Imagine a team with full calendars and a growing queue of unfinished work. The first response might be to ask everyone to work faster. Before doing that, look at how much work has been started and how often priorities change.
A task may take only a few hours of focused effort but spend days waiting for an answer, approval or another person’s contribution. Starting more tasks during the wait can make everyone appear productive while increasing the number of things that need attention.
This does not mean that every delay is a coordination problem. The team may lack capacity, skills or adequate tools. The point is to distinguish time spent doing the work from time spent waiting or switching.
Choose one small workflow. Record when an item starts, where it waits and when it finishes. Discuss the main source of delay with the people doing the work. Then try one bounded change, such as limiting concurrent tasks or clarifying who can make a blocked decision.
Review completion time, rework and the effect on other teams. A useful change should improve the flow of work without simply moving the queue somewhere else.