Your process has accumulated steps. Some were added for good reasons that no longer apply. Some were workarounds that became permanent. Nobody remembers why half of it exists.
Map The Current Process
Write down every step. Be literal. "Email gets sent." "Manager approves." "File gets saved." Don't skip the small stuff. That's where the waste hides.
Mark The Handoffs
Every time work moves from one person or system to another, mark it. Handoffs are where delay, error, and confusion live. Count them.
Ask "What Breaks If We Skip This?"
For each step, imagine skipping it entirely. What actually breaks? Not theoretically. Actually. If the answer is "nothing," you found a candidate.
Find The Workarounds
Are people working around any step? Copying data manually because the integration broke? Skipping approvals that "always get approved anyway"? Workarounds reveal dead steps.
Pick Three To Kill
You'll find more than three. Pick the easiest three to eliminate. Low risk, low effort, clear waste. Start there. Save the harder ones for later.
Three fewer steps in your workflow. A visible map of where waste lives. Quick wins that build momentum for bigger changes. And evidence that simplification is possible.
This works for local processes you control. When the process spans departments, when compliance is involved, when the steps exist for reasons nobody documented: that's a different conversation.