This article explains what the term "shikakari" means and how it's actually used on the shop floor.
What Is Shikakari?
In a word, it means "something that is still in progress and not yet finished."
Anything that sits at some intermediate stage before becoming a finished item is called "shikakari."
For example:
- A part that's midway through processing
- A product that's midway through assembly
- A product that's waiting for inspection
- A feature that's still under development in a system
All of these can be thought of as "shikakari."
In manufacturing, this is formally called "work-in-process (WIP) inventory" (shikakari-hin), referring to a product that is partway through the manufacturing process and not yet complete.
Shikakari in Manufacturing
Let's take an automobile factory as an example.
- Cut the steel plate
- Press-form it
- Weld it
- Paint it
- Assemble it
- Inspect it
Among these steps, a part that has only gotten through step 3 is not yet a finished car.
But it's no longer raw material either.
This kind of state partway through the process is exactly what "shikakari" refers to.
In other words, the flow looks like this:
Material → Shikakari (WIP) → Finished product
.
Shikakari in Systems Development
This same concept of "shikakari" also applies in software development.
For example:
- The API is complete
- The screen is still being built
- Testing isn't finished yet
- It's waiting on review
A feature in a state like this cannot yet be delivered to users.
Because of that, on the development floor, you'll sometimes hear people say:
"This feature is still shikakari (in progress)."
In terms of Git, a state such as:
- sitting on a development branch
- already has a pull request created
- waiting on review
can likewise be thought of as "shikakari," in the sense that it's "not yet complete."
Why Manage Shikakari at All?
When the amount of work-in-progress grows too large, all sorts of problems start to appear.
In Manufacturing
- It becomes unclear how far along the work has gotten
- Storage space becomes necessary
- Quality defects become harder to spot
- Money can't be recovered until the item becomes a finished product
Work-in-process inventory represents material and processing costs that have already been invested, and no funds can be recovered until it's completed and sold. Because of this, the volume of WIP affects not just productivity but the business as a whole.
In Systems Development
- The number of unfinished features grows
- Bugs become harder to spot
- The backlog of things waiting on review grows
- Priorities become unclear
What's common to both is this:
the more work-in-progress there is, the higher the management cost becomes
.
Reducing Work-in-Progress Leads to Higher Productivity
On the shop floor,
"starting a lot of work"
matters less than
"seeing work through to the end."
For example, rather than pushing 10 pieces of work partway forward,
it's more valuable to fully complete 5 of them.
That's why many factories and development teams operate by:
- reducing the number of tasks being worked on at once
- finishing one thing before starting the next
- limiting the number of items in progress (WIP)
This isn't unique to manufacturing—it's also a principle valued in agile development and the kanban method.
A Point Worth Remembering When You're New
If you hear the term "shikakari" on the shop floor,
"something not yet finished"
is roughly the right way to understand it.
And shikakari isn't just some in-between state—it's an important concept tied to many areas of the business, including:
- quality management
- production management
- process management
- delivery-date management
- cost management
When moving work forward, being mindful not just of "starting new tasks" but also of "finishing the work-in-progress you already have" will let you work more efficiently.
Summary
"Shikakari" is a term referring to a result that is partway through the process and not yet complete.
In manufacturing it refers to product that's mid-processing, mid-assembly, or awaiting inspection; in systems development it refers to things like features that are still being developed, awaiting review, or being tested.
Newcomers tend to focus on "starting as much work as possible," but on the shop floor, not letting work-in-progress pile up and reliably finishing things one at a time is what leads to high productivity.
"Is the work I'm doing right now shikakari, or has it actually been completed and delivered value?"
Just keeping this perspective in mind can change how you see your work in a significant way.