. Neighborhood Kitchen's plating standard

20. Your turn: Bright Home Cleaning's mirror

21. Guided practice

Bright Home Cleaning is writing down how to do one task: cleaning a bathroom mirror. Which instruction is standard work?

22. Guided practice

Complete the worked solution: Bright Home Cleaning timed bathroom cleans. Before standard work, they took from $21$ to $40$ minutes; after, from $24$ to $31$ minutes. Find the spread before, the spread after, and how many minutes the spread shrank.

23. Guided practice

Monica is rewriting her stall's instructions. Pair each vague instruction with its standard-work version.

24. Guided practice

Maya's instructions for glazing mugs. Mark every line whose result could be checked by looking or measuring.

25. Guided practice

26. Practice

Neighborhood Kitchen timed five lunch plates on Monday, in seconds: $32$, $25$, $37$, $28$ and $30$. What was the spread of times?

27. Practice

A nail salon in Houston wrote standard work for a polish change. Before, the service took from $11$ to $31$ minutes; after, from $15$ to $21$ minutes. By what percentage did the spread of times fall?

28. Somewhere new

A bakery timed how long it took to decorate a cake. Before writing standard work, the times ranged from $6$ to $12$ minutes; after, from $7$ to $11$ minutes. By how many minutes did the spread of times shrink?

29. Lesson test

Lesson test: one question per skill, one attempt each, no hints. Your answers are checked when you submit.

30. Test question

Neighborhood Kitchen timed how long a lunch plate took to assemble. The week before standard work, times ran from $23$ to $45$ seconds; the week after, from $26$ to $28$ seconds. Fill in the spread for each week, in seconds.

31. What you can do now

You can turn 'do it properly' into a step anyone can follow and check. Tell someone why standard work narrows the spread more than it raises the speed. Next: a check that would catch the failure you are worried about.

Working for the steps left to you

	Spread, seconds
Week before
Week after

$\text{no streaks under the ceiling light}$

	When a crate is half empty, refill it from the van	Zero the scale before every customer	Heavy items at the bottom, soft fruit on top in its own bag	Every crate has a sign with the price per pound
Keep the display full
Weigh things accurately
Bag things carefully
Price things clearly