The Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI) at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has published a very interesting white paper about a similar topic to the R2 Initiative: "Waste in Lean Product Development".

They call it "Waste" - at R2 we call it "Rework".

Reading this whitepaper provides a concise overview of the most important waste drivers in product development, that is, the most common project deficiencies that lead to cost and schedule overrun, as well as to performance issues. It will enable those involved in process improvement initiatives to include specific lean-related factors into their process analysis. It provides both managers and engineers with a common language and concepts to enhance the efficiency of their product development projects.

The white paper can be downloaded here free of charge. Other publications of the LAI can be downloaded here.

Many thanks to LAI for allowing us to reference the white paper on the R2 web page.