Are you making meaningful improvements or flashy ones?

You have a 2-step process. You have a choice to reduce:
A) Step 1 from 5 mins to 5 seconds
OR
B) Step 2 from 15 mins to 14 mins. What's your choice?

Of course, the first! Ermm, nope, let's discuss :)

Typically, most of our processes are continuous. For e.g., take the tech world. You have a designer (Step 1) and a developer (Step 2). They work continuously to deliver new features. The time a certain feature takes is Time of Step 1 + Time of Step 2.

But, here's the clincher. The time taken to deliver the next new feature is just the time of the slower process. Why? Because after the designer finishes Feature2, it just sits on the developer's desk, while the latter is still working on Feature1.

Let's look at numbers:
Scenario A: Step 1 reduces to 5 seconds . Step 2 still takes 15 mins
If we choose Option A), the total time of a certain feature reduces from 20 mins to 15 mins & 5 secs. However, the time to deliver the next feature is still 15 mins. Your customer doesn't receive the next feature any earlier.

Scenario B: Step 2 reduces from 15 mins to 14 mins . Step 1 still takes 5 mins
If we choose Option B), the total time of a certain feature only reduces to 19 mins from 20 mins. However, the time taken to deliver the next feature decreases to 14 mins. Your features to your customer will reach a minute sooner!

Does your answer change now?

This might seem obvious but we are often working on improvements, judging them independently rather than thinking of the end impact they have. Have you faced this problem? Do let me know :)

Takeaway: Look at bottlenecks. Solving them has benefits. Rest are just flashy improvements.