Friction Map: How we see where time disappears in your business

When we ask a CEO where time disappears in the business, we almost always get an answer. It is rarely wrong, but it is almost never the whole picture. The time that disappears usually hides in the handovers: between two departments, between two systems, or between an email and a spreadsheet.

That is what a Friction Map is meant to show. It is the first of the five documents you receive after a Shadow Walk, and for many leaders it is the one that makes the biggest impression.

What is a Friction Map?

A Friction Map is a visual overview of your workflows as they actually happen. Not as they are written in the process description, but as we have seen them while following your employees through a normal working day.

The map shows the steps in the work, for example from the moment a customer enquiry comes in until the invoice is sent. At each step, we mark where there is friction:

• Time that is lost, for example when the same information is typed into several places.
• Waiting time, for example when a case sits waiting for an approval or an answer.
• Quality that is lost, for example when information is misunderstood in a handover.
• Workarounds, for example spreadsheets and sticky notes that people have made because the systems do not cover the need.

Why we do not just ask

You could make a Friction Map from interviews and workshops. But then you get a picture of how people think they work. Our experience is that it is the small things nobody thinks about that cost the most. The extra lookup in another system. The email that has to be forwarded to the one colleague who knows how it is done. The spreadsheet that only one person understands.

That is why we build the map on what we see. We sit with your people while the work happens, and we ask questions along the way. It takes between half a day and two days, depending on how many departments and workflows we need to follow.

What you can use it for

A Friction Map gives you a shared picture of reality. It sounds obvious, but it is often the first time management, finance, sales and production see the same drawing of how the work fits together. That makes it much easier to agree on what to fix first.

The map is also the foundation for the rest of the report. When we prioritise your opportunities for AI and automation, we start from the places on the map where the friction is greatest. That way you start where there is most to gain, and not where the technology seems most exciting.

The most valuable thing about a Friction Map is rarely the big discovery. It is that everyone can suddenly see the same thing.

How to get started

A Friction Map is part of our Shadow Walk. After ½–2 days with you, you receive a report about a week later, typically 50–75 pages, with a Friction Map, prioritised opportunities for AI and automation, a recommendation for what to build first, a plan and guardrails for using AI. If you would like to hear whether it makes sense for you, get in touch.