When following process is wrong


I was watching 'Office Space' yesterday. For those of you who don't know it, Office Space is a cult movie from the guy who brought you "Beavis and Butthead" - but don't let that put you off! It's a satirical look at office politics, management and employee dissatisfaction - sort of a real life 'Dilbert'.

The reason I bring this up is because of an incident that occurs in the opening 5 minutes of the movie. Peter - the 'hero' arrives at work and is confronted by his boss. The boss is a typical 1990's senior manager - red braces, blue shirt with white cuffs and collars, and a pot of coffee perpetually to hand. Every conversation starts as follows 'So, what's happening? Aahh, now, I'm going to need you to go ahead and......'.

The reason I mention this is because the first exchange in the movie refers to some mysterious 'TPS Reports'. The boss wants to know why Peter didn't put the new style cover sheet on the TPS Reports. Peter said he forgot. The boss wants to know if he got the memo. Peter said he did, he just forgot but the problem has been sorted out already. The boss says "I'm going to go ahead and make sure you get another copy of the memo".

Moments later another of Peter's bosses (he has 8) passes by and has a similar conversation. "Didn't you get the memo?". Etc. . . . .

So what has this got to do with process?

Well, very simply it's a case where the process is broken and doesn't need to be followed. Let me explain. At no point in the discussion is anyone concerned about whether the TPS reports are accurate (or even if they have been produced to the correct standard), all everyone is concerned about is the fact that one guy didn't put the correct cover page on the report. The process probably says something along the lines of 'Add a cover page according to the defined format'. As such you would imagine that following the process would be paramount to someone like me, a business process consultant. But in this case I would say that the process is wrong. Or more to the point, the focus of the process is wrong. Having two guys approach you to tell you that you didn't put the correct cover sheet on a report is focusing on the wrong thing.

The flip side of this, of course, is that the cover sheet may be an integral part of the process which allows later stages of the process to work appropriately. It may contain, for example, a routing slip for the report, or a quality approval signature. In this case putting the wrong cover on the report would be important.

But this is where common sense needs to take over. The implication from the initial discussion is that there has been a 'new' cover sheet for the TPS reports. The old one has been superceded. But what was wrong with the old one? Why was the change made? Was it crucial to the process that the cover page was changed? If it was then it is important that the process is followed.

Otherwise: 'Meh' (As the venacular goes nowadays)

Are you focusing on the wrong parts of your process?

(Photo courtesy of St3ve)



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What's "Best" in "Best Practice"?

How does "Best Practice" come to be? Is it just an example of "most common practice"?

It's a question I often ponder when confronted by "guru's" who talk about following "Best Practice". Oh, don't get me wrong, I think there are certainly bad ways of doing anything and, therefore, there are better ways of doing something. But does this constitute a "Best Practice"?

The problem I have with "Best Practice" is that it isn't always "best". Often times it's one company succeeding in a business then being approached by others wanting to know how they've done it. The company provides examples of their 'practice', it gets assimilated by the inquirer and disseminated to others. This becomes "Best Practice".

But let's review this. When somebody (usually your competitor) comes calling looking for "Best Practice", do you actually give them what they need? Do you provide them with your trade secrets? (When you're at trade shows how open are you? I know companies I've worked for have had strict 'non-disclosure' practices when not amongst internal people). You end up providing them with some stuff that shows how things work basically but doesn't give away the farm (as they say). So how can this provide "Best Practice"?

It doesn't.

ERP manufacturers (and similar) tend to try and define a 'set way' of doing things which allows them to define their software along those lines: Check out any CRM product for example and you'll see that it mandates a particular way of operating (within boundaries). Major accounting or order processing systems are also similar.

So is this really "Best Practice"?

I put it to you that "Best Practice" is actually a combination of sub-optimal process definitions married together with a predefined logic flow mandated by a program.

Consider this: Nobody actually has a "Best Practice". By definition it comes from the collected will of the participants. But even then there are usually many ways of doing something - so much so that it is actually 'common' practice. This will result in a best practice being an amalgamation of various ways of doing things. On top of that the way things are done will, oftentimes, be influenced by the software someone is using to do that thing. If this software mandates a particular methodology then this will influence "Best Practice"

Think of a situation where everyone was doing something one way - "Best Practice" - when it was discovered that this was the wrong way to do it.

  • How about trying to motivate people by paying them more. It was considered the way to motivate people until it was discovered that money is a hygiene factor not a motivator (i.e. they prevent dissatisfaction only when present instead of increasing satisfaction)
  • What about smoking? Look back at films, TV series, adverts and even literature of the last century. Everyone smoked. It was considered a "Best Practice" to be seen with a cigarette in your hand or hanging from your lips. This went on for years and years. Then someone discovered that it wasn't actually good for you and it stopped becoming a best practice.
  • Did you know, for example, that up until the 1950's it was best practice when driving a car to not wear a seat belt. It was thought that the best chance of survival was through being thrown clear of an accident.

So I put my initial question to you again

What's "Best" in "Best Practice"?




Reminder: 'The Perfect Process Project' is still available. Don't miss the chance to get this valuable insight into how to make business processes work for you.

Click this link and follow the instructions to get this book.


The poll results are in!

Well, I can't say I'm surprised at the results, but guess what: There are two winners of the poll!

"Lack of senior management buy-in" and "Resistance to change" came out equal amongst voters in the Process Cafe poll (Note: This poll is scientifically and statistically insignificant with the number of votes registered, but it's a good indication anyway)

So what can we deduce from this?

How about this:

A lot of people know in advance what the problems are going to be and they continue to let those problems rule.

Surely if there is going to be a lack of management buy-in to the change then the business case for the change hasn't been adequately proven. Remember the old IBM advert where the CEO asked the tech guy "Why should we do this?" and the geek responded, hesitantly "Every dollar you invest will save 2 dollars on your bottom line". Now THAT'S a business case that senior management can buy in to. If your project can't put up that sort of business case then you won't get the senior management buy-in and your project will fail.

Resistance to change would seem to be a bigger issue. But looking deeper down we find the same underlying reason.
There is no compelling reason for someone to change
If I said to you "At the moment you are comfortable driving around in your Toyota Corolla, using $30 of gas a week and having the reliability you need, but I want to take your Corolla and give you a TVR. It's much faster, handles better and makes a nicer noise" Of course you're going to resist. You know it's going to cost more to run, more to service and will probably break down (TVR's have that reputation). So you are going to resist.

However, if I came to you and said "I am going to give you a new car, run it for you for a year, pay all the costs and ask for your feedback at the end of it" I guarantee you'll get less resistance to change. There's more of the 'what's in it for me' being displayed in that option.

Fundamentally resistance to change and lack of management buy-in are the same issue

So what projects are you working on at the moment that are displaying either of those traits...?


For more about me check out my "About Me' page

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Competition - Win a copy of "The Perfect Process Project"

The results of the poll are almost ready to be posted and will appear here tomorrow.

In the mean time, and to get your thought processes flowing, I am running a quick competition.

This is your chance to win a free copy of my eBook "The Perfect Process Project"

It's more about timing than anything else - as well as the ability to follow a defined process.

The first 2 readers to follow the process steps below correctly will get the ebook e-mailed to them by me. In addition, the 8th, 23rd and 45th person will also get the ebook.

Here's what you need to do:

1) Find the link on the left to subscribe by e-mail.
2) Enter your (valid) email address and click the subscribe button
3) On the following screen enter the 'captcha' information (to prevent spam)
4) In the appropriate fields at the bottom enter your first name and (THIS IS THE KEY BIT) Enter the word 'Competition' in the 'Last name' field
5) Click the "Subscribe me' button
6) Go to your email and confirm your subscription

I will receive a notification of all new subscriptions. The first 2 to hit my in-box with the word 'competition' as a second name will win the ebook, as will the 8th, 23rd and 45th.

It's simple.

Have fun and I hope you win!

Small print:
1) My decision is final on this!
2) Order of receipt will be determined according to the official system time allocated to notification emails I receive from Feedblitz (who administer the mail subscriptions)
3) No cash substitute
4) Competition will close when the 45th subscriber is chosen, or September 20th, 12:00 BST, whichever comes first.
5) New subscriber 1, 2, 8, 23 and 45 (as determined by system date of notification email), who enter the word 'competition' as a Last name in the entry fields, will be the only winners of this competition. Entries without the word 'competition' will not be eligible to win.



Reminder: 'The Perfect Process Project' is still available. Don't miss the chance to get this valuable insight into how to make business processes work for you.

Click this link and follow the instructions to get this book.



For more about me check out my "About Me' page

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Process improvement in product innovation: How changing your processes will save you money.

James Utterbeck's "Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation' is a book which expertly dissects some of the major successes (and failures) of companies that have leveraged innovation as a means of moving their companies forward.

His examples include the manual typewriter vs the electric typewriter vs the word processor, and natural ice vs shipped ice vs the refrigerator. It's a very interesting and well written book worth anybody's time.

But this isn't a book review! I wanted to focus on one part of the book where James discusses the light bulb and its innovations.

The story is quite simple. Illumination used to be provided by gas lamps. Thomas Edison set to work to create an electric lamp and succeeded through technical innovation. The race was then on to innovate through manufacturing processes to keep the cost down, the quality up, and the volumes high.

Over the years between 1885 and 1903 the following major process innovations occurred:
  • Use of a mercury pump reduced the time to create a vacuum in a light bulb from 5 hours to 30 minutes
  • A semi automated  'past-mold' machine was used to replace hand blown glass bulbs
  • A machine was used to seal in the wired lamp base
  • The process of adding phosphor to a bulb was perfected as a means of ensuring total evacuation of the oxygen.
  • A stem making machine was developed to assemble glass stems, lead-in wires and filament supports.
  • A tubulating machine yet again improved the process of exhausting air from the bulb during the manufacturing process.

Prior to this, a light bulb needed 200 manufacturing steps - most of them manual - but by 1903 the number of steps was down to around 20 and the cost of a new bulb had fallen from a dollar a bulb to around 15 cents. All this was accomplished using a design that was fundamentally identical to the original. Process innovations - both in the machines used and the method of using them - led to dramatically increased production volumes and reduced prices.

This is absolute proof that a process improvement can pay for itself in the short or medium term.

So, in todays environment, where are the process improvements you can make that will reduce your costs, increase your profitability, and improve our throughput?

More to the point, if process improvements are profit centres, why are you not heading down that road as we speak?


Reminder: '"The Perfect Process Project' is still available. Don't miss the chance to get this valuable insight into how to make business processes work for you.

Click this link and follow the instructions to see why you should buy this book.



For more about me check out my "About Me' page

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford



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The Poll is up. Vote now.

I wanted to add a poll to complement the recent post on process project failure. That post (based on a question at Linked-In) defined a number of reasons that process projects are unsuccessful. I really wanted to understand what readers think is the single most important reason so I've added a quick poll at the top of the page to allow you to vote.

Come on over and register your thoughts. I'm excited to know what everyone thinks!



Reminder: '"The Perfect Process Project' is still available. Don't miss the chance to get this valuable insight into how to make business processes work for you.

Click this link and follow the instructions to see why you should buy this book.



For more about me check out my "About Me' page

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Indian Outsourcing - What a turnover!

I read an interesting article in the Indiatimes today.

It said that Indian outsourcing companies are experiencing a 23.5% staff turnover rate. This is high in just about any industry, but when you consider that the large majority of the outsourcing individuals in India are highly qualified graduates, it takes on a different meaning.

What is effectively happening (as the article quotes) is
"The BPO industry hires a large number of graduates who are bright and ambitious. From our analysis, the overall compensation structure design is not competitive when compared to general market practices. This means that BPO employees do not receive as much cash-in-hand as their peers in other industries. When you add unattractive remuneration to working shifts, lack of career development, and monotonous tasks, it is not surprising that employees leave when offered a small salary increase,"

So what is the impact of this? Well, as with any change of people, there will potentially be a drop in the service expected. Handovers may be loosely done and things may get 'dropped' as a result. This will, in turn, lead to a loss of confidence in the outsourced BPM function in India leading, potentially, to a withdrawal of western companies from using this function.

The irony of it all is that the very thing that is leading companies to outsource BPM to eastern countries (High education standards and low cost) may be the thing that causes the service to fail.

Indian companies will - in their turn - start to increase their salaries to aid retention. This increase will be passed on to the western organisations using the service. This will, in turn, decrease the attractiveness of outsourcing to Indian companies and the result will be the same.

With Gartner identifying a large jump in the need for BPM services, this is not good news for India.

What can they do about it? Comments, please.....


Reminder: '"The Perfect Process Project' is still available. Don't miss the chance to get this valuable insight into how to make business processes work for you.

Click this link and follow the instructions to see why you should buy this book.



For more about me check out my "About Me' page

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford