Every organization is comprised of a set of processes - increasingly these processes span organizational boundaries and increasingly they have components (apps, programs…) that pull data from many sources and adaptively "learn".  Processes have become more and more complex to set up but due to technology, often deceptively simple in operation which can hide problems. 

In any case, if any process is not designed and improved on a periodic basis, there is always significant  opportunity for significant improvement.  Improvements come from better taking into consideration internal and external changes and from applying technology.

So how do you improve processes effectively? The basics haven't really changed…

Recently, I was asked by a business owner, who was skeptical of process improvement approaches due to his experiences in his Fortune 500 past.   He, like myself, had witnessed programs go terribly wrong, through a mix of recipe-driven approaches, sub-optimization  and politics(rob Peter to pay Paul), as well as poor leadership.

Some basics:

The first thing,  to reinforce in your own thinking,  is the importance of HOW you do things (processes). How you do things effectively determines how WELL you do them not just immediately after being analyzed and "upgraded"  but in the long term.  And the key more than ever (post 2015) with the fast pace of technology, especially the fast pace of technology that can be applied to business process (with apps, mobile technology, cognitive technology…), is simplifying processes using technology effectively.   With this in mind, you need to be acutely aware that HOW you do things does determine how much of specific resources (money, time, technology….) you will use.  How you do things determines how your customers will respond. How you do things actually determines how well and how long you can do them well….  Without understanding and focusing on how you do things, it is very difficult to solve problems, to improve and to learn from the past.

Once you are focused on the how, you have to move to assess and understand and that will be the subject of my next posting.