Capacity can disappear into waiting, rework, administration, hand-offs and tasks that do not use people's skills well. The first step is to make that activity visible without treating observation as a judgement of individual performance.
What the Newgate study examined
A 2022 week-in-the-life study within a UK medical-device manufacturer examined the work of 126 people. Activities were translated into full-time-equivalent estimates to help leaders understand the scale and pattern of time use.
How to approach a similar study
- Agree the purpose and boundaries with leadership and participating teams.
- Define activity categories consistently and explain how observations will be used.
- Capture work across a representative period, including interruptions and exceptions.
- Separate necessary non-value-adding activity from avoidable waste.
- Review findings with the people doing the work and test possible causes.
- Prioritise a small number of process experiments and measure what changes.
What the evidence can and cannot say
A week is a snapshot, not a permanent measure of capacity. Seasonal demand, unusual events and sampling decisions affect interpretation. FTE equivalents are a way to describe time, not a promise of headcount reduction or guaranteed savings.
From observation to improvement
The important question is not who is busy. It is why the system requires skilled people to spend time on low-value work and what needs to change in the process. Read the original Hidden Hours insight for the context behind this example.